Manchester United fans have had to endure a tumultuous day today, with news breaking in the evening that Jose Mourinho told Paul Pogba that he will never captain Man United again following his comments after the Wolves draw at the weekend.
This bad news was compounded by their side's dramatic exit from the Carabao cup at the hands of Frank Lampard's Derby, but despite this Jose Mourinho seemed unperturbed by the negative feeling surrounding his side in the post match interview.
The Portugese did not appear his usual grumpy self following the defeat, and when the conversation turned towards Paul Pogba, the 55-year-old made the decision to strip Pogba of the vice-captaincy seem like the most normal and unremarkable thing in the world:
No. The only truth is that I made the decision of Pogba not to be the second-captain anymore. No fall out. The person who made the decision to be second-captain was also me. Just one decision which I don’t have to explain.
Maybe the reason Mourinho feels he doesn't have to explain the decision is that it is obvious that it is because of Pogba's comments following the Wolves draw at the weekend, in which the World Cup winner seemed to slightly criticise the way in which United approached the game:
I’m not the manager, I cannot, like, say that but … obviously we should show more option of playing but I cannot say that because I’m a player. That’s my way of thinking - we should move better, we should move more, yeah.
I know I lost the ball (for their goal). Then there were a few more mistakes and not a lot of movement in front because we didn’t really put them in trouble. We are at home and we should play much better against Wolves. When we are at home we should attack, attack, attack. That’s Old Trafford. We are here to attack. I think teams are scared when they see Man United attacking and attacking. That was our mistake.
Pogba was not in the squad for Tuesday's match, though to be fair, this would've been the ideal time to give the midfielder a rest following a tiring summer in Russia. Irrespective of that, you can be sure that this isn't the last we'll hear about the volatile relationship between the pair.
