Jose Mourinho should have been backed by Manchester United in the transfer window, says Jamie Carragher

'Mourinho is a manager for today, not tomorrow. Ed Woodward brought him in and knew that'

Jamie Carragher believes Jose Mourinho should have been backed in the recent transfer window, arguing that the Portuguese is a man of the moment who requires experienced, top-class players to deliver instant results on the pitch.

Mourinho made clear his desire to bring in a centre-back over the summer as Manchester United were linked to the likes of Toby Alderweireld, Harry Maguire and even Diego Godin.

But United ultimately failed to sign a new defender, and the side’s shortcomings at the back were left exposed on Sunday afternoon as Mourinho’s men succumbed to an embarrassing 3-2 defeat by Brighton.

Speaking on Monday Night Football, Carragher argued that Sunday’s loss at the Amex Stadium – in what he described as the “worst defensive performance” of Mourinho’s career – could have been avoided.

“[Given] what’s happened in the summer, if performances like that continue, I don’t think Jose Mourinho will be manager of Manchester United next season,” Carragher said. “He may not be manager at some time this season.

“I think there will be coaches up and down the country looking at what Mourinho said in the summer about bringing players in at centre-back. He’s spent £30m on two of them and he’s got two England internationals in [Phil] Jones and [Chris] Smalling. They might be saying ‘Coach them, make them better’. For almost every coach I’d say that’d be right, but not for Mourinho.

“Mourinho is a manager for today, not tomorrow. Ed Woodward brought him in and knew that.

“When you get Mourinho, it’s all about winning right now – that’s why he brought Zlatan [Ibrahimovic], [Alexis] Sanchez, [Nemanja] Matic. That’s why he’s looking for centre-halves who are 29, 30. Now you can’t pull the plug on him and say ‘Okay we’re going to go the united way again or buy younger players’. You’ve got the wrong manager. If you’re going to do that you might as well get rid of him. There’s no point.

“So my problem is that they should have backed him with what he wanted because no-one is enjoying watching that [the Brighton defeat]. Mourinho, the people in the stands, watching the centre-backs perform like that: you can’t have that for the rest of the season. So that’s why he should have been backed. You have to back him in that position. And like I said, I don’t see it lasting into the new season.”