"The way that people who don't understand football analyse football is with stats."

Jose Mourinho did not take kindly to being reminded of his side's shortcomings in their 3-1 Manchester Derby defeat.

But, on the topic of statistics, here are a few he might like to consider.

Not since the 1990-1991 campaign have Manchester United lost four of their opening 12 Premier League games.

What is more, this is the first time in 41 years the Red Devils have had a negative goal difference at this stage of the season.

Is that just the Mourinho way? Not exactly, as United have kept just one clean sheet along the way, compared to eight at the same point last term.

The fixture list threw the Portuguese something of a curveball, Manchester City interrupting what had been a more promising run of three consecutive wins against Everton, Bournemouth, and Juventus.

There is absolutely no shame in losing to the hot favourites for the title, yet it served as another reminder of some of the problems that do not only plague United against the very top teams.

Mourinho has been slating United 

Nobody is more frustrated than Mourinho himself, who spent the summer publicly airing his concerns that the club had not recruited well enough, signing only Fred, Diogo Dalot, and Lee Grant.

The Sun claim that in conversations with his friends, he has gone even further by saying that everything at United is "second rate".

The 55-year-old is specifically unhappy with recruitment, scouting and the failure to negotiate for top players.

Mourinho is also angry at their lack of organisation when it comes to travel arrangements, with United having arrived late for games at Old Trafford at least twice this season because of rush-hour traffic.

Now, it's worth noting that this works both ways. The board are not entirely happy with him either.

The same reports that United will fire the former Chelsea boss if he fails to guide them to the top four, as they continue to eye Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino.

The Argentine is unlikely to be available before the end of the season at the very earliest and Daniel Levy has made it clear he will not entertain any approaches from other clubs.

Sacking Mourinho would mean paying him a year's salary of £15million.

Either way, it is apparent that there are definite tensions at United which will not go away until results start picking up.

Do you still think Mourinho's the right man for United? Have your say in the comments.