Manchester United tactician has insisted that the players have given him vote of confidence, while responding that only dishonest players based their performance on whether the liked their trainer.
The Portuguese tactician is currently feeling the heat after failing to secure a win in his last three league games.
The Manchester club host fourth place Arsenal side on Wednesday night hoping to reignite their desire for the fourth position. A defeat could see the Old Trafford club 11 points adrift from the high flying Unai Emery’s side.
“If you think a player only plays when, in your words, he is behind the manager, what I have to call these players or, in this case, what you are calling them, is dishonest,” he told UK newspapers.
“A football player is paid – and very well paid – to be a football professional. What is that?
“It is to train every day to his limits, to play every game to his limits, to behave socially according to the nature of his job, to respect the millions of fans around the world and to respect the hierarchies in the club.
“If you say that a player plays well or bad because of how good a manager is, you are calling the player dishonest.”