Ill-disciplined Mourinho set for another touchline ban

Mark Scott
Jose Mourinho: Sees United surrender late lead

Jose Mourinho: Sees United surrender late lead

Jose Mourinho is facing more disciplinary trouble after being sent off for the second time this season as Manchester United were held by West Ham.

The United boss was dismissed by referee Jon Moss for reacting angrily and kicking a water bottle after Paul Pogba was booked for diving during Sunday’s 1-1 Premier League draw at Old Trafford.

Mourinho has already served one touchline ban this season after disputing a decision during last month’s draw against Burnley.

He has also been disciplined for comments about referee Anthony Taylor – who was coincidentally the fourth official on Sunday – prior to a game at Liverpool. Further scrutiny of his behaviour in what has been a frustrating start to the campaign came after an odd touchline exchange with Chelsea boss Antonio Conte.

This latest disappointing result was United’s fourth successive home draw in the league – a sequence they have not endured since 1980 – while their points return from 13 games, 20, is their worst since 1989-90.

The Football Association is bound to consider action against the latest touchline incident after they receive the report from Moss, who also sent off then Chelsea manager Mourinho at West Ham last season.

Mourinho did not speak to media after the game, instead leaving assistant Rui Faria to express his frustration.

Faria said: “I think everyone saw his frustration was shown in a situation where it should have been a free-kick for us, but it finished with a yellow card to Paul.

“There are maybe reasons to express some frustration. After that there are also things that are part of the game and the referee took the decision on the sending-off, but everything that comes from our perspective is it should be a decision for the opposite side.”

Replays of the Pogba incident, which occurred as Mark Noble attempted to tackle the Frenchman midway through the first half, did not necessarily support United’s viewpoint. There seemed minimal or no contact as Noble slid in.

The controversy detracted from United’s strongest spell of the game. They had just cancelled out Diafra Sakho’s second-minute opener through Zlatan Ibrahimovic and further troubled the West Ham defence.

Marcus Rashford and Jesse Lingard also went close before the break but, in what became a recurring theme, were denied by outstanding goalkeeper Darren Randolph.

Faria said: “We were the best team on the pitch. Defensively we were very compact and offensively we created the chances to win.

“We are showing that as a team we are a strong side and we can do very good things. We created chances that in a normal way should be goals and the game should be won in a comfortable way. It is not happening. We get frustrated.”