MANCHESTER, Sporting Alert – Jose Mourinho has been warned he must play Michael Carrick more in the starting lineup for Manchester United if he wants to get the best out of Paul Pogba.
Mourinho Defends Decision
Mourinho defended his beliefs that the club’s most experienced midfielder can’t play every game.
“I would love to play him every game but that is not possible,” Mourinho said after Sunday’s win over Swansea City.
“Why? For the same reason that I cannot go to the gym every day anymore! He started today and he played very, very well.”
Carrick Starts And Impresses
Carrick made his first start of the season in the Premier League during a 3-1 victory for Manchester United over Swansea City.
The England midfielder didn’t stack up the miles running everywhere or up and down the pitch, but what he did was done very efficiently.
Playing alongside Pogba and Marouane Fellaini in the midfield, Carrick did what he’s been best at for years at Old Trafford, screening the back four for Manchester United to allow his teammates to play more freely.
His ability to protect his defenders by breaking up the Swansea City attacks, enabled Fellaini and Pogba to play in more advanced positions, which constantly kept the home side on its back foot, especially in the first half.
Carrick Allows Pobga To Shine
By playing the perfect deep-lying midfielder role, Carrick released Pogba to play with his face toward the Swansea goal and it allowed the Frenchman to flourish in the middle of the park and even net a superb goal from outside the box to open the scoring.
“He knows how to slow down the tempo and when to speed it up,” analyst and former Manchester United, Stoke and Sunderland defender Danny Higginbotham said on SUNSPORT.
“And while people say he’s slow, they can’t say how slow, because Carrick has the first five yards in his head.”
How They Performed Together
According to ww.whoscored.com, Michael Carrick, who had 98 touches in the game, made 88 passes with a pass completion rate of 95 percent, while Pogba had 94 of his 98 passes being accurate for 96 percent.
Pobga, who had 123 touches on the ball during the clash, finished the contest with a player rating of 8.4.
Carrick also started alongside Pogba in the Europa League group play win against Fenerbahce on Oct. 20 at Old Trafford and the France international also finished with a player rating of 8.4.
This is why the 35-year-old England midfielder has to play more games in the Premier League.
Pogba Wants To Score More Goals
It is not certain as to whether Mourinho will listen to outside influence and start Carrick in the next English Premier League against Arsenal, following the international break.
However, one thing is for certain, Pogba is determined to keep scoring goals after rating his volley strike on Sunday as “one of the best” he’s scored for the Red Devils.
“I have to see it again,” he said about the goal on www.manutd.com.com. “But I think this is one of the best I’ve scored for Manchester United.
“I hope to score more goals to help the team and we win and win, carry on like that.”
Key Victory For Manchester United
He also added that the victory on Sunday was key.
“I think every player wanted to win this game and everyone was focused,” Pogba said. “We gave it our best and gave everything, the first half was unbelievable.
“It was one of the best first-half performances so far and that’s how we have to play, we have to give everything, we have to press altogether and when we play together we play like that.”
He added that Manchester United must carry on and keep winning.
“Of course we needed to win today and that’s what we did,” he admitted. “We need to carry on in this way now.”
