As Manchester United’s problems get deeper, the pressure on manager Jose Mourinho increases manifold. It looks like the Portuguese has been quite badly affected by the extreme pressure and it has been showing in his activities. After receiving a second FA charge, it is likely that Mourinho will not be in the dugout for a couple of matches. Mourinho’s honeymoon period at United came to an end with a 2-1 loss against Manchester City back in September. United have never recovered since then, but Gary Neville reckons that Mourinho’s life will become a lot easier if the team managed a couple of consecutive wins. Talking to Givemesport, he said:

“I think at the moment he’s the one that’s getting put under pressure, but nothing that two or three wins won’t change,” he said.

“I have to say I thought they deserved to win (against Burnley), they didn’t play badly at all. It wasn’t an ‘oh they’re not playing for him, they’re not with him’. There’s none of that.

“I think when he was at Chelsea there’s all that talk he’d lost the dressing room. There’s nothing like that happening at Manchester United.”

After the heavy defeat against Chelsea a fortnight ago, Mourinho seemed to hint that the next couple of games were winnable as it was against lower league opposition. Indeed, the Red Devils were up against the likes of Burnley and Swansea aside from the home match against Arsenal. They appeared winnable, or at least Mourinho thought so.

He was left infuriated by the first half display against Burnley coupled with the refereeing decisions. Seeing his expensively assembled team struggle against a newly promoted outfit was hard for the 53-year-old to take, but his outburst against referee Mark Clattenburg leaves United in a tricky situation.

Mourinho began his spell at United with the title in mind, but it is already slipping away and the season is not yet into December. Optimists may point to the fact that it is only an eight points deficit to the top of the table, but the Premier League is so competitive now that three teams occupy the top spot and are separated only by goal difference. The overall performance against Burnley was good and it took an inspired performance from former United goalkeeper Tom Heaton to keep Sean Dyche’s team in the game.

There are certainly many reasons to be positive that results will come good eventually, but time is running out for the club and Jose Mourinho.

Neville acknowledged that the Portuguese is not yet facing the same problems as his final few months at Chelsea, when he appeared to lose the dressing room quite badly. However, it would be deeply worrying for the club that they are unable to hit a sweet note even after spending more than £100 million almost each summer on new players.

Inevitably, there will be rumours about Jose Mourinho’s time at United being cut short. It remains as one of the major differences from the Sir Alex Ferguson era. Even when United were not at their best, Ferguson’s departure was never spoken about. Yet, it only takes a couple of bad weeks before a manager’s position comes under scrutiny. Mourinho will be hoping that United’s form recovers before any such talk can begin.