Manchester United’s interim manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has said that getting Paul Pogba to play at his best will be one of his biggest problems at Old Trafford. Pogba, United’s club record £89millon signing and a World Cup winner in the summer with France, started the last three Premier League games on the bench under former boss Jose Mourinho. Mourinho mistrusted Pogba and clashed with his most high-profile player on numerous occasions, stripping him of the captaincy and berating him publicly as their relationship broke down.
Solskjaer worked with Pogba when he was in charge of United reserves and is convinced he can unlock his full potential and restore his confidence and form, something Mourinho helped destroy. Pogba is set to be handed his first Premier League start since December 1 with Saturday’s trip to Cardiff, Solskajer’s debut in charge since taking over as temporary boss following Mourinho’s dismissal.
Pogba was criticised for an Instagram post he put up within minutes of Mourinho’s sacking, showing a picture of him smirking with the message ‘Caption this’ alongside it. The post was hastily deleted, but caused outrage, with former United skipper Gary Neville replying ‘You do one as well!’ and lambasting Pogba for gloating over Mourinho’s exit. Solskjaer, 45, tackled the issue head on and said he had spoken to Pogba and the rest of the United squad and reminded them of their responsibilities, but denied there was too much power within the dressing-room.
“We’ve spoken about what we expect, what standards we have on and off the pitch,” said Solskjaer. “I trust the lads to know what they’re doing, to help the team. Everything we do is to help the team. But the world has changed now. I’m not into this social media. My kids are, but I’m that old that I’m not on Twitter or Facebook. That’s just common sense for me, what I’ve spoken to them about. We move this forward. We have one target – that we succeed – and we do that as a team.”
Solskjaer’s first task is to restore the feel-good factor to a squad left broken by Mourinho’s aggressive and autocratic style of management and get players like Pogba playing with freedom and without fear. “Sir Alex Ferguson – even going all the way back to Sir Matt Busby – installed that way of playing fantastic football,” said Solskjaer. It’s not down to me now to talk about the last five years [since Ferguson retired]. It’s down to me to talk about the next five months and to towards getting us happy, getting us smiling, getting us winning games.
“We’re too far down the league. We’re not used to being sixth. We are used to challenging for the league. Of course, that’s maybe a step too far now, too many points back, but that’s where we have to aim and to look forward. I don’t know if they haven’t been enjoying it, because I haven’t asked them. But my job is to make them enjoy football and play their best football, because when you are a kid you love playing football and they must enjoy going out at Old Trafford. Everyone starts with a clean slate. Everyone is part of Manchester United with me as the coach or manager and I always feel players play better when they’re happy and that’s just the way I’ll manage them.”