UK Edition
Paul Pogba hits heights and Man Utd rely on reserves of strength to cut through Bournemouth
He was again substituted. He was booed off. He even appeared set to go straight down the tunnel before checking back and taking a place on the bench, but this was more like the Paul Pogba Manchester United have invested so heavily in as he drove them forward to defeat Bournemouth.
Jose Mourinho had demanded a reaction and he got it. The manager made seven changes to the team who lost so dismally to West Bromwich Albion at home last Sunday, and the only hangover from that result was his demeanour.
Stony-faced Mourinho did not celebrate either goal and spoke afterwards that he “still lives with the emotions” of that desperate performance. His players should take heed. But having called them out, they responded. Tellingly, despite those changes, Pogba started and clearly the message was that he had to do better, and eventually he did.
“Top performance,” Mourinho said. “Obviously the performance against [Manchester] City was special because he came with two goals. But this was a similar level. Top performance. He can do it.”
Pogba can. But there is a world of difference doing it against a Bournemouth side who, not quite on the (nearby) beach, felt emboldened to play expansively as they sit on 38 points and surely out of relegation danger.
Eddie Howe refuted that, but it will take some turnaround for them to go down. The manager, however, was rightly frustrated that his team were denied an obvious penalty when only a goal down.
It proved a pivotal moment, but not the most memorable one – that was provided by Pogba as he set up a fine goal by substitute Romelu Lukaku. “At half-time the manager told Paul to keep making those runs, he did and played a perfect pass which I was able to finish off,” Lukaku said.
Pogba collected possession in the United half and galloped forward, all power and pace, as he quickly ate up the ground before slipping a pass through to the striker, who deftly clipped it high into the net.
And that is what the fuss is all about. Whether Pogba is at United next season remains to be seen, because he has to do this more often to convince Mourinho. A truer test comes on Saturday in the FA Cup semi-final against Tottenham Hotspur, but Mourinho confirmed afterwards that the midfielder had done enough to play his way into the team for that fixture. So let us see what happens at Wembley.
United need that trophy and Mourinho will not accept anything less than the “great attitude, determination, desire” they showed here, with the result meaning they require two more points to guarantee Champions League football.
Mourinho argued that, had the players shown a better “attitude” this season, they would be far closer to champions City and, by his reckoning, they had dropped no fewer than 10 points because of that.
“I don’t accept [inconsistency],” Mourinho said. “That’s why my face is still the face of last Sunday and not the face of somebody who has just won a game. I know how to win titles … I know why you win and why you don’t win. No doubt about City’s quality and that in any circumstances they would win this title, but we could have had, I would say, 10 more points. No doubt.”
Dropping points against the lesser teams has been the problem. “We lost points against teams who are probably going to be relegated or are in the relegation fight,” Mourinho said. But they claimed all three here – much to the ire of the Bournemouth fans. They were riled by United’s first goal, which involved Pogba, and which came about after Marcus Rashford tackled Nathan Ake and turned, sprinting towards goal. Ake claimed he was fouled but Rashford – who was probably man of the match ahead of Pogba as he played as a central striker before Lukaku came on – forced a save from Asmir Begovic.
That led to a corner which Bournemouth failed to clear, before Jesse Lingard, Pogba and Ander Herrera combined. Herrera slid a superbly incisive pass through to Lingard, who centred low across the six-yard area for Chris Smalling to slide in and score for the third successive away game.
Bournemouth had started the brighter, the pace of Callum Wilson and Joshua King causing problems, but it was not until the second half when they should have drawn level. King crossed and Wilson was clearly held back by Luke Shaw as he appeared set to tap the ball home. Referee Graham Scott waved away the penalty appeals. “Callum is thrown off balance and, for me, it’s a penalty and a key moment,” Howe said. “It’s a frustrating one.”
