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Mourinho will be sacked before Christmas: Sharpe

Former United winger Sharpe says Portuguese won't be at Old Trafford next year

The English Premier League season might be only two games old, but former Manchester United winger Lee Sharpe is predicting that Jose Mourinho won't be in charge of his former club next year.

The Portuguese's side limped to a shock 3-2 defeat by Brighton & Hove Albion on Sunday. It was a performance characterised by a poor defensive display.

After a trophyless campaign last season, Mourinho clashed with the club's board over their failure to significantly strengthen his squad, particularly at centre-back.

With the English Premier League's transfer window closed, the 55-year-old has no alternative but to try to draw on his experience and skill to get the best he can out of a team many believe lack the quality and character to be genuine title contenders.

But Sharpe isn't sure Mourinho is up to the task. The former England international told Sky Sports: " I don't think he is getting the best from the players.

"This team has some unbelievable attacking players but I don't think they are on the front foot enough, I don't think they are playing at a quick enough tempo and I don't think they move the ball enough.

I don’t think he is getting the best from the players. This team has some unbelievable attacking players. Former Manchester United winger Lee Sharpe on Red Devils manager Jose Mourinho

"They give teams a chance to get back and get organised... He needs to change but he just seems to be too stubborn to alter his approach...

"I am expecting the manager to get sacked before Christmas.

"If he is going to continue with this dourness and this moaning, then people will turn around and say this attitude is not getting us to the top, so we need to change it."

For ex-Liverpool midfielder Danny Murphy, Mourinho has to change his players' body language for him not to have to change jobs.

He wrote in his BBC column: "Forget the result, anyone can lose on the road in the Premier League, it is the nature of the body language and that lack of early conviction which is a bigger concern - their players just did not look engaged...

"Mourinho has fuelled paper talk with comments about a disrupted pre-season, transfer frustrations, or even the form of (Paul) Pogba...

"If his players are hearing the messages in the media then I do think it can create a bit of negativity.

"It's hard to judge the mood of a group of players based on reports but you would have to concede that there's often not much smoke without fire and too many players looked off it at Brighton."

While Mourinho has borne the brunt of the blame, EPL pundits did not let the players off the hook.

Former Manchester United defender Gary Neville accused centre-backs Eric Bailly and Victor Lindelof "melting" under the spotlight.

His former teammate Paul Scholes slammed Pogba's inconsistency, telling Optus Sport: "There's a lack of leaders in the team, that's why we thought Paul Pogba might be the ideal candidate to be that leader, but he wasn't there tonight.

"He had another really poor game. He's so inconsistent."

Former England manager Sam Allardyce, meanwhile, focused his ire on Anthony Martial, telling beIN Sports: "Martial is not good enough for Manchester United.

"If you want to be super critical and look at the players that he's (Mourinho) got, he is not the player that they thought were getting or could develop.

"So you know, that not Jose's fault."

Ex-England striker Chris Sutton, however, believes the success of Mourinho's arch-rival Pep Guardiola at Manchester City is the Red Devils boss' biggest issue.

He wrote in his Daily Mail column: "Jose Mourinho's biggest problem is Pep Guardiola.

"In the two years that both men have been in Manchester, Guardiola has created sensational football that fans want to shout about. Mourinho is stuck in the past and does not appear to have any answers."

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