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The last time we informed you of the awkward situation between Manchester United manager José Mourinho and his star Paul Pogba, both teams slammed their team's performance this weekend. . In just a few days, things have obviously got worse.
Yesterday, before the United League Cup game against Derby County, Mourinho told Pogba he would never return United's command. Pogba had been the team's second captain this season and had waved the field armband three times in games that the team's main captain, Antonio Valencia, had not shown. This decision would be a direct response to Pogba's public comments criticizing Mourinho's coaching.
After Derby's match, which United lost in penalty kicks, Mourinho confirmed he had retired as a second captain in Pogba, but denied any "fallout" between the two men. "The only truth is that I made the decision for Paul – to no longer be the second captain," Mourinho said. "It's exactly the same person who decided that Paul was the second captain – myself. No fallout, just decisions that I do not have to explain.
This last decision, as well as the long series of strangely negative and self-protected comments that we have seen many times at the beginning of what seems to be already a one-year fight for the Red Devils, would have bristled the United players. A report by ESPN FC, citing many unnamed personalities close to United's locker room, says the players are "angry and frustrated" with Mourinho's act. The report goes on to say that some people think that Mourinho has lost his "ability to cajole, read and communicate with his players," once his strongest asset as a manager, and that extracts from the article:
[…] Mourinho's comments about his team "in trouble" when defenders Phil Jones and Eric Bailly were left out in the penalty shootout were also disappointing. critical approach with his players. […]One source, however, said Mourinho "was fighting with his players and then asking them to play for him," another saying that the atmosphere between Mourinho and his team was difficult since the players resumed their pre-season training.
Mourinho then exacerbated the situation during the US summer tour with a series of critical comments about his players and club transfer transactions.
A source close to a member of United's first team told ESPN FC that the player had stated that he thought he had regressed at Old Trafford and that he had failed to improve under Mourinho's direction. .
Despite this seemingly wide-ranging dissatisfaction, the ESPN FCPE signals a sense of helplessness in the locker room due to the unyielding commitment of the UN board to keep Mourinho in charge.
If all that was not enough, Sky Sports then broadcast this video of what appears to be a difficult interaction between Mourinho and Pogba during this morning's training:
These images are probably the least convincing and powerful pieces of information regarding the fractured Mou-Pogba relationship. Less convincing, because it is impossible to say what is the context. Did Pogba legitimately give Mourinho the task of fixing his eyes, or was it a joke attempt to send back the whirling reports of their disagreement? If it was not a joke, what was it really about? If it was a joke, was it received as planned? It is impossible to say, from the short silent clip that is currently circulating, what is really happening. Even so, the power of the images and the seductive desire to read them exactly what we want to see, namely the drama, make the video an incredibly convincing proof of the underlying conflict of the pair, even if it is not particularly reliable.
Something must give here. What was once the weak echoes of this Chelsea campaign, in which Mourinho, increasingly shaken, apparently stung every other day on his own greatness and the lack of engagement of his players until he had the axe? ignore. Mourinho and Pogba are the two most important people on the United team, and the animosity between two fundamental figures like this one can not last. Only winning could remedy that, but United seems to lack the talent and the game system to do it to the required level.
It is extremely difficult to see how this season can continue and that Mourinho and Pogba are still at the club next year. Which means that something has to change radically or that someone has to leave. So, spread all the delicious Pogbeef you can find now, because he can not stay too long on the menu.
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