José Mourinho reportedly warns Wayne Rooney against criticising United teammates

One of The Sun’s resident sports desk big cheeses today brings us the news that José Mourinho has warned Wayne Rooney against criticising his Manchester United teammates — at least while he remains in such poor form himself. Rooney reportedly said some ‘strong words’ at halftime during the humiliation against Manchester City a couple of weeks ago, and Mourinho seems to have pulled him up on grounds of hypocrisy. Neil Custis writes that:

Mourinho had a private meeting with Roo at the training ground about addressing the other players.

The manager said he cannot complain about anyone else’s performances until he gets his own game right.

He adds that Rooney is likely to play in the Europa League on Thursday, but is expected to be dropped again for the Premier League encounter with an out-of-form Stoke City on the weekend. You’d have to work hard to find a United fan disappointed to see the captain omitted. With the pressure mounting, it’ll be interesting to see if Rooney is able to muster a reaction and up his game — or whether he really is now just running on empty.