Man Utd Staff Believe That Jose Mourinho 'Could Be Sacked This Week' After West Ham Defeat

Manchester United staff were reportedly of the belief that Jose Mourinho could lose his job as manager as early as this week, as they travelled home by train after Saturday's 3-1 defeat at West Ham. 

United were well beaten by Manuel Pellegrini's side, as goals from Felipe Anderson and Marko Arnautovic either side of a Victor Lindelof own goal piled onto the already mounting pressure on Mourinho, whose side now sit 10th in the Premier League after seven games. 

And according to the Mirror, Mourinho did not travel home with the squad, who used the long train journey home to discuss the boss' future, and believe he could face the sack as early as this week. 

Central to Mourinho's troubles has been the ever-growing spat with Paul Pogba, with a separate report in the Mirror now claiming that the France international has told team-mates he will not back down, and is prepared to go all the way with Mourinho, after the manager explained his decision to strip Pogba of the captaincy in a press conference.

“I explained in detail to the people that have to know in detail, which is the squad and especially Paul," said Mourinho, before United's defeat to West Ham. 

“So Paul and the other players in the squad know in detail the reason why myself and my coaching staff decided to do that. And I always analyse a player as a player.

"When a player is captain, I analyse the player by the player perspective, but also by the captain perspective. And after weeks of analysing and changing opinions with my coaching staff, we made the decision that from now Paul is just a player and not a captain.”

The report claims the £95m signing is prepared to go as far as publicly refusing to play under Mourinho in an effort to force his hand, after Saturday's defeat followed an EFL Cup exit to Championship side Derby County on Tuesday night.