Jose Mourinho charged with ‘improper conduct’

The Football Association has charged Jose Mourinho with improper conduct after the Manchester United manager’s dismissal in Sunday’s draw with West Ham.

Mourinho has been given until 6pm on Thursday to respond to the charge, which comes after he was sent off for the second time this season.

Referee Jon Moss disciplined the Portuguese when he reacted by angrily kicking a bottle of water on the touchline after Paul Pogba’s booking for diving in the first half of the 1-1 draw.

He has this season already served one touchline ban, having disputed a decision during United’s 0-0 home draw with Burnley in October.

That followed disciplinary action taken against him for comments made about referee Anthony Taylor before their Premier League fixture at Liverpool, which also finished 0-0.

“Jose Mourinho has been charged following Manchester United’s game against West Ham United on Sunday (27 November 2016),” read the full statement from the FA.

“It is alleged his behaviour in or around the 27th minute of the game amounts to improper conduct.

“He has until 6pm on 1 December 2016 to respond to the charge.”

Mourinho chose not to comment after the game in which Zlatan Ibrahimovic cancelled out Diafra Sakho’s second-minute finish shortly before the manager was sent off.

His assistant Rui Faria instead said: “Everyone saw his frustration was shown in a situation where it should have been a free-kick for us, but it finished with a yellow card to Paul.

“There are maybe reasons to express some frustration. After that there are also things that are part of the game and the referee took the decision on the sending-off, but everything that comes from our perspective is it should be a decision for the opposite side.”

Their latest dropped points leave sixth-placed United 11 behind league leaders Chelsea, who sacked Mourinho last December after an unexpectedly poor start to the season.

The return of 20 points from their opening 13 fixtures is their worst start to a season since 1989-90.