Jose Mourinho reportedly took Alexis Sanchez up on his poor form this season before dropping him for Manchester United’s game away to West Ham today.
The Chile international was not injured for the trip to the London Stadium, so one or two eyebrows were raised when he was omitted from the matchday squad.
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It’s certainly true that Sanchez has not lived up to expectations since his move to United from Arsenal back in January, but he has largely continued to play and start most matches for the Red Devils.
Today he didn’t make it even onto the bench for Mourinho’s side, and Chilean journalist Maks Cardenas has explained what went on with the pair before the game.
Decisión de Mourinho de no convocar a Alexis al partido, pese a viajar a Londres es táctica y no por problemas físicos. Mourinho recriminó a Sánchez su bajo nivel este lunes en una charla delante de todo el plantel. Alexis ha convertido sólo 3 goles en 23 partidos con el United
— Maks Cárdenas (@MaksCardenas) September 29, 2018
The reporter has tweeted that Mourinho reprimanded Sanchez after running out of patience with his poor performances this term, telling him off during a training session in front of his team-mates.
Many will probably feel this is deserved, though the Portuguese’s harsh man-management methods don’t really seem to be working on improving players’ form.
As noted by the Daily Mirror, the United boss also informed Paul Pogba he would no longer captain the side in a similar manner this week, seemingly trying to humiliate the player in front of the rest of the squad.
United lost 3-1 to West Ham to continue their miserable recent run of form, so Mourinho’s harsh words to Sanchez and Pogba didn’t exactly do much to get a reaction out of anyone.