The former Liverpool forward revealed the France
international was frustrated with his teammates in the 1-0
defeat to Feyenoord.
Paul Pogba is frustrated by Manchester United’s lack of
style under Jose Mourinho, claims former Liverpool striker
Dirk Kuyt.
the world’s most expensive footballer to flourish, Feyenoord
veteran Kuyt witnessed Pogba go into meltdown as the
Dutch club beat United 1-0 in the Europa League on
Thursday night.
Now, after winning the first three Premier League games of
his Old Trafford tenure, the United boss finds himself
experiencing what Sir Alex Ferguson used to call “a cracked
badge week.”
The Reds travel to Watford today - and a third successive
defeat following the loss in Rotterdam and a derby-day
humbling at the hands of Pep Guardiola last weekend - will
plunge Mourinho into a crisis.
And Kuyt’s observations about £89million Pogba illustrate
how the Frenchman is suffering.
He said: “All I heard during the first half against United was
Pogba screaming and shouting at his own players.
“And when it was half-time, he was shouting at them all
even louder.
“He was screaming at them, about the things which were
not going right for the team.
“The thing about United is that they only know one way to
play.
“We waited for them to attack and stayed very compact as
a team because we knew that if you attack them from the
beginning then you run into a knife.
“They love to counter-attack. But, if you stop them doing
that, then you know that you will always get chances
against them.”
Even Ferguson had days to forget, when a defeat would
prompt newspaper sub-editors to draw up the famous club
crest on their back pages with a fault line running straight
through the heart of the Red Devil.
Now Mourinho knows the feeling. Pogba is struggling to live
up to the hype following his world-record arrival from
Juventus - and he isn’t the only one.
Mourinho has to find a tactical system that will also allow
captain Wayne Rooney and £30million new boy Henrikh
Mkhitaryan to excel.
But first United must win at Vicarage Road. And the three
points have to be delivered with a flourish to prove that two
defeats in the space of five days were evidence of teething
troubles rather than toothlessness.
Anything less is unthinkable. A crisis, just five games into
the new campaign, wasn’t what United’s owners bought
into when they sacked Louis van Gaal with champagne
stains still on the FA Cup.
The players Mourinho inherited finished outside the top four
only on goal difference.
And on his arrival he was allowed to lavish £160million on
Pogba, Mkhitaryan and Eric Bailly, while Zlatan Ibrahimovic
was handed a £250,000-a-week contract.
Mourinho’s failure to find a place in his team for teenage
sensation Marcus Rashford in the early weeks of the season
has also raised further doubts about his willingness to trust
young players.
The message from the boardroom is that there are no plans
to bolster the United squad during the January transfer
window.
Mourinho hailed himself as the Special One when he arrived
at Chelsea 12 years ago - and now he’s expected to prove
that’s still the case.
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