MANCHESTER UNITED MANAGER Jose Mourinho gave short shrift to a question on Tuesday about how he can get the best out of Paul Pogba.
Pogba is set to start Wednesday’s Champions League match against Valencia, having missed out on a place in the starting XI for Premier League games against Arsenal and Fulham after being taken off in the 2-2 draw with Southampton.
Mourinho was asked what he needs to do to coax consistently good performances out of the World Cup winner, but he was not happy with the line of questioning.
“I don’t think your question goes in the direction of what I want to answer or listen,” he told a news conference. ”I don’t like your question. You can put the question from another direction. I don’t like the direction.”
When asked what he hopes for from Pogba at Mestalla, Mourinho replied: ”I’m looking for him to play well and to have a good impact in the game and a good impact in the team, a team with many players that don’t have many miles in their legs.
“I hope that people like Paul and a couple of others that are normally in the team, and have the miles that players need to be at a good level, can have a good impact in the team.”
Pressure on Mourinho was eased somewhat with Saturday’s 4-1 win over Fulham at the end of a week in which his agent, Jorge Mendes, issued a statement insisting the club is “very happy” with his client.
Mourinho, though, claimed it was nothing to do with him, saying: ”I’ve nothing to do with the statement. It’s not my statement. I didn’t know [it was coming] and I don’t care about it.”
Subscribe to our new podcast, Heineken Rugby Weekly on The42, here:
