JOSE MOURINHO is threatening to axe Paul Pogba and some of his other Manchester United stars for Saturday’s FA Cup semi-final against Tottenham.
Mourinho was infuriated by United’s performance in the 1-0 home defeat to West Brom on Sunday which has jeopardised their hopes of finishing runners-up.
And he will give other players a chance in the rearranged League clash at Bournemouth tomorrow with a warning that Wembley places are up for grabs regardless of status, pricetag or reputation.
Asked if he would rotate his squad he said: “Rotating is not the right word. If I play a player against Bournemouth and the player is phenomenal, he plays in the semi-final.
“So it is not rotating, because rotating looks like a player that plays against Bournemouth is in order to give a rest to somebody who is going to play against Spurs in the semi-final.
“It is an opportunity for some people to play and to try to get a place in the team for Spurs. Some of the guys that played against West Brom don’t have a place in that team [for the Bournemouth game].
“What is the criteria for a manager to choose a team? I only know one criteria – it is the way they play. That is the only way I can select players. Or do you want me to go for the price they cost, or their salary, or their beautiful face or… The only way is to go with performance.”
Pogba, who has been in and out of the team this year, was substituted after 56 minutes on Sunday just a week after he had been the two-goal hero in the second-half comeback in the Manchester derby.
Asked if he was disappointed with the £89m midfielder’s performance, Jose Mourinho added: “It was not just him. And he had a yellow card so he was in a more difficult position than others.
“When you are playing with only two midfield players you cannot play with one player at risk of not being able to make a foul. You can do it if your team is not losing the ball but our team was losing the ball so easily with the complication, everything was complicated, so we were losing lots of balls, with turnings and flicks and tricks.
“The midfield players and central defenders are at risk of one touch, one late challenge and they are out, so Paul was out [substituted] because of the yellow card, because of in terms of the way he played he was not worse than some of the others who were on the pitch for 90 minutes.”
Mourinho is unhappy at the lack of consistency in performance levels of his team. During an up and down season Manchester United have lost to Huddersfield, West Brom and Newcastle as well as Bristol City in the League Cup, and been held to draws by Southampton, Burnley and Leicester, leaving them 16 points adrift of their neighbours and newly-crowned champions Manchester City.
“Consistency has nothing to do with age,” he added. “It has to do with personality, it has to do with the way you live for football, what is your priority in your life, what are your ambitions.
“It is not to do with age. I met players 30 years old, not consistent at all, and I found boys of 18, 19, 20, real men, real pros. It is not about the age.”
Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial, Jesse Lingard, Scott McTominay, Marcos Rojo and Phil Jones – all on the bench on Sunday – could all start at Bournemouth in Mourinho’s big shake-up.
Source:www.express.co.uk