Pogba Struggles as United’s Defence Crumbles

Published 02/01/2018, 9:44 AM EST

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Manchester United had a nightmarish night against Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley. They went down 2-0 following an embarrassing display. Christian Eriksen put United a goal down after just 11 seconds. The final nail in the coffin was an own goal from Phil Jones that doubled Spurs’ advantage. United failed to make an impression the match at all, this resulted in Alexis Sanchez’s United debut crashing down. However, the fall guy for the match was Paul Pogba.

The Frenchman’s performance was so poor that he was substituted off in the 63rd minute. Felliani was the man who replaced him in the midfield. Apparently, United manager Jose Mourinho was involved in a heated row with Pogba during the match. The Red Devils struggled to create clear-cut chances at Wembley.

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The Nemanja Matic and Paul Pogba partnership in central midfield were vastly outnumbered. Before the France international left the pitch, he was involved in a heated discussion with the manager. Mourinho was clearly unhappy with the 24-year-old’s positioning.

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However, even though he berated Pogba’s performance, Mourinho did not criticise the midfielder to the media. When asked why he made the substitution, the Portuguese manager dodged a bullet. He said, “Just change for Fellaini. Try different qualities with different players”. Even though they lost, United are still hanging on to second in the Premier League. However, Tottenham have closed the gap to five points.

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Mourinho also had strong words for newcomer Alexis Sanchez, saying that he was ‘dropping too deep’. The Chilean’s Mancheste United debut was nothing to write home about as Mauricio Pochettino’s side ran riot. Sanchez began the game on the left flank before deviating towards the middle in the second half. However, he was not comfortable in either position. Mourinho was satisfied with Sanchez’s effort but admitted that the Chilean was dropping too deep to retrieve the ball. Sanchez’s strategy played right into Spurs’ hands.

 

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Dhruv George

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Dhruv George is a senior Formula One and NASCAR analyst for EssentiallySports, having authored nearly 12000 articles spanning different sports like F1, NASCAR, Tennis, NFL, and eSports. He graduated with a PG Diploma in Journalism from the Xavier Institute of Communications. Dhruv has also conducted interviews with F1 driver Pierre Gasly and Moto2 rider Tony Arbolino.
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