Why both Jose Mourinho and Paul Pogba need to leave Man Utd

There’s a storm brewing over the skies over Old Trafford, centring on Paul Pogba and José Mourinho.

The EFL Cup defeat to Derby County is the latest in the many blows Manchester United have suffered this season, and the team selection that saw Paul Pogba dropped was in fact the least dramatic incident of the night. The Frenchman spent the night in the stands wearing all white and largely smiling and chatting with friends and fellow team-mates that were being “rested.”

See, just a few hours before the game, it had come out that there was a huge bust-up between Mourinho and Pogba following on from Pogba’s comments after the weekend’s draw with Wolves. “I think teams are scared when they see Manchester United attacking and attacking,” Pogba said, adding that failing to attack “was our mistake.”

Mourinho didn’t take kindly to this and allegedly told Pogba he would never captain United again. When asked about this after the match, Mourinho denied that there had been a bust-up but did confirm that Paul was no longer the “second captain,” before insisting that such a decision was perfectly within his remit as manager.

Despite Mourinho’s insistence there had been no break up, there’s no smoke without fire and Old Trafford looks like a shisha lounge right about now. It’s clear the pair have had a huge falling out, and it seems as though we’re headed for a confrontation where one man has to leave if the other one is to stay.

One could argue that Mourinho would be stupid to force out someone of Pogba’s talent, but the Portuguese would likely reason that a player half as talented who worked twice as hard would be useful to him (this is the guy who spent all summer trying to sign Willian, after all). So, should United appease Mourinho by selling Pogba?

Absolutely not, but Pogba should leave Manchester United.

Ever since his debut season ended with him helping United lift the Europa League, it seems as though Pogba has endured mountains of disrespect from the Manchester United manager (and vast swathes of the fanbase, too). The manager’s criticisms of Pogba’s performances are so bizarre because they single the Frenchman out for mistakes that basically every midfielder at United makes.

When Pogba was dropped last season, for Scott McTominay, it was ostensibly for his poor performances (especially vs. Arsenal) but Nemanja Matic had been just as bad if not worse than Pogba, yet he stayed on the pitch. When fans criticise Pogba for appearing to not try enough or not improving enough, they ignore that everyone bar Jesse Lingard has failed to improve under José Mourinho.

That’s not to say Pogba is a saint, the Frenchman is happy to stoke the flames of conflict and every time he speaks to the press he manages to find a way to take a shot at José Mourinho. Now, nothing Pogba says is incorrect; United should be more attacking and they should prepare more thoroughly and they should just, well, be a better side. But there’s ways to communicate that which aren’t so disrespectful and Pogba doesn’t seem interested in that.

So he should leave. He should force his exit from Manchester United as soon as he can. Why? Because this club cannot match his ambitions, which is a weird thing to say about Manchester United, the 20-times Champions of England. But so much of that ravenous hunger for more trophies was built off the back of Sir Alex Ferguson, the greatest manager of all-time.

Once the great Scot left, people have had to come to terms with the fact that United, as a club, aren’t really that interested in winning. The Glazer family who own the club, and Ed Woodward who runs it, are mostly interested in making money. And whilst trophies are important to that, all that really matters in terms of maintaining a massive cash flow is that the club finishes top four every season and manages to be reasonably competitive in the Champions League (at least quarter-finals every season).

The club are happy to spend money; Mourinho has thrown a fortune at his squad – but will they spend in a coherent and logical way to build a team capable of challenging for trophies? That’s not easy, and United don’t seem to be interested in making the effort to do it. They hire idiosyncratic managers (Van Gaal and Mourinho) and then don’t give them the very specific skill-sets they ask for.

Paul Pogba wants to win. He got a taste for it with Juventus, in his first season back at Old Trafford, and now with France. He won the World Cup, and now he wants more; he wants that high again (and again) and he’s simply not going to get it at Manchester United. Yes, getting rid of Mourinho would help, but the Portuguese isn’t the root cause of the problem for Manchester United. His departure wouldn’t make the club suddenly the kind of relentlessly ambitious side Pogba wants and needs.

If Barcelona’s interest in Pogba is genuine (and who knows if it is) then the Frenchman should try and make the move happen. Barcelona are a club that, until Leo Messi retires at least, are obsessed with winning. They begin every season demanding the Treble and even if you win La Liga (losing just once!) and the Copa del Rey as they did last season, it’s deemed only an okay season. Meanwhile Manchester United are just happy to have finished second, 15 points behind Manchester City.

Puts it in perspective, right?

However, this is not to say that Manchester United should “back” José Mourinho and get rid of Pogba to appease the Portuguese. Because that is absolutely not the case. Mourinho should be sacked as soon as humanly possible. Before the weekend’s game with West Ham, really.

José Mourinho was the best coach in the world 13 years ago. But when Pep Guardiola changed football in 2008, illuminating the attacking side of the game and the virtue of expansive play and technical players, football changed and Mourinho got left behind. His success at Inter felt very much like the death rattle of the “old age” – a collection of bruisers aided by a literal act of god, won the Champions League in 2010.

But since then? Real Madrid destroyed him, really. The level of toxicity he had to create in order to level the playing field with Guardiola’s Barcelona was so insufferably painful that it consumed him as well (and the fact that he won just one league title out of three attempts). He joined Madrid looking like Michael Corleone from The Godfather and left Los Blancos looking like Paulie from Goodfellas.

Everything about Mourinho is outmoded. His tactics (unless he pulls one of his special “gameplan” tactics out for nullifying a specific opponent) are useless and flat, and his man-management skills are bizarrely out of touch for such a charismatic guy.

Mourinho hasn’t figured out that his super macho, overly aggressive approach to man-management simply doesn’t work with younger players. Look at how Eric Bailly, Victor Lindelof and Anthony Martial’s form suffers when Mourinho berates them in public and then drops them from the side for a single mistake, look at Pogba! They don’t respond to unfocused aggression; they need a softer approach and more defined tactical instructions.

Mourinho can’t provide either of those, and worse, even though he professes his desire to be at United long-term his transfer thinking is still so obviously looking at the short-term. Toby Alderweireld, Ivan Perisic, Willian; his transfer targets are all hovering around 30 years of age. Even if United had signed them (at a cost of over £100m) then they would have needed replacing again in two, max three, years.

He always pays lip service to the youngsters at the club but makes no real effort to develop them. Andreas Pereira looks an impressive talent but Mourinho is constantly dropping him, even though his ability could be the key to unlocking a better style of play. Marcus Rashford plays a bunch, sure, but nearly always out wide with enough defensive instruction to hold Helms Deep. These are not “good” minutes.

Ultimately it comes down to this: Manchester United have no desire to make a hard pursuit of winning trophies anymore. They’re a club happy to try, to make a soft pursuit, but they won’t reinvent the wheel to chase victory. They’re a club who will hover in place, because that’s what makes the owners the right amount of money.

So what United need is a manager who will, at the very least, make that process fun. A manager who will energise the squad and get them playing nice, expansive football. Who will make Manchester United fun to watch and, hey, maybe a trophy will follow. Maybe several will follow. But it will all start from a place of joy, as modern football must.

And that joy won’t happen with José Mourinho around.

Get him out.

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