Manchester United’s stunning comeback against Newcastle United was inspired after Jose Mourinho consulted Paul Pogba over the team’s tactics, according to reports. Struggling Newcastle stormed into a shock 2-0 lead at Old Trafford on Saturday evening through goals from Kenedy and Yoshinori Muto. But the Red Devils improved after the break and levelled after Juan Mata scored a superb free-kick and Anthony Martial fired past Martin Dubravka.
Deep into injury-time, Alexis Sanchez headed home from Ashley Young’s cross to secure a vital victory for Manchester United. At half-time, Mourinho asked his players what was going wrong and Pogba told him he should drop deeper and Marouane Fellaini should be brought on, according to The Sun. Mourinho proceeded to replace Scott McTominay with Fellaini, while Pogba was asked to sit in front of United’s defence which now included midfielder Nemanja Matic.
Pogba began to impose himself on the Premier League fixture and United scored three goals in 20 minutes to beat Newcastle and potentially save Mourinho his job. After the 3-2 victory, Mourinho said: ‘During half-time we opened our hearts and we spoke about tactical changes for two minutes. ‘Then we spoke for eight minutes about other things that I thought would let the players be a little bit more free to face the second half and it became 3-2. Amazing.’
Mourinho and Pogba have had a strained relationship for well over a year and the World Cup winner was stripped of the vice-captaincy last month. But the 25-year-old midfielder delivered for his manager at the weekend and there is now renewed hope that the pair can resolve their differences at Old Trafford. Going into the second international break of the season, Manchester United are eighth in the Premier League on 13 points. Three teams – Manchester City, Chelsea and Liverpool – sit t-top on 20 points.
