Dugarry lashes out at Man United's Mourinho, Ibrahimovic

Former France football star Christophe Dugarry has come down heavily on Manchester United head coach Jose Mourinho and their Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, saying the Portuguese is a tactical failure who has lost the plot and the latter is as mobile as a training ground cone.

The United duo have come under the spotlight after the club's three-game losing streak, which has seen them beaten by Manchester City, Feyenoord and Watford in successive fixtures.

And Dugarry on Monday claimed the pair don't have the necessary qualities to make the Manchester club a success.

Speaking on his show on French radio station RMC on Monday, the ex-Bordeaux, Milan and Barcelona frontman stated his belief that Mourinho has been living on reputation for the past six years, since leading Inter Milan past Barcelona in the 2010 Champions League semi-finals.

"I get the feeling Mourinho's last tactical success was that Champions League game between Inter and Barcelona," goal.com quoted the 44-year-old as saying.

"He has won some titles since, but I think he has lost the plot. He believes he has become more important than the team. Tactically, I don't think he puts anything in place. Apart from the players, who have changed, it is the same organisation as last season under Louis van Gaal," he added.

"He always blames the referee or their opponents' good fortune. There is no self-criticism."

Dugarry went on to claim that Ibrahimovic is far too immobile for the role of target man in the United line-up, despite the Swede having netted four goals in five English Premier League (EPL) appearances to date.

"Ibra is a training cone," he added. "People talk about his stats, but he's a cone. When you see Zlatan's matches, it is not possible to do that. This is English football, which goes at 2,000 kilometres an hour."

United began their first campaign under Mourinho with four straight victories but have since slipped to seventh place in the Premier League and also find themselves playing catch-up in their Europa League group following the loss in the Netherlands last week.

They head to Northampton Town on Wednesday for an EFL Cup third-round fixture, with Mourinho expected to make wholesale changes to his regular line-up.

--IANS

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