Manchester United 3-2 Newcastle United: 4 men who saved Mourinho’s job

#1 Paul Pogba

Manchester United v Newcastle United - Premier League

The Frenchman hadn’t even sprayed a few passes before United were 2-0 down. He tried to pull the team together from then on, stringing a couple of passes, but the change in tactics following the second goal disrupted his style slightly. For starters, he had to operate in a midfield two alongside Matic. Next, he had to track back a lot, because McTominay was at centre back. He did not find too much support from his team mates, but he did have two attempts on goal in the first half.

The second half saw the Frenchman move further down the field, as Mourinho brought on Fellaini to impact the game. The move saw Pogba operate almost as a sweeper, along with Matic and while the Belgian hardly did anything of substance, as is always expected from him, Pogba did grow in stature with every passing minute of the second half.

He regularly charged up his team mates, urged them to race forward. He drilled in long balls and made those late runs into the box. Pogba in the second half was in inspired form, he defended, he attacked and he looked like a proper leader on the pitch. He continued to take shots on goal, but could not hit the back of the net. But he would affect the game after all.

His lay off for Martial to score the equalizer was just sublime. It was the perfect display of his capabilities and Pogba needs to do this more often for United to succeed. For the winner though, the Frenchman’s contribution almost went unnoticed. He received the ball in the penalty box and attracted the attention of four Newcastle players, creating space for his attackers in the middle. He then cleverly laid the ball for Young to assist Sanchez for the winner.

Paul Pogba might be at daggers drawn with his manager, but against Newcastle, he put in a fantastic shift on the pitch, which most certainly has saved Mourinho’s job.