Jose Mourinho is ruining Paul Pogba at Manchester United — he should be main creative force

ByPaul Parker

Updated 14/06/2017 at 10:57 GMT

Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho is the main reason why Paul Pogba has failed to reproduce his form for France at club level, writes Paul Parker, after his impressive show against England on Tuesday night.

I think we all get tend to caught up in how much Paul Pogba cost, and what value he is bringing to the club for the £89m that was apparently paid. The boy can play as he showed against England on Tuesday, but he needs to be allowed to breathe.

We have seen him play for his country and Juventus over the past few years. Especially when he was in the Champions League with them.

But then he arrives at Old Trafford, and is not the player we had expected.

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Jose Mourinho and Paul Pogba

Image credit: Eurosport

Antonio Conte knew how to use him at Juventus, Didier Deschamps knew how to use him for France and Max Allegri knew how to use him for Juve too.

The only manager who hasn't used him right is Mourinho. He's in a more forward position with France. Let him go to play there with United.

United negativity

Don't expect him to be your defensive one, to be negative to try to destroy because he's a big strong boy. That's not his strength.

Anybody who watched him last night would have seen how good he is with the ball at his feet, and how good he is as an influence when he hasn't got the ball because his movement affects everyone around him.

If United are going to get the best out of him, they are going to have to sacrifice him so he can go to play the role he was made for.

Ander Herrera and Pogba have been fine together, but is it going to be enough to turn Manchester United into an attacking force? No, it's not.

United's negativity as a team affected them, especially in terms of the amount of goals they scored. As far as I'm concerned, Mourinho won't listen.

If he's seen that performance against France, he'll probably carry on doing what he thinks is right.

It isn't about what everybody else is saying or what people like Paul Parker are saying: the Paul Pogba with Juventus and France isn't the same player who is with Manchester United.

Totally wrong

Suddenly a few people are going to be looking over the next few weeks to see if Mourinho watched the match last night.

He might think: 'Hold on, I have to change this'. It should be about the team, not about himself and improving his reputation as a coach.

They have a major improvement to make in terms of scoring goals, and Pogba further up the pitch is very much needed.

As we know, he can be quite clinical when he does get the opportunities.

Dele Alli and Paul Pogba battle for loose ball.

Image credit: Getty Images

He's hit the frame of a goal a few times, but you see what he can do when he runs at people. Look at what he did in the box to Gary Cahill.

You think to yourself: 'he is wasted 30 or 40 yards behind, he should be working 30 or 40 yards closer to goal'.

It's totally wrong he's been played that way. He is a player who has been held back from showing how good he is, and is trying to impress in a position he hadn't played before.

Herrera isn't being played in his best position and is also too far back. You can see the difference N'Golo Kante made to Pogba last night, allowing him to go and express himself.

Herrera can go and play a man-to-man marking role, but anybody can do that. He's another player who has been slightly wasted, but not as much as Pogba.

England well short of required quality

We have to define what is needed for England. And when you go to Scotland playing two holding midfielders, you find out.

Then you play against France, and have Eric Dier and Alex Oxlade-Chamberalin in there - you can't say that's a great midfield.

When it comes to playing against more quality in Paris, Dier was found wanting against France with the movement they possess, with and without the ball.

Oxlade-Chamberlain cannot play central midfield for England against top quality opposition. It works okay for Arsenal at times, but Dier also got exposed with his passing.

There is still a long, long way to go for England as you saw with the way we capitulated against 10 men.

Getting a late 2-2 draw with Scotland is not going to lead you to the promised land when you get to the finals in Russia.

Paul Parker

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