The decision by Jose Mourinho to take the vice-captaincy off Paul Pogba came as no surprise to his Manchester United team-mates and was not an ‘unpopular’ move.
Mourinho delivered the news to the match day squad at Carrington in the hours leading up to the Carabao Cup defeat to Derby County on Tuesday night after feeling repeatedly undermined by Pogba’s comments to the press.
Pogba believed it was a ‘mistake’ that United did not ‘attack, attack, attack’ and made these comments following the draw with Wolves last Saturday. Last month, Pogba told reporters ‘there are things that I cannot say otherwise I will get fined’ when asked if he was happy at Old Trafford .
Mourinho felt enough was enough and that he had to remind the dressing room who was boss with a bold statement.
“Is it really that surprising?” a source close to the dressing room told the MEN . “One thing no-one can say about Mourinho is that being bold is a problem for him. The decision was neither surprising nor unpopular.”
Pogba was among a number of first-team regulars who were rested against Derby and took part in a full training session on Wednesday morning, when broadcasters captured a tense exchange between Mourinho and the Frenchman.
It related to an Instagram story Pogba posted while watching the game with Andreas Pereira and Luke Shaw in the hospitality section of Old Trafford the previous night.
Because of WiFi issues, the post did not go out until after the defeat but Mourinho was unaware of this when he asked a nearby press officer about it before training started. Pogba was unamused.
After United’s dramatic penalty shootout defeat to Derby, Mourinho confirmed that he had taken the armband off Pogba - but insisted there were no problems between the pair.
“The only truth is that I made the decision of Paul not to be the second captain anymore. But no fall-out. No problems at all,” he said.
“The same person that decides Paul is not second captain anymore was exactly the same person that decides that Paul was the second captain, myself. I am the manager, I can make these decisions, no fall-out at all, no problems at all, just one decision that I don’t have to explain.”
