José Mourinho rounded on the “Einsteins” who rated Paul Pogba as the poorest player in the Premier League, after the Frenchman scored twice in Manchester United’s 4-1 win over Fenerbahce at Old Trafford on Thursday night.
Pogba scored a 31st-minute penalty and a superb long-range effort just before half-time. A second spot-kick from Anthony Martial and Jesse Lingard’s 25-yard shot completed United’s scoring before Robin van Persie registered a late consolation.
This put Mourinho’s team top of Group A with six points, the same as Feyenoord. Pogba disappointed in Monday night’s 0-0 draw at Liverpool and drew criticism but the manager hit back.
“First of all, in some of your mouths, he goes from the worst player in the Premier League to a great player in 48 hours,” Mourinho said.
“I am not specifically saying it is you. I say media, especially the Einsteins. We know he is a very good player. We know he needs some time to show his potential. I know Italian football very well. I know teams play completely different from the Premier League.
“I am not saying we are better but we are different. Different in the intensity, the number of touches on the ball, everything is different and he needs time to adapt. He is a self-confident boy.
“He was not depressed because some people said he was a bad player. He was not depressed. He was calm. It is always nice for a player to score, to score at home and especially to score such a beautiful goal.”
Pogba revealed that Wayne Rooney, who made a first start since the 3-1 victory at Northampton in the EFL Cup, had allowed him to take the penalty.
“It was Wazza or myself to take it. But I told him I wanted to take it and he let me take it,” the Frenchman said. “I’m very happy to take the penalty and score it and for a player like him, the captain of the side, to let me take the penalty, is big respect to him. I’m very glad for that.”
Of the decision to then switch penalty takers to Martial, Mourinho said: “The first penalty taker was Paul, we made that decision which he took and then probably he did not want to repeat because it’s a second penalty a couple of minutes later. Maybe he didn’t want to repeat and probably because Martial was the one who had the previous action [was fouled for it] and Martial is also a good penalty taker.
“That meant that decision is not a problem for me. I always give the indication of the one that has the responsibility to take but with the freedom for the other guys to make the decision on the pitch.”
Despite the display and margin of victory, Mourinho claimed a side that showed seven changes from Anfield might not have affected his selection for Sunday’s trip to Chelsea.
“Independent matches – I chose this team because I felt it was the team to win it and because I felt after such an intense game on Monday that some of these players would be in better conditions to perform than others but I start thinking about Chelsea tomorrow [Friday],” he said.
“Am I happy with the performance? Yes. Am I happy with individual performances? Yes, and I am happy with the result which is the most important because the result is difficult.
“We put ourselves in a difficult position by losing the first match [at Feyenoord] especially as we have the double match with Fenerbahce. To go to Istanbul without winning this match would be even more difficult.”