I think this misses the point that people who don't like his comments, and that includes me, are making. Are players going to cry into their cornflakes this morning? Are they going to go see their shrink claiming they're being bullied? Of course not. As Brooks rightly says, these lads are a lot tougher mentally than that.
The issue is this for me. What Jose did brilliantly after the Saudi Sportswashing Machine game was created a siege meteorology. Stuff like "trophy-winning clubs get decisions, we don't". That creates a "we're all in it together against the rest of the world" situation. This sort of stuff fractures that a bit in my view. And at some stage he may be relying on Dele. I've no doubt that Dele will always be 400% professional when he's called upon. But if he's playing for a guy who is making disparaging thinly veiled references to him will he give that little bit extra that makes the difference at this level? Mourinho often talks about the importance of creating a feeling. For Dele and some others, is Jose helping to create a good feeling that will get that extra little bit that could make the difference?
I don't really think the comments last night are a massive deal. They're slightly unpleasant and self serving but Jose has done this before and been ultra-successful. This is the way he operates. But criticism of those comments by fans doesn't mean we all think the players are sitting in a corner this morning crying that their manager is bullying them. Some of us just find the comments unnecessary.
