Old Trafford chief claimed Nemanja Matic was surrounded by a 'lack of class and desire' despite a 2-0 FA Cup victory
JOSE MOURINHO admits he risks losing the Manchester United dressing room after another extraordinary rant.
The Old Trafford boss accused his stars of lacking the class, desire and personality to be United players — despite beating Brighton to book a place in the FA Cup semi-finals.
Mourinho claimed some were scared to play and would rather be subbed.
And he hooked Luke Shaw at half-time, raising dressing-room fears he is waging a campaign against his full-back.
Last night’s tirade came just a day after Mourinho’s 12-minute rant about the club’s “heritage”.
And he confessed: “Yes, it could backfire but what can I lose?
“My calculation is that, without pressure, they don’t perform well. The ones that are always there are the ones that will always be there — and that is an example of personality.”
Romelu Lukaku and Nemanja Matic scored to book United’s place in the last four.
But Mourinho rapped: “Matic was an island of personality, desire and control surrounded by lack of personality, lack of class and lack of desire.
“For example, Scott McTominay lost more passes in this game than all the matches he played put together.
“But he was a Manchester United player and for me a Manchester United player is one who, when he plays badly, still gives to the team.
“That is a question of personality, that is a Manchester United player for me.
“That is what some of the others did not have.”
While Mourinho was pleased with the attitude of McTominay, 21, he savaged others.
He added: “Scott played bad, and every player can play bad.
“But to feel not comfortable to play. ‘Please Mister, take me from the pitch’ . . . I felt that. A few of the other guys, I saw them scared to play.
“But a team of 11 when you have a minimum of six or seven players performing and wanting to play, who want the responsibility to have the ball, who have the desire really to play . . . it is one thing to play and another to be on the pitch.
“So I am not happy with the performance at all.
“I cannot say much more. I think it is in relation to personality, in relation to trust, in relation to class.
“So I have nothing to lose in relation to that.
“The strong ones will be always the strong ones. The young ones, under pressure and under criticism, will improve or will not improve.”
Mourinho was sniping at Shaw, 22, from the touchline before subbing him at half-time.
A dressing-room source said: “It looks like a campaign against Luke.”
But Mourinho, 55, admitted he could easily have taken off Antonio Valencia as well.
The Special One added: “I didn’t change both because it was too aggressive and then I only have one more change in the 90 minutes.
“To try and improve I had to change one of them. I chose Luke because at least Antonio defensively was capable of some good positioning.”
Shaw was not the only one Mourinho was unhappy with.
He said: “Once more I wasn’t happy with the connection in the build-up.
“I blame everybody. I blame the defenders in possession because they always made the easy decision to play square passes, taking ten or 12 passes for the ball to go from one line to another line, it is frustrating.
“I blame the attackers because their movement for that connection, they were too scared to do it.
“Not many players had the personality to play under the pressure of one knockout match at home.”
