Jose Mourinho: Wenger gets more respect than me from the press
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Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has rekindled his rivalry with Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger, saying that the Frenchman gets more respect from the media than he does despite winning the Premier League title with Chelsea only 18 months ago.
Mourinho hasn't lost a single game against Wenger in the league, winning six of the eleven meetings between the two. The Portuguese
Wenger, on the other hand, has won three league titles with Arsenal, the last one coming way back in 2004.
"Tomorrow is a match between two managers with the best record in the Premier League. Should we be respected even in periods when our results are not the best? Mr Wenger has that from all of you. I don't think I have even though my last Premier League title was 18 months ago, not 18 years," Mourinho told a pre-match press conference.
"I won in four different countries. I won in Europe. I always won in the first or second season so nobody is saying, 'let's see if he can win with Manchester United in the third season'. Nobody says I deserve time or credibility.I want to be
"Maybe it's my fault. I put the level so high that people don't expect anything different," he added.
The former Chelsea boss also defended his club captain Wayne Rooney, who was photographed earlier in the week drunk in a hotel bar in the wee hours of Sunday. Gareth Southgate had given the players a night off from international duty, and Mourinho said that the others would be found at "worse places" than a hotel bar.
"If you go one by one, to see where these 23 players were, some of them were in worse places than the hotel bar," Mourinho said.
The Portuguese manager, however, did add that Rooney would have found the criticism aimed at him difficult to deal with during the week.
"Even if you build a wall around you to protect you from what people write or think, it always has points of fragility. We are flesh and blood, so I think it has an effect," Mourinho said.
