Manchester United news: Jose Mourinho warned about Luke Shaw and Chris Smalling comments

The United boss publically criticised the pair for missing the Swansea win

Mourinho complained the pair weren't putting their bodies on the line (Getty)

Jose Mourinho has been warned he must show more empathy to players with “personal problems” after he publically criticised Manchester United pair Luke Shaw and Chris Smalling.

The United boss hammered the England duo over their perceived unwillingness to play through the pain for Sunday’s 3-1 victory away at Swansea.

Mourinho was left having to field a makeshift defence of Ashley Young, Phil Jones, Marcos Rojo and Matteo Darmian.

The former Chelsea boss was seething at Shaw and Smalling for apparently betraying United’s “culture” and suggested he only wanted players in his squad who were willing to put their “bodies on the line”.

Shaw is still dealing with issues attributed to the double leg fracture that kept him out for 10 months last season while Smalling has missed United’s last four games with a foot injury after taking a pain-killing injection in order to play against Chelsea last month.

England manager Gareth Southgate defended the pair this week, saying he had never known either to be “flaky” and now head of the Professional Footballers’ Association Gordon Taylor has voiced his displeasure at Mourinho’s comments.

“I was disappointed by that [Mourinho’s comments] because, knowing the individuals, they are both highly thought of,” said Taylor at a VSI Sporting Directors governance dinner on Tuesday.

“They’ve got personal problems which I don’t need to relay, but sometimes a manager needs to be a psychologist as well, and also to be a counsellor because you can’t treat everybody in the team [the same], every manager must know that. Every player in a team is different.

“When you see what happened with Welsh football and Gary Speed, that brings it home to you that somebody can look on top of the world, with no problems, but [in reality] it’s quite different and that’s why we have a 24-hour counselling service.

“We get some 200 calls a year to those lines because a player could be out of the team, he could be injured. It’s a short-term career and we’re all human beings.

“I think that’s what management these days has to be. I’m not talking about being soft, I’m talking about being understanding.”