Paul Pogba engages in an extensive interview with Sky Sports not to mention José Mourinho, the manager who brought him to Manchester United in 2016. The relationship between the French midfielder and the Portuguese coach was initially very good, but overnight the chemistry was no longer there. Pogba feels a lot more comfortable with the way of working of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who succeeded Mourinho at Old Trafford more than two years ago.
“What I have now with Ole is different, he would not turn against his players”, is the telling conclusion of Pogba. “Ole might not draw on certain players, but then he doesn’t ignore them as if they don’t exist at all. That’s the big difference between Ole and Mourinho.” Despite this, the midfielder’s feeling about his former coach has sometimes been different. “The bond with Mourinho was once very good, everyone could see that. The next day, however, you did not know what was going to happen. That is the strange thing that happened between me and Mourinho. I cannot give an explanation about that, because I don’t even know what happened. “
Pogba sees similarities with the situation of Luke Shaw, who also seems to have revived under Solskjaer. The left back received a reference from Mourinho that he did not have sufficient football intelligence. “The method that Solskjaer uses may work better because it is closer to people,” the Frenchman is looking for an explanation. “Every coach has his own way of working and dealing with players. As a player you have to go along with that. And sometimes there is a click with the trainer and sometimes not. Ole has been very important to Luke in any case, after his difficult period under Mourinho. He now shows that he always has qualities, “said Pogba.
Mourinho aimed his arrows at Solskjaer after Tottenham Hotspur’s defeat against Manchester United (1-3). Edinson Cavani seemed to have put the visitors in the lead, but the goal was canceled due to a foul by Scott McTominay on Heung-Min Son shortly before. The attacker remained on the ground for a long time, much to Solskjaer’s anger. “We shouldn’t be cheated like that,” he grumbled Sky Sports. “To be honest, if I saw my son lying on the ground for three minutes and then he needs ten teammates to get up, I wouldn’t feed him.”
Solskjaer’s harsh words fell very badly to Mourinho. “Sonny is very lucky that his dad is a better person than Ole. I’ve already told Ole what I think of his comment. As a father, and I am a father, you should always feed your children. If you have to steal for that, then you do. I am very, very disappointed about this. ”At the press conference after the game in North London, Solskjaer emphasized that his relationship with Mourinho is still very good, despite the altercation.
The incident between the two managers is reasons for Pogba to reinforce his opinion about Mourinho once again. “I’m not sure what happened, but I’m sure Mourinho has said something that has been talked about extensively. That’s how he works. But we don’t need this kind of bickering, we are only concerned with ourselves. We won. and Mourinho lost. In such a case he would rather not talk about the game, no, then it is about someone else’s father.