Manchester United have sacked manager Jose Mourinho after a dreadful series of results, the Premier League club announced on Tuesday.

The 55-year-old Portuguese’s last match in charge was the 3-1 defeat by league leaders Liverpool on Sunday which left them 19 points behind their opponents.

“Manchester United announces that manager Jose Mourinho has left the club with immediate effect,” a club statement said.

According to Reuters review after Sunday’s match against Liverpool, United have problems at the back, an area where Mourinho teams have traditionally been strong.

The article says that the manager has bemoaned the failure of United’s chief executive Ed Woodward to sign a central defender in the summer but Victor Lindelof and Eric Bailly, the unconvincing pair on duty at Anfield, were both Mourinho signings.

Which raises the key question of whether the board will trust Mourinho to carry out any ‘reset’.