Deco has told Manchester United's players that they need to accept Jose Mourinho's public criticism of them.

The Portuguese coach has singled out Luke Shaw, Jesse Lingard and Henrikh Mkhitaryan during his first five months in charge of the Red Devils.

Deco is well aware of Mourinho's methods having played under the manager at Porto, and the 39-year-old believes that public criticism is something that the players need to deal with.

"If you are playing at a club like Chelsea, United, Barcelona, Madrid - the big clubs - you need to be prepared to do your best," The Independent quotes Deco as saying. "If you want to play at a high level you need to be able deal with everything.

"I don't like the coach criticising me, but he knows better than us players and sometimes he does that not to pressure players but to give something different. He knows better than us, he's with them every day and of course the players don't like it but sometimes it works."

United are currently sixth in the Premier League table following four wins, one draw and two defeats.

The Red Devils will face arch rivals Liverpool at Anfield after the international break on October 17.