Paul Pogba came out in support of sacked Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho last night, just after the players had given interim boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer a flying start at Cardiff.
United looked a liberated team in the 5-1 win, Solskjaer’s first game after just two days of training, with goals from Jesse Lingard (2), Marcus Rashford, Ander Herrera and Anthony Martial.
Pogba’s fractious relationship with Mourinho had seemed to sour United’s campaign this season, but the Frenchman insisted: ‘I know you want to ask: ‘‘Oh yeah but with Jose…’’ With Jose, we won trophies. We worked. I want to thank him for that.
‘Not everything went well but (some) things went well. He made me improve.
‘As a person as well. That’s it. That’s the past. I want to thank him for that. I’m sure all the players do. Now we’re looking at the next game, for the points we need. We want to go back to the top of the league. We cannot play like this with five goals and in the next game lose.’
United scored five for the first time since 2013, when Sir Alex Ferguson was manager, and Solskjaer said: ‘Football is easy if you’ve got good players. Wayne Rooney texted me and gave me some advice, so it must be down to him! He told me to make them play football, enjoy themselves and be Manchester United.’