Mourinho bemoans officials following dire West Ham defeat

Their players didn’t seem to know what they were meant to be doing at West Ham and the manager has to take responsibility for that.

Moreover, United’s abject performance spoke far more obviously and loudly than did Ferdinand in that there was absolutely nothing about their display which suggested they were a tight unit looking to back their manager out of a corner. Who’s going to get more out of this team?

“The squad and especially Paul know in detail why myself and my coaching staff chose to do that”, said Mourinho on being asked why he had made the decision to strip Pogba of being Antonio Valencia’s deputy as captain.

Manchester United’s players and staff openly discussed the prospect of Jose Mourinho being sacked on the journey home after Saturday’s humiliating defeat to West Ham.

“You can’t let a situation like this continue”, said Ferdinand.

It’s United’s worst start in a domestic campaign in 29 years, matching a record with the same frustrating beginning to the disastrous David Moyes season after the Scot took over from long-serving Sir Alex Ferguson.

“It can’t be like that”.

No club does yo-yoing quite like Chelsea – it has been boom one year, bust the next, far too often for the club’s liking in recent seasons – but the bounce is back at Stamford Bridge and that makes them a unsafe outsider in this year’s race for the title.

West Ham grabbed an early lead through Felipe Anderson, and a Manchester United own goal just before halftime gave the home team a 2-0 lead.

United dropped points last week in the Premier League against Wolves and then lost in the Carabao Cup against Derby County, now they need to bounce back against the Hammers.

It left Mourinho this time questioning his players’ quality, with Ferdinand agreeing. If I’m not, he doesn’t play.

And Merson feels that Manchester United should cut their losses and get rid of Pogba – and bring in Chelsea FC midfielder Fabregas as his replacement.

“I don’t come here and say the training session was not very good, that the players are not committed and that I have a bad feeling”. Can he let Pogba go? When asked to explain his decision on Friday, the United boss said: “I explained in detail to the people that have to know, which is the squad and especially Paul”.

Ferdinand said action was needed quickly. Here there appears to be mini-wars going on in the changing room, even above that. “Any football club needs stability from top to bottom”.