JOSE MOURINHO SHRUGGED it off post-game but it wasn’t very convincing. He’s got some history in delivering similar tactics so the reasoning was hard to accept.

To many, it may only have been a small thing. But to others, there was something bigger at play. With Mourinho, you can never really tell.

Replacing Juan Mata in the 93rd-minute after originally introducing him as a substitute a half hour earlier seemed a very strange move.

The excuse a little far-fetched.

The rules allow six changes. I did five. I’m winning. I want the game to finish. I want to stop the game. I have to take one player. I have to take the smallest one. I know the game is going to end with long balls and throw-ins. I don’t take Ibra and Fellaini, for sure. Mata is the smallest one”.

The Spaniard’s replacement was Henrikh Mkhitaryan – hardly a player renowned for aerial ability or physicality.

After the game, former Liverpool and England midfielder Danny Murphy said Mourinho had embarrassed Mata, adding that a manager didn’t do such a thing unless he was ‘trying to send a message’.

But speaking to The42 at the launch of Sky Sports’ coverage of the new Premier League season, his former team-mate Jamie Carragher argued that we’re reading a little too much into the incident.

“Mourinho takes winning to another level”, he says.

He sees the Community Shield as a trophy, not a friendly. In this country, we’d see it as both – get Mata on, get minutes, try and get him fit. And he (Mourinho) is like ‘No, I want to win that trophy and this is what I’d do if this was a Champions League semi-final – I’d take Mata off’.

I don’t think it was so much against Mata because of what happened at Chelsea but I don’t think many other managers would’ve done it because they wouldn’t be as obsessed with winning the Community Shield. It showed how much winning – more than anything – means to Jose Mourinho.”

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Despite claiming afterwards that Mata was fine with the decision, the incident has led to many wondering whether the attacking midfielder has a future at the club.

Carragher’s colleague at Sky – Graeme Souness – thinks the history between player and manager can’t be overlooked and that because Mourinho sold Mata before, it’s inevitable something similar will happen this time around.

“Has Mata become a different player to the one that left Chelsea?” he asks.

The answer to that is no. Has Mourinho become a different manager to the one that left Chelsea? The answer is no.”

So, was Mourinho sending a message, like Danny Murphy suggested? Was it a message to the whole team? Was he laying down a marker or does he even need to?

“I don’t think he brought him off because he’s going to sell him”, Carragher says.

In that one instance, I think he wanted to win the game so much that he didn’t really care about Mata. He’s not stupid. You know there’s going to be a reaction when you sub a sub. He did it last year to Matic but I think that was different. I think that was sending a message to Matic about the way he was playing. Or what he did to John Terry in bringing him off at half-time. That is sending a message to the player. I don’t think he was sending a message to Mata. He just said ‘Right, I need to win this game, there’s two or three minutes to go – he has to go because he can’t defend long balls or whatever.”

Mourinho has also had to field questions recently about his treatment of Bastian Schweinsteiger.

The German World Cup winner has been training with the club’s reserves and frozen out of the first-team picture. His future remains unclear but Mourinho certainly does not seem keen on keeping him around.

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Carragher doesn’t see much of an issue.

“Schweinsteiger isn’t really the type to cause a problem – he’s the type who’s been a great pro all his career and a fantastic player”, he says.

But as soon as I saw him in the Premier League, you could see straight away he wasn’t suited to it. He’s had injuries, he’s into his 30s. I think the pace of the game was too much for him and not just at times – virtually every game I saw I thought that. So, I can totally understand Mourinho not wanting him as part of his planning. That’s part of football. If the manager doesn’t fancy you, you move on. It’s not to say he’s not a great player but he’s not suited to the Premier League at his age.”

Souness feels a player of Schweinsteiger’s experience deserves better, unless there’s a greater reason for Mourinho’s behaviour.

“You have to be careful”, he says.

He’ll have allies in the dressing room, no doubt. 30 guys in the dressing room and they won’t all be happy with the previous manager, they won’t all be happy with the new manager. For what he’s achieved in the game, he deserves respect. He’s got a CV that would demand respect. Unless there’s a real reason for treating him in a less than respectful way, I see it as an unnecessary thing.”

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