Tanguy Ndombele, Paul Pogba and 8 other players Jose Mourinho has publicly criticised - in pictures

The Tottenham manager is never afraid to voice individual criticism of his players

Tanguy Ndombele: The Tottenham midfielder felt the full force of Jose Mourinho's words after their 1-1 draw at Burnley on Saturday. The £54 million (Dh259m) signing from Lyon was hooked at half-time and Mourinho then told the public exactly why that was. "In the first half we didn’t have a midfield. Of course I’m not speaking of (Oliver) Skipp because he’s a kid of 19 who’s played two hours in the last few days. I don’t criticise him at all. But I’m not going to run away and I have to say [Ndombele] has had enough time to come to a different level. I know the Premier League is difficult, and some players take a long time to adapt to a different league. But a player with his potential has to give us more than he is giving us, especially when you see how Lucas, Lo Celso and those players are playing. I was expecting more in the first half from him. He has to know he has to do much better and know I cannot keep giving him opportunities to play because the team is much more important." AFP

Luke Shaw: The young Manchester United left-back was regularly singled out by Mourinho - even when he played well. After a 1-1 draw with Everton in 2017, Mourinho said Shaw had "a good performance but it was his body with my brain. He was in front of me and I was making every decision for him." In 2016 he accused Shaw of being 25 metres away from his man instead of 5 in a defeat at Watford. "Give him 25 metres and you have to press. But no, we wait. It is a tactical but also mental attitude,” he said. EPA

Pepe: Mourinho's time at Real Madrid was as tumultuous as any of his other managerial jobs. It was a big club with big egos and plenty of politics swirling around. Amid the frosty relationship with keeper Iker Casillas, Mourinho took aim at defender Pepe who had stuck up for his teammate. "Pepe's comments? It is very easy to analyse what he says. Pepe has a problem and his name is Raphael Varane. A 31-year-old has lost his place to a 19-year-old. It’s the law of life. But who had the courage to field Varane? I did." He added: "It is not easy for a 30-year-old man with experience to be run over by a kid". Reuters

Henrikh Mkhitaryan: The Armenian showed only glimpses of the quality that persuaded United to fork out £26.3m to Borussia Dortmund in 2016. Mourinho, by and large, wasn't impressed. In 2017, he described how his performances were simply getting worse. "I was not happy with his last performances. It's not one or two, I am talking about three, four or five. He started well this season but his performance levels, goalscoring, assists, high pressing, bringing the team with him as number 10, were decreasing step by step." Getty Images

Phil Jones and Eric Bailly: United were knocked out of the League Cup by Derby County in 2018, and Mourinho let it be known that he had given up on his side's chances as soon as he saw the defenders stepping up to take a spot kick. He said: "When I saw them going after the sixth and seventh, I knew we would be in trouble with Jones and Eric. I never blame a player missing a penalty because we know clearly, because we train and because we knew if it went in the direction of Jones and Eric Bailly, we would be in trouble then." Action Images via Reuters

Ricardo Carvalho: The Portuguese played under Jose Mourinho at Porto, Chelsea and Real Madrid. But things didn't go too smoothly at Chelsea. After being left out of the side in August 2005 and publicly complaining, Mourinho responded: "Ricardo Carvalho seems to have problems understanding things, maybe he should have an IQ test, or go to a mental hospital or something." Getty images

Marcus Rashford: Why always Romelu Lukaku and not Rashford as first-choice striker at Manchester United? After losing at Brighton in 2018, with Rashford selected up top, Mourinho felt he had his, and everyone else's answer. "Maybe now you understand why some players don't play more than others. I wouldn't say disappointed because I know them, but I thought for some of them the possibility to start the game, the possibility to give reason to the ones during the season who critics say, 'Why always Lukaku? Why always Lukaku? Why always Lukaku? You have the answer - why always Lukaku, why always this, you have the answer. Probably we are not as good individually as people think," PA Wire

Paul Pogba: The Frenchman's spell under Mourinho at United was turbulent to say the least. Mourinho was subtly scathing in his criticism of Pogba after the 2018 World Cup, saying: "I don't think it's about us getting the best out of him. It's about him giving the best he has to give. I think the World Cup is the perfect habitat for a player like him to give the best. Why? Because it's closed for a month, where he can only think about football. Where he's with his team on the training camp, completely isolated from the external world, where they focus just on football, where the dimensions of the game can only motivate. During a season, you can have a big match then a smaller match, then one even smaller, then you can lose your focus, you can lose your concentration, then comes a big match again." Action Images via Reuters

Joe Cole: The Chelsea midfielder was super talented but didn't fit easily into Mourinho's tactical straightjacket. Just 10 games into his first spell as manager at Stamford Bridge and Cole was publicly shamed. "When he scored the goal the game finished for him. After that I needed 11 players for my defensive organisation and I had just 10. Joe can be a regular but he has to improve when the team needs him to be part of a defensive organisation." Delores Johnson / The National

Anthony Martial: Mourinho spat the dummy out in the summer of 2018 when the French striker joined his partner for the birth of their second child while United were on a pre-season tour. "Anthony Martial has the baby and after the baby is born – beautiful baby, full of health, thank God – he should be here and he is not here," said Mourinho. AP Photo

Ian Oxborrow

It wasn't a question of if, but when Jose Mourinho started publicly laying into his Tottenham Hotspur players.

The Portuguese manager had been remarkably refrained since taking the job in November.

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But after five matches without a win, the knives were out following their 1-1 draw at Burnley. And on the receiving end was club-record signing Tanguy Ndombele, who was substituted at half-time after a performance which, by the sounds of it, lacked pretty much everything.

Mourinho has a track record when it comes to naming and shaming the players whom he is none too impressed with.

It doesn't matter if you're a World Cup winner (Paul Pogba), recent purchase or a young player still finding their feet (Luke Shaw). If the serial winner doesn't like what he sees then expect a tongue-lashing to the media.

Check out the 10 players on the receiving end of Mourinho's criticism in the slideshow at the top.

Jose Mourinho gestures on the touchline during the English Premier League match between Burnley and Tottenham. AFP

Updated: March 08, 2020, 9:07 AM