Paul Pogba has delivered a damning review of Jose Mourinho’s man-management skills, explaining how the Tottenham manager exiles players without explanation and his predictable reaction to defeats.
Pogba and Mourinho had a tempestuous relationship at Old Trafford, coming to head shortly before the latter was sacked when cameras picked up a tense exchange on the training ground.
“What I have now with Ole is different, he wouldn’t go against the players,” Pogba told Sky Sports. “He wouldn’t go against the players.
“Maybe Ole [Gunnar Solskjaer] wouldn’t pick them, but it’s not like he puts them on the side like they don’t exist anymore. That’s the difference between Mourinho and Ole.
“Once I had a great relationship with Mourinho, everybody saw that, and the next day you don’t know what happened. That’s the strange thing I had with Mourinho and I cannot explain to you because even I don’t know. So, yeah.”
Mourinho called out the likes of Luke Shaw and others during his time at Manchester United, infamously accusing the left-back not of having any footballing intelligence. Shaw this season has been one of the Premier League’s standout players.
The veteran manager’s methods have been in play at Spurs, calling out Tanguy Ndombele last season, before the midfielder became one of his star performers, and recently questioned loanee Gareth Bale’s efforts in the loss to Arsenal.
Pogba continued: “Maybe [Solskjaer’s methods work] because he is a bit closer to the people.
“Every coach has their own way to coach and deals with players, and as a player, you have to adapt. Sometimes it doesn’t suit you and sometimes it does.
“Ole has helped Luke a lot, it was a difficult season with Luke and Mourinho, and he has proved he has the quality he always had and the trust of the manager.”
Pogba recently got one over on his former manager as United came from behind to beat Spurs.
Mourinho’s post-match reaction focused on Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s comments about Heung-min Son in a classic example of diversionary tactics after a loss.
Pogba predicted as such, adding: “I don’t know what happened, I’m sure Mourinho said something that would make people speak, that’s what he does.
“We got the result we wanted, Ole knows it and we enjoyed that moment because we know Mourinho and we know what he likes. We don’t need this [war of words], we just focus on ourselves.
“We won the game, he lost the game and he doesn’t want to speak about the game, he wants to speak about the dad of someone, that’s what he does. Everybody knows him, it’s very Mourinho.”
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