Jose Mourinho brushed off Paul Scholes’ criticism of his conduct at Manchester United, claiming the former midfielder has the “freedom of speech” to say what he wants.
Scholes accused Mourinho of “embarrassing” United on Tuesday night, in the hours leading up to their drab Champions League goalless draw with Valencia.
The former United midfielder expressed his surprise that Mourinho had not been sacked at the weekend following the 3-1 defeat to West Ham.
“I’m actually slightly surprised he survived after Saturday, the performance was so bad,” Scholes told BT Sport.
“He’s coming out in press conferences constantly having a go at players, having at go at people above him because he’s not getting what he wants.
“I think his mouth is out of control and I think he’s embarrassing the club.”
When Scholes’ comments were put to Mourinho in his post-match press conference, he claimed not be interested in what the pundit had to say.
“I don’t need to know what he said. He said what he wants to say, I’m not interested, honestly, I’m not interested,” the United manager said. ”Freedom of speech, free country, you can say what you want.”
Mourinho said much the same when asked about the Old Trafford crowd’s chants of ‘attack, attack, attack’ and the boos that met the final whistle on Tuesday.
“Freedom of speech,” he reiterated. “Especially [for] Manchester United fans that I respect 200 per cent.”
