The problem with Jose Mourinho is that he needs to be loved

I’m sorry Jose, I just can’t bring myself to show you the love you need. And it feels like the players and the club just can’t do it either.

The fans are definitely split. I was at the game on Friday night and there were constant chants of “Jose Mourinho’s red and white army”. It felt good in the stands, it felt like we were all back where we wanted to be after a strange summer of actually starting to care about the England team.

But this is what we really care about. And as we care, it’s worrying to see the issues bubbling below the surface.

The fans are in two camps. Just one look on Twitter and you can see the Jose camp and the anti-Jose camp. Each accusing each other of not being proper United fans.

Let’s be honest, if you care about the club and hold them in your heart, you’re a proper United fan and can have whatever opinion you want – regardless of how much money you do or don’t put in the Glazer’s pockets.

No proper United fan should buy that new kit though. Black shorts? That’s the last time we’ll mention that. Promise.

But back to the problems. The problem with Jose is that he needs to be loved. At the moment he’s not getting the love he needs. And it looks like boiling over. I’ll be very surprised if he’s our manager this time next year.

When it’s good for Jose, it’s very good. But he thrives on creating a siege mentality and working with players who back that mentality. Terry and Lampard are perfect examples from his first stint at Chelsea, Diego Milito at Inter, and even Zlatan in his first season at United. Two trophies don’t look too bad now.

He doesn’t have that player now. Pogba definitely not, Lukaku maybe. Sanchez? It’s yet to be seen if Sanchez cares about anything United.

Most importantly, Jose isn’t getting the love from the top of the club.

Let’s remember Ed Woodward was once the man running around Europe like a lost puppy trying to sign any big name going. He truly believed Ronaldo would come back to play for David Moyes, and that paying over the odds for Fellaini was good business.

Looks like Ed has finally grown some balls and Jose doesn’t like it. The relationship looks like getting even further strained by the noises about a director of football being in place for the January transfer window.

To give Ed his due, I think he was right over the summer. £75million or whatever it was, is not a good deal for Harry Maguire, and Toby Alderweireld is well overpriced for someone of his age. I feel like we’ve dodged a bullet on both of those.

Jose and Ed are also split on the value to the team of Anthony Martial. I think this is one thing the fans aren’t split on. When Sanchez is playing so poorly, the Frenchman should be an automatic pick.

But Jose doesn’t want to be questioned. He wants the love from the club and the trust in his methods. It seems like no one trusts him at the moment. Compare and contrast that to the unwavering loyalty from everyone at City to Pep.

And the Pogba situation is just making things worse. He got the armband, and he played like a captain, but he then took to social media to again highlight his displeasure at things behind the scenes.

That means one thing. Jose.

If we’re on the subject of love, it’s also very hard to give the Frenchman the adoration he feels he deserves.

Let’s be honest, at times he’s been good for us, at times woeful. He may have won the World Cup, but he’s not done enough in a red shirt to strut around and try and make the fans panic about his place in the squad.

If you don’t want to play for United, fine. Don’t. We’ll have to get someone else in who does.

So United and Jose. Where is the love? It comes from winning games, getting some good performances in and giving those loyal fans something back. Friday night was a start. Now let’s give those that make the trek down to Brighton for this “tough” fixture something to dream about on the train home.

Maybe then we’ll start to love you again.