Big guns Sanchez and Pogba find top form to justify Mourinho’s trust
West Bromwich flops are transformed into Wembley winners against Tottenham, reports James Ducker
Jose Mourinho had been pretty adamant in the wake of Manchester United’s meek surrender at home to West Bromwich Albion a week ago that some players had blown their chance of starting this FA Cup semi-final. “Some of the guys that played don’t have a place in that team,” the United manager said, simmering with indignation after a defeat that handed Manchester City the Premier League title only eight days after a dramatic comeback in the derby had delayed their rival’s coronation. And as if to ram home the message, he repeated his assertion. “They don’t have a place in that team.”
Few had disappointed quite so acutely against the league’s bottom club on that chastening afternoon as Paul Pogba and Alexis Sanchez and, as Mourinho warned that he cared little for a player’s price tag or salary, nobody, certainly not that pair, seemed safe from the axe.
If there was a temptation to drop one or even both of Pogba and Sanchez against Tottenham, though, it was a temptation Mourinho resisted, and as he watched his two most high-profile signings combine to kick-start a memorable comeback at Wembley, the Portuguese must have felt an acute sense of vindication.
On an afternoon when Mourinho really needed his big guns to come up trumps, they rewarded his show of faith.
Pogba and Sanchez have coughed and spluttered this year but, when United needed to get over the line, they answered their manager’s calling, and one need only quiz Mauricio Pochettino to recognise the difficulties incumbent in that.
Once again on the big stage, Tottenham fell just short. Once again, there were more questions than answers for a club whose search for silverware goes on.
For all the criticism levelled at Mourinho, this is one thing he unquestionably does so well. He finds a way. He makes his teams find a way.
He is a manager who routinely gets over the line.
Want a semi-final, a final, a big match won? Call Mourinho. It is one of the overwhelming reasons why United appointed him.
It is not always pretty, although there was much to admire about the tenacity of this fightback and no little quality in the first goal Pogba created for Sanchez, but when it matters Mourinho has a trusty knack of delivering.
Still, these were curious beginnings. Tottenham started with a bang, ahead after 11 minutes and well on top, and once again we were left wondering if there was a more Jekyll and Hyde footballer currently playing in the upper echelons of England’s top flight than Pogba? For 23 minutes, he gave us the infuriating version, the one you cannot quite be sure whether to take seriously, the one managers must want to throw tea cups at in the dressing-room.
What quite possessed him to amble half-heartedly in front of Tottenham’s creator-in-chief, Christian Eriksen, and open up a lovely space in behind for Davinson Sanchez to pump forward a long ball for the Dane to run on to and cross for Dele Alli to score perhaps only Pogba will know.
Whatever the warped thought process, it is that sort of indiscipline and inability to sense danger that leaves the Frenchman so open to criticism, and it was not as if he could use the excuse here of being denied the self-protection a midfield three affords. He had that luxury. Soon after he was indulging in the sort of “overcomplicated” football Mourinho
Pogba and Sanchez have coughed and spluttered this year but when needed they got United over line
had decried during the defeat by West Brom, losing possession from which Tottenham mounted a counter-attack that culminated in Son’s cross narrowly eluding Harry Kane.
And then, as if a switch had been flicked in his head, Pogba started playing. Using that muscular frame to bundle Mousa Dembele off the ball, Pogba won possession deep in Tottenham’s half, looked up and floated a fine cross to the far post where Sanchez rose superbly to steer a controlled header past Michel Vorm. From ugly to beautiful as readily as he changes his hair colour.
It does not necessarily make life any easier for a manager who cannot be sure which Pogba is going to turn up from one day to the next, particularly a manager such as Mourinho who has always favoured consistent, dependable types over flawed flair players. But it helps to explain why the Portuguese started with Pogba rather than exclude him following the West Brom shambles, when he was substituted 13 minutes into the second half. A man-of-thematch showing in Wednesday’s 2-0 win over Bournemouth clearly went some way to appeasing Mourinho but Pogba still had much to prove. He still has but, as showcased in the second half against City, when he scored twice to inspire that 3-2 comeback, and here, he is worth the trouble, the effort. Reports this week have suggested Mourinho would listen to offers for Pogba in the summer but another look at his pass for Sanchez’s header might convince the manager he is worth the hassle.