Jose angry at ‘strange’ questions about Paul Pogba

Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho twice reacted angrily to being questioned about Paul Pogba – before and after the game.

Mourinho was questioned by BT Sport about his decision to put the Frenchman on the bench as he picked Nemanja Matic, Ander Herrera and Scott McTominay in central midfield against Sevilla.

He put the blame squarely on the shoulders of the player himself after he missed the FA Cup clash with Huddersfield Town.

“McTominay is working hard every day, he is feeling good and strong, he played the last match for 90 minutes and Paul last Saturday wasn’t able to play and this is the kind of game where I think a player must feel 100 per cent,” he said.

“We are going to play with three midfielders and Paul can play in one of the two roles where Herrera and McTominay are going to play.

“Paul created some doubt by not playing on Saturday by his own decision, he was not feeling good and that created some doubt.”

Pogba then came on for the injured Herrera in the first half and once again he was asked about his decision to drop the £89m midfielder.

“In my pre-match interview, in four questions I had three about Paul, and Paul was not even playing,” the United manager grumbled. “That’s a bit strange.

“Respecting you and your work, I understand your question. But if I was one of you, I would ask if the Manchester United manager agrees that Scott McTominay had a fantastic performance, and my answer would be yes, he had a fantastic performance.

“He looked a senior player, a player with great maturity, with tactical sense, with a sense of responsibility, good in possession, good in pressing. He looked like a man with dozens and dozens of matches in the Champions League when this is only the second one.

“A fantastic player – Ever Banega – wasn’t, because he didn’t have the space to be the Banega that all of football admires. He stopped him playing.”

He then went to to describe Pogba’s performance, saying:  “Paul tried to give the team what I asked. Of course he lost a couple of possesisons, but he also gave us stability, because we had a good percentage of ball possession away from home against a good team like Sevilla.”

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