“Big lies,” in relation to Paul Pogba, was the main theme of Jose Mourinho’s extremely defensive and very combative media session today. The Manchester United manager met the media a few hours ago to preview tomorrow’s match at Huddersfield Town A.F.C. in the fifth round of the FA Cup.
The Portugese was quite zealous in the manner with which he defended his midfielder, the specific position he plays him in, and the health of his relationship with him. It all began when a reporter queried Mourinho about all the “speculation” surrounding the player-coach-relationship. Mourinho didn’t care for the word “speculation,” as he sees that term to be rather mollifying and inaccurate.
“I think you are nice with your words because when you say a lot of speculation you should say a lot of lies. Paul accepts he has not been playing well but that’s all,” Mourinho defiantly responded.
“The majority of things you can read and listen, don’t be polite, be objective and say lies. A big lie that our relation is not good, that we don’t communicate, that we don’t agree with his positions and his involvement in the dynamic of the team so be objective and say what we all know.”
“In the last couple of matches he didn’t play well. Period. End of story. Now it’s my problem and Paul’s to improve his performance level, you don’t need to be a liar.”
Mourinho also disputed reports claiming that the £89m man could be sold away this summer while also confirming Pogba’s inclusion in the team tomorrow at the St. John’s Stadium. He also said the idea that he is playing Paul Pogba out of position is “bullshit.”
“You don’t need to come with ‘we want to sell him,’ you don’t need that, some people go in that direction, some of them I know for many, many years and I know their surname is ‘Liar,’ and that’s not nice,” Mourinho continued.
“He plays tomorrow.”
As far as Mourinho press conferences go, this was about as lively and news-worthy as it gets.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and the Tribune company’s blogging community Chicago Now.
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