Jose Mourinho praises Manchester United players ahead of Southampton game

Jose Mourinho has called on his Manchester United players to show belief in their own abilities following their recent draws against Leicester and Burnley.

In his programme notes ahead of the game with Southampton, the United manager said that he could not complain about the effort shown by his players in their last two games, despite being unhappy at their failure to win the games.

Referring to the most recent of those games - the 2-2 draw at home to Burnley on Boxing Day - Mourinho said: ‘The boys showed their character and personality to come back from a difficult position, break down a very strong defensive wall and score two goals to get a point out of the game.’

https://twitter.com/SmnLlyd5/status/947130743117045761

He continued: ‘It is not a result that makes me happy, but the players’ effort and commitment cannot be criticised and they did well to recover from how things were at half-time.’

‘I need the boys to believe in themselves. We saw in the second half on Boxing Day what they are capable of when they do that,’ he added.

Mourinho’s had been criticised for his assessment of some of his players following the draw with Leicester last week. Having conceded a stoppage time equaliser to Harry Maguire, the United boss had described some of his players’ decision making during the closing stages of the game as “childish”.