José Mourinho goes into his first home match as the Manchester United manager warning that Paul Pogba is not fit enough to deliver a “super performance” on his debut and calling on supporters to increase the volume.
Southampton are the visitors on Friday with Mourinho also making it clear he is unmoved by the complaints from Claude Puel that United may have been responsible for speculation linking José Fonte to the Old Trafford club. “I don’t care,” Mourinho said.
He chose instead to encourage United’s crowd to improve the often criticised atmosphere at Old Trafford. “I think everything starts there,” he said. “If, at Old Trafford, a couple of thousand away supporters can be more noisy than 70,000, then we are in trouble and it means there is no connection between team and supporters.
“If there is a connection, that factor – being strong at home – has to be back. I think everything starts with that relationship – the way the team plays, the way it behaves, the mode of play, the mental approach. If the fans feel that connection, they also want to play and if the fans play, there is no chance for the opponent.”
This is a familiar request from United managers, going back to Sir Alex Ferguson’s time, but as the Premier League moves into the world of Friday night football the noise inside Old Trafford should at least be increased by the presence of the world’s most expensive player.
Pogba was not fully fit, Mourinho reported, but the £89.3m signing from Juventus was ready for “some minutes” and is expected to start in midfield.
“We played with some players against Leicester [in the Community Shield] with less training than Paul,” Mourinho said. “We had guys coming back from the Euros and holidays, with just one week training, and they played against Leicester – not on the top of their game, not ready for 90 minutes, but they played and performed.
“Paul has been training for more than a week, 10 or 11 days, and his adaptation is really easy because he is a boy from here. He knows everybody and doesn’t need time to adapt, just time to build his condition and his understanding in the way the team tries to play. I think he is ready to play. Ninety minutes, I don’t believe. A super performance, I don’t believe. But enough to accelerate his integration in the team.”
Mourinho was asked where he saw Pogba fitting in and whether it would mean changing his 4-2-3-1 formation. “We are not going to change the system dramatically for one player. We are not changing to change to five at the back because Juventus played at five at the back. We are not going to do dramatic changes. But there are times in the game where, yes, we have to change details.
“Against Leicester, Michael Carrick played; against Bournemouth, Ander Herrera. They are different players and we played different ways. With [Morgan] Schneiderlin or Pogba, there are also details that are going to be changed but not the master lines of our model.”
Mourinho went on to praise two more of his signings, saying he was surprised by the “strong personality” Eric Bailly had shown and making it clear he expected Zlatan Ibrahimovic to stay at Old Trafford beyond his one-year contract.
Ibrahimovic has an option to extend that deal by another year and Mourinho made it sound like a foregone conclusion. “He seems happy. I ask every day because I know how important it is with a family guy like him; I ask about his wife, kids, integration, their house. Everything is fine, everybody his happy. His motivation is high so he is here, no doubts, for the next two years.”
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