Mourinho tells Pogba to change run-up
Jose Mourinho has warned Paul Pogba he will have to change his penalty-taking technique even though he scored Manchester United’s opening goal against Everton.
Pogba took 28 steps and more than nine seconds before striking his first-half penalty. It was saved by Jordan Pickford, only for the Frenchman to tap in the rebound.
Although Mourinho praised the midfielder for wanting to take the penalty, he fears goalkeepers are able to read where he is going to put them and Pogba admitted after the game that he needs to rethink his run-up. “The thing I like is the desire to take it,” said Mourinho. “But maybe he needs to change his approach. Let me choose the words carefully because I don’t want to be punished. I don’t like Mickey Mouses, fragile, afraid to go, those who say I don’t take penalties. I like the player that says ‘I want to take it’. But Paul, can he improve? I think he can. Goalkeepers know his run-up style, they don’t move and they are waiting for his decision, so he has to learn from that.
“But I don’t want him to change his mental approach. The keeper is also a good penalty saver, so let’s give credit to him. He showed that in the World Cup.”
The award itself was highly debatable, Anthony Martial simply falling over inside the area.
Mourinho was happy with the result if not elements of the performance.
“I think we played very well against Chelsea, especially in the second half, while the second half against Newcastle was also special. The first half against Tottenham was phenomenal. This one was complete,” he said. “In terms of the philosophy and the mentality, this is the sort of team I would like, but I would [still] like a better Manchester United. We still cannot keep clean sheets and, I might be wrong, but between them [Romelu] Lukaku and Rashford have scored one goal in nine [games].” Mourinho singled out Martial for winning the penalty then curling in goal No2. The manager said: “He took quite a long time to understand what we want, for his brain and body to be ready for how we want him to play.”
Marco Silva, Everton’s manager, said: “The penalty had a big impact on the match and we did not deserve this result. It is clear it was a dive.”