Mourinho salutes Pogba display

Jose Mourinho said Paul Pogba was “a good choice” for the Man of the Match award after playing a starring role in Manchester United’s 2-0 win over Bournemouth.

Pogba has endured an inconsistent season for United, often receiving criticism for not doing enough in games despite his undoubted ability.

Mourinho has also made an example of him on numerous occasions, withdrawing him early in games and even leaving him on the bench at times.

Such an approach has seen Pogba linked with a move away, but Mourinho was eager to praise his performance against Bournemouth, as he added his 10th Premier League assist of the season for Romelu Lukaku’s second-half strike.

“I’m not very good on Man of the Match [awards], especially as I’m a team manager, not a player’s manager,” Mourinho told BT Sport.

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“I’m not a big fan of it [the award], but Paul Pogba played very well. Against Man City he was phenomenal, but today he was very, very good. A good choice [as Man of the Match].”

The win saw United bounce back from Sunday’s woeful 1-0 home defeat to rock-bottom West Brom, a result which presented bitter rivals Manchester City with the Premier League title.

Up next for United is a trip to Wembley for the FA Cup semi-final against Tottenham and Mourinho accepts he now faces a selection headache given some of the performances at the Vitality Stadium.

“Every player on the pitch was positive and put himself available for Saturday,” Mourinho said.

“The players were good. It was a good professional performance with good effort and responsibility. There was desire to score and a desire to cope with the defensive responsibilities against a fast team.

“All of them were professional and responsible. The first ambition was to finish in the top four and now one point is probably enough. When we have that resolved we can think about third and second place.

“Everything was faster, it was simple. The players were in the right positions and not trying one more flick, one more trick. Everything was good, I am happy.”