Mourinho cannot do miracles if team isn't performing- Zlatan Ibrahimovic

Current LA Galaxy striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic believes Jose Mourinho can still deliver the Premier League title for Manchester United, urging the squad to perform better. In the Swede's opinion, the Portuguese is not at fault and said he cannot do miracles when the players are not performing.

Not so far in the past, Mourinho was reported to have lost the trust of his players and the control of the locker room. His ability to deliver results was questioned but the heroic second-half performance by United against Newcastle United proved otherwise.

Mourinho signed a new contract in January this year and it is unlikely that he would leave without a fight. Zlatan believes Mourinho is caught up in wrong surroundings, being let down to froce his way out.

The former Red Devils striker told The Mirror, “I think he has the ability to win [the Premier League]. I think he is the right coach for that club, for that team. But a coach is only as good as his team, so it’s not like he can do miracles if the team is not good enough. And I feel the team is good - it’s progressing, becoming better."

United currently are eighth in the table with seven points behind leaders and reigning champions Manchester City.

“This is his third year, the players know more and more the way he wants to play and how he wants it - so I believe, yes.”

The football experts and pundits do not share the same sight of Zlatan, having written off Manchester United from even a top-four finish, keeping in view the recent form of the team. They are seven points behind Chelsea, who they face next, once the international break is over. 

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Jose Mourinho has delivered despite suffering depressions in his career quite often. With accolades from Spain, Italy, Portugal and England, and Ibrahimovic still believes Mourinho remains special.

“Why is Mourinho so special? First of all, because he’s a winner - he has this winner mentality. He does everything to win. He knows the game. He reads the game well. He manipulates, not the game, but the minds of his own players. He had a different character, this way of expressing himself," Zlatan said.

Ibrahimovic has also refuted any suggestion that Mourinho, who is reported to have suffered  a breakdown in his working relationship with a number of key men this season, is arrogant, adding, “He was confident, not arrogant, because people say ‘arrogance’, I have the same thing, people say I’m arrogant, but I don’t call it arrogant, I call it confident. Because when you are confident, it means you are not powerful, but you are pretty sure for who you are. That is not arrogance, it is different. Ignorant call it arrogant, the intelligent call it confident.”

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Elsewhere, the rumours of Mourinho being sacked in the coming days are still in the air with Zinedine Zidane or Mauricio Pochettino being the front-runners to lead the club at its helm.