Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho claims he should complain publicly about injuries more often to earn sympathy in what appears to be another jibe aimed at Chelsea’s Antonio Conte.

Mourinho criticised the Italian last month after United’s Champions League win over Benfica, referring to managers who “cry” repeatedly about selection problems.

Tension between the two men has continued to simmer ahead of a crunch clash between the teams at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.

United will travel to face the Premier League titleholders without sidelined central midfielders Paul Pogba, Michael Carrick and Marouane Fellaini, among others.

And the Portuguese appears keen to try and engage Conte in the ”mind games” made famous by United predecessor Alex Ferguson.

Claiming United have not received the credit they deserve for coping with a mounting injury list, he said: “It’s my fault because I should cry every week about our injuries and remind everybody, day after day, or press conference after press conference.

“So it’s my fault. It’s my decision. It’s my way of dealing with problems. It’s my way of trying to motivate and respect and give confidence to the players that are going to replace those people. But maybe I have to reconsider my profile. I know that I moan about a lot of things, but I don’t with injuries and probably I should.

“I think any other manager would be speaking about Pogba every day. ‘Oh, I don’t have Pogba. Oh, when will I have Pogba? Oh, 10 matches without Pogba. Oh, all the Champions League group phase without Pogba. Oh, all the big matches, against Liverpool, against Chelsea, against Spurs without Pogba. Oh.’ I don’t speak about Pogba one single time. It’s only when you ask me about his situation.

“And it’s not just Pogba. It’s Pogba, it’s Fellaini, it’s Carrick, it’s Ibra [Zlatan Ibrahimovic], it’s Marcos Rojo. It’s a big group of players. So I think we are doing very, very well.”

-This story originally appeared on SportsClub.co.za