Sam Allardyce has defended Man United boss and hit back at Paul Pogba saying, Man United form has nothing to do with Jose Mourinho.
Big Sam said the Manchester United players are to blame for the team’s poor form and not the manager.
Mourinho was critical of his players’ attitude on Saturday after watching them scrape a 1-1 draw with Wolves at Old Trafford.
The result came on the back of a series of good results for the Red Devils, as they recovered from a terrible start to the season to win three straight games.
But it appeared their old lifeless form made a return on Saturday, which led to captain Paul Pogba attacking Jose’s tactics, with suggestive comments to the press.
The World Cup winner said United should be given the freedom to play more attacking football, especially at home.
But Allardyce insists Mourinho is not at fault for their inconsistency and called for the players, and particularly Pogba, to take more responsibility.
The former England manager said, “It’s nothing to do with Jose how poorly the players played on Saturday, I just think the attitude of the players is not right. What I saw of United on Saturday, how many times they gave the ball away and particularly Pogba for Wolves’ goal, it was just not Man United for me and just not the players who seemed to have turned it around but have slipped back into not performing at their top level. I saw a lot of players actually not living up to their potential. They let Wolves back into the game, eventually they scored and on occasions I thought Man United were perhaps lucky to get away with a draw. If they’re not careful it could be a struggle for them to finish in the top four, and that would be devastating for Man United – they are the biggest worry out of all the top six teams.”
Asked for a manager’s take on the Pogba scenario and how he would handle the situation Mourinho finds himself in, Allardyce added: “I think you pull him to the side and have a word with him to begin with. You should persevere with a player who is supposedly one of your top players and the captain. You’ve got a few discussions to have behind closed doors, but if that disruption gets far too much then you have to deal with it in the hardest way you possibly can. I think, for now, I’d tell him to be quiet with the press,”
The West Ham, Crystal Palace and Everton boss continued by saying, “I will tell him to just get on with his job, because what he’s doing is not quite good enough at the moment and only when it is can you express your opinion a little bit more. But at the moment they’ve all got to pull together in the same direction. If you don’t, as a manager it’s very difficult to deal with it. If little cliques start forming and whispering, you know you’ve got a big problem as a manager.”