José Mourinho has claimed Gareth Southgate failed to protect Wayne Rooney on England duty and compared it to a child who fails to take extra care of a loaned pencil. The Manchester United manager is unhappy with his captain being photographed the night after the World Cup qualifying victory against Scotland.
Rooney’s presence at a wedding at England’s hotel in Hertfordshire during the early hours of Sunday morning emerged when pictures were published in a newspaper. The 31-year-old later offered an unconditional apology for the “inappropriate” images.
Mourinho highlighted the duty of care Southgate, England’s interim manager, had for Rooney and also asked why the striker was singled out for criticism when others in the squad were in “worse places”.
Mourinho, who mistakenly referred to Southgate as “Gary”, said: “The only thing I say is the player goes to the national team, he belongs to the national team – I learned since I was a kid, if someone lends me something I have to take care of it even better than if it was mine. You know – your friend lent you a pencil, you have to take care of the pencil better than if it was your pencil.
“So I think when one day if I become a national manager, I will try – I am not saying I will be successful and I am not being critic with Gary [Southgate] or anyone. I [now] get the occasion to wish Gary the best of luck but I think you have to build something to protect what is not yours, what someone lends you.”
Rooney and the rest of the squad were given Saturday night off but asked if he should still have been out so late, Mourinho said: “I would have a great answer for you, I don’t want to because I don’t want to speak about it. But if you go one by one, to see where these 23 players were, some of them were in worse places than the hotel bar.”
Earlier this season Mourinho claimed Rooney returned from England duty not the player he was when he joined up. Asked whether it was the same on this occasion, he responded: “I am not saying he is affected, I am saying that even if you build a kind of wall around you to try to feel protected from what people write about you or think about you, the comments people make about you, the wall always has points of fragility. It always has some little holes. We are flesh and blood so I think it has an effect. It has an effect.”
Rooney is fit to face Arsenal in Saturday’s early kick-off after leaving the national squad with a minor knee injury. “He trained like everybody else, he wants to play like everybody else,” Mourinho said. “He is ready.”
Mourinho also claimed he is not afforded the level of respect given to Arsenal’s Arsène Wenger but said this may be because of his outstanding record of success.
“Maybe it’s my fault,” he said. “Maybe I put the level so high that people don’t expect any different. I won at every club. I was champion in every club [actually at four of his previous six]. I won cups with every club. I won in every country. I won in four different countries. I won in Europe. I won in domestic competitions. I always won in the first or second season so nobody here is saying: ‘OK let’s see if he can win with Manchester United in the third season.’ Nobody is saying that.
“Nobody says I deserve time, that I deserve credibility. Maybe that’s just my fault. I’m not even against you or upset with the pundits that are being very critical. Maybe I should be proud of it because maybe it’s my fault.”
United are sixth on 18 points, six behind Arsenal and a further two behind the leaders, Liverpool. Mourinho said: “Man United we want to win every game. We don’t but we want. If we play as well as we did against Stoke and Burnley I don’t think another miracle with happen – the miracle being that we didn’t win. If we manage to play so well we have a big chance of winning.”
