Jose Mourinho, Paul Pogba will they survive Man U?

If Jose Mourinho's long career in football management is really an accidental exercise in the art of performance, his complex act still requires an enemy. Wherever he works and has worked in many places, and rarely for more than three years, he finds an antagonist to his own just and abused protagonist.

He never chooses an easy target either. It is usually a leading player, a pillar of the locker room.

At the time of his career at Manchester United, which threatened to close a few weeks ago, Mourinho briefly flirted with the decision of the club's CEO, Ed Woodward. Instead, he opted for Paul Pogba, United's most expensive signature of all time – and briefly the world record transfer. (After Sir Alex Ferguson, Mourinho's legendary predecessor, let Pogba leave United for Juventus on a free transfer.)

Pogba's relationship with Mourinho has been difficult for a while. Last season, Mourinho beat the 25-year-old French metronome for a mediocre form. Even though he was perhaps the best player in the world in his position before leaving Juve in 2016 and has always excelled for the Blues – winning the World Cup last summer as captain. According to reports, Pogba has been the subject of private reflection on a transfer to FC Barcelona since then and the Catalan club made an offer during the summer which was rejected.

On Saturday, Pogba was United's captain for the third time. Mourinho blamed a lack of motivation on his team. Pogba told reporters that tactics were not appropriate for the Red Devils in a match like that.

"We are at home and we should play a lot better against the wolves. We are here to attack, "said Pogba after the match, by the BBC. "I think the teams are scared when they see Manchester United attacking and attacking. It was our mistake.

It was a barely veiled passion in Mourinho, even though Pogba had denied so much on Twitter.

But then the obvious tension to the practice says the opposite.

It seems that Mourinho is annoyed by something that Pogba has put on Instagram – maybe a Pogba video clip with friends that has since been deleted.

In any case, Pogba was right. One of the most daunting things about Mourinho's time with United was his refusal to maximize his team's huge offensive talent and ask him to stay out and wait for opponents. It is this tactical passivity that will probably destroy it.

Mourinho, of course, did not react well to his call to the post of vice-captain. Antonio Valencia is the usual captain when he plays. According to ESPN, Mourinho told Pogba in front of the whole team that he would never take it back.

And on Tuesday, during the Carabao Cup match with Derby County, Pogba was not even named on the bench. Officially, he was rested, but Pogba's workload has hardly been excessive lately.

Of course, this is a competition that the bigger clubs do not care much, but many other regulars were in the starting lineup. And United was summarily eliminated by a second-tier team.

Evidently, Pogba is kind of good enough to lead an experienced and stacked France team to the World Cup title, but not to lead a seventh-place Premier League team in freefall.

Mourinho retains the support of the club's hierarchy by robbing Pogba of the vice-captain and defending his actions, essentially saying he does not have to defend them.

The arm wrestling may not last very long. It seems that neither Mourinho nor Pogba will probably stay so long at United. But for now, the manager has his talent, just as he had Iker Casillas at Real Madrid and Juan Mata at Chelsea – before reconciling and building a productive relationship at United, suggesting perhaps that everything was an act. Each time, he made an example of a team leader and cloakroom leader beginning a vendetta to assert his authority.

The story continues