Man Utd midfielder critical of Jose Mourinho management style

LONDON (Agencies): Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba says current boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer “wouldn’t go against the players” like former manager Jose Mourinho.

Pogba re-joined United in 2016 for a then-world record £89m when Mourinho was manager at the Old Trafford club.

But the pair fell out by the time Mourinho was sacked in December 2018.
“Once I had a great relationship with Mourinho,” Pogba told Sky Sports.
“Everybody saw that and the next day you don’t know what happened.”

The 28-year-old France international added: “That’s the strange thing I had with Mourinho and I cannot explain to you because even I don’t know.”

Pogba helped United win the League Cup and Europa League in 2017 under Mourinho but he was stripped of the vice-captaincy by the Portuguese in September 2018.

He was also an unused substitute in a 3-1 defeat by Liverpool in what turned out to be Mourinho’s final game in charge of Manchester United before he was replaced by Solskjaer.

After Mourinho was sacked, a post on Pogba’s Twitter account said “caption this”, along with a knowing expression on his face, before being deleted.

“What I have now with Ole is different because he wouldn’t go against the players,” said Pogba. “Maybe Ole wouldn’t pick them, but it’s not like he puts them on the side like they don’t exist any more. That’s the difference between Mourinho and Ole.”

Mourinho is now manager of Tottenham, who were beaten 3-1 last Sunday by a United side containing Pogba.

Following the match, Mourinho was unhappy with comments from Solskjaer criticising Spurs forward Son Heung-min.

“I am sure Mourinho said something that made people speak. That’s what he does,” said Pogba. “We got the result that we wanted. Ole knows it and we enjoyed that moment.

“We know Mourinho and what he likes. We don’t need this. We just focus on us. “We won the game, he lost the game, and he doesn’t want to speak about the game.” He added: “Everybody knows it. It’s very Mourinho.”