Boys to men: Mourinho challenges United players

Jose Mourinho has demanded a response from Manchester United following their humiliating defeat to Chelsea, challenging his players to show they are “men”.

Mourinho endured an embarrassing return to Stamford Bridge as former club Chelsea piled on the misery in a 4-0 Premier League rout on Sunday.

United were put to the sword early, conceding a goal to Pedro inside 30 seconds before Gary Cahill, Eden Hazard and N’Golo Kante consigned the visitors to a third defeat of the season, leaving Mourinho and Co. seventh in the table.

United have no time to lick their wounds, with arch-rivals Manchester City awaiting in the fourth round of the EFL Cup on Wednesday.

And Mourinho insists there is nowhere to hide for his players with games continuing to come thick and fast.

“I would prefer to play [next] in the Premier League. It’s a bad feeling in the Premier League. With the combination of results, the gap to the top is six points,” Mourinho told MUTV.

“We had a very difficult period of matches. We lost points this week and, even in the match when we played phenomenal against Stoke [a 1-1 draw], we lost points then. Now we need to win matches.

“I am not saying they are easy ones, but we have Burnley, we have Swansea, West Ham, Sunderland, Middlesbrough – matches that we need to win.

“The top four, top five, they have to play between themselves like we did this week against Chelsea and Liverpool.

“They are going to lose points too, so we are in the run, but there is no way to hide.

“We are really, really sad, but again this is not for kids, this is for men and…we have to be men and work for the next one.”