Jose Mourinho delivered a withering attack on Paul Pogba in front of his Manchester Unit
d teammates after the 2-2 draw with Southampton.
It is understood that the United head coach compared Pogba to a “virus” and claimed he had shown a lack of “respect” to his team-mates and the club’s fans.
“You don’t play,” Mourinho is alleged to have told Pogba. “You don’t respect players and supporters. And you kill the mentality of the good honest people around you.
“You are like a person with a flu, with a virus in a closed room – you pass that virus to the others.”
It is believed that Mourinho was particularly angered by one second-half incident against Southampton, which saw Pogba lose the ball to Nathan Redmond midway through his own half and then fail to track back.
Mourinho and Pogba have had a poor relationship since the player’s transfer back to Old Trafford for a then world record £89m fee in 2016.
Earlier this campaign, the France international was stripped of the vice-captaincy after he told Mourinho he wanted to leave, while
the player has also been critical of Mourinhio’s tactics.
Pogba has also struggled for form, and his performance at St Mary’s – where United claimed a point after being 2 goals behind, which still leaves them nine points off the Champions League – was widely criticised.
Former United defender Phil Neville was particularly unhappy with Pogba, and said Mourinho would have been within his rights to criticize him publicly after the game.
“You watch Pogba today, I’m sorry, if [Mourinho] had done an interview after the game and said, ‘Oh, Paul Pogba was fantastic’, that’s a lie. He wasn’t fantastic. He was sloppy, he caused United problems. Deal with it.”
After the draw against Southampton, Mourinho said: “We lost so many balls in midfield, we lost so many balls in our transition to the last third, it was difficult to have that continuity.
“What we did so well in the last 15, 20 minutes of the first half, which was to connect with the attacking players by transporting the ball, leaving the ball in the right moment, the right choice of pass, playing simple, accelerate the game.
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“In the second half we went back again to that dynamic where we lose too many balls midfield. And when the players don’t understand that simplicity is genius, especially in some parts of the pitch, and they keep and keep and keep in going to complicated football it’s difficult to have that continuity.”
