Paul Pogba wants Manchester United to attack teams. He doesn’t think it is acceptable, particularly at Old Trafford, to sit back and play a “we may win with a decent counter-attack, but at least we shouldn’t lose” kind of mentality.
More than 70,000 match-going United fans agree with him every home game. Millions more, plastic and otherwise, also agree with him from the comfort of their armchairs, sofas or local pubs.
In fact, the only person in the world, or so it would seem, who disagrees with him, is José Mourinho.
If reports are true and, in this case, the report can be found in The Guardian which usually finds some smoke before declaring a fire, then Mourinho has stripped Pogba of the vice-captaincy for his foolishness in speaking the truth about how the team should be playing football.
Where Pogba was wrong was in speaking out of school about his team’s tactics and appearing to disagree with his manager. That should all have been kept in-house.
Mourinho, in any previous incarnation, would have slipped into the persona of Napoleon or Attila the Hun with relative ease. He is a typical dictator who tries to rule, in the main, by fear.
He has bullied Luke Shaw, he discarded Henrikh Mkhitaryan shortly after buying him. He is very single-minded and still appears to think that methods which brought him success ten years ago will still bring success today.
He feels that anybody who holds a different view to that of himself is an enemy, even in his own camp. He feels that anybody having the temerity to actually express those views is a traitor. This is why Pogba is no longer the vice-captain at United and, whether true or not, this situation has swung the pendulum of popularity back in the Frenchman’s favour.
Mourinho had started to win a few fans back with victories away in the Champion’s League and then, again away, at Burnley and Watford. He appeared to have turned the corner having seen his team beaten by Brighton away and then Tottenham Hotspur at Old Trafford.
Another of Mourinho’s detractors, although there is little proof of any major fall out
But now he has slipped, very quickly, back into his old ways and Pogba has rejoined the list of players he can’t manage which already includes Cristiano Ronaldo, Sergio Ramos, Eden Hazard along with players he has never got the best from including Kevin De Bruyne, Mo Salah, Alexis Sánchez and Anthony Martial.
His explanation of the Pogba farce stopped short of admitting there had been a fall out and was, basically, just that Mourinho is the manager so he can do these things. No reason was given. Then again, Napoleon never explained to anybody why he invaded Russia in the winter months. Dictators don’t make mistakes, other people do.
So how will this all end? There are two possible scenarios. Mourinho will stay which will see Pogba leave next summer as he will find it impossible to keep a lid on things for another season.
Alternatively, Mourinho will go and, as he is already starting to display his third season meltdown habit, this is now probably more likely.
Again he is blaming the team when they don’t win. He has even said, after the Derby game to be exact, that he is a pro-active manager. When did that happen? When did he become the initiator rather than the follower?
If he is so pro-active why couldn’t his team, which had a value of more than £300 million, beat Derby County, of The Championship, at Old Trafford?
Sorry José but the excuse that everybody else is doing it wrong despite your instructions which, of course if followed, would result in victory every time, is now wearing a little thin.
Unfortunately, the man who was a breath of fresh air when he arrived in the Premier League back in 2005, is now exhaling stale cigarette smoke, used and second hand, nothing is original any more.
Mourinho being good, albeit 14 years ago!
It is now Mourinho who has gone from being the new kid on the block to being the dinosaur who can’t/won’t change his tactics, training or management style. Not only that but he also stubbornly refuses to admit that he could possibly be doing anything wrong preferring instead to remind us all, at every available opportunity, how good he used to be and demanding respect for his past.
There is an old saying which goes, “yesterday is history, tomorrow’s a mystery so all we have is today”. Mourinho would do well to heed that old adage and start looking at the present rather than constantly living in his own past.
WHY SAY ANYTHING? 
Still we don’t see much of the brilliant Pogba on the pitch. Way too much talking on social media. He is trouble. I believe that SAF had seen all that coming from him and that’s why he let him go to Italy.
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