A goal then could have changed the outcome, and not least because Shaw, making a rare appearance, as was Matteo Darmian and Marouane Fellaini, would have been sent off. Phil Jones and Anthony Martial also made their first league starts for two months. To further fuel Bournemouth’s anger, Pogba had thrown himself to the turf to win a free-kick, which Lukaku wasted, and which meant the French international was booed when he was substituted. He appeared set to disappear, but was called back.
Before that, Pogba’s influence grew, despite some needless flicks and tricks, including a wayward back-heel and a fluffed cross, until he set up Lukaku to show exactly what he is capable of.
Half time
Much better from Manchester United - Pogba and Herrera, the two players with the most amends to make, have flourished on the Keep It Simple Stupid principle, Jones has looked alert and strong, Martial adventurous and confident and Lingard the same. Still, Bournemouth's Lewis Cook and Ryan Fraser are playing very well and causing United problems with their forays.
29 min
It came from the breakdown of the corner on the left and a cute pass from Herrera diagonally outwards down the inside-right channel for Lingard's run round the back. He pulled back the cross and Smalling had a tap-in from five yards. Both were in front of the defenders but the ball was played backwards.
16 min
Corner, not throw-in, sorry. Rashford takes, Bournemouth bundle it clear towards Herrera who takes it on and shoots but clips Lingard with the ball and makes it fly harmlessly wide.
10 min
United break quickly again up the left but this time Fellaini lets them down with a far-post run down the right that took him offside. Back come Bournemouth from the free-kick and Wilson goes shoulder-to-shoulder with Jones, initially barging him off the ball but Jones recovers and shepherds the ball back to De Gea.
8 min
Daniels and Fraser play a one-two that frees the left-back to run into the space behind Darmian and clip a low cross through the box. Herrera strides to cut it out at the near post but his first touch is too heavy and lifts it up but he recovers to turn and clear before Wilson or King could pounce.
Out come the teams
Bournemouth in their red and black stripes, United in grey. Handshakes are exchanged and the broadcaster squeezes in another commercial break. Owen Hargreaves, one of the better pundits if you listen to what he says rather than the timbre of his voice, is co-commentating. David De Gea is captaining Manchester United for the first time.
Mourinho speaks
"The message is always the same, my message is not what people think it is. In the last match the only attacking player I didn't play was Dwight Yorke, he was in the stands and I nearly brought him on. We have a fresh team, let us see. Even those like Herrera and Paul who played last time they only played 45 minutes and 55 minutes. I do not speak about the semi-final. We need four points to confirm the top four position, that is my aim today. We need to reduce that by three points or if we can't by one point. Our objective on Saturday is to reach the final."
BT Sport smells blood
They've called up Paul Scholes for punditry duties:
Bournemouth Begovic; Francis, S Cook, Ake, Daniels; Fraser, L Cook, Surman, Ibe; King; Wilson.
Substitutes Boruc, Simpson, Gosling, Arter, Pugh, Mousset, Defoe.
Manchester United De Gea; Darmian, Jones, Smalling, Shaw; Herrera, Fellaini, Pogba; Lingard, Rashford, Martial.
Substitutes Pereira, Bailly, Blind, Young, Matic, Sanchez, Lukaku.
Referee Graham Scott (Abingdon)
Good evening
And welcome to coverage of Manchester United's trip to Dorset to take on AFC Bournemouth for the third time in the Premier League. In that very place, though known as Sandbourne, Tess Durbeyfield kills Alec D'Urberville and (ear-splitting shoehorn alert) it's where, if we are to believe Jose Mourinho, several high-profile Manchester United careers - Paul Pogba, Alexis Sánchez, Ander Herrera and Juan Mata primarily - may also die.
On Tuesday Mourinho wasn't speaking out of the side of his mouth, mumming away to hint that they'd be dropped for garbage performances during the defeat by West Brom. He was explicit. They were out and their replacements, should they play well, would keep their places for Saturday's FA Cup semi-final. But does he mean it? Will Scott McTominay, Phil Jones, Marcos Rojo and the bafflingly marginalised Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford be in tonight and keep their starting places for Wembley if they impress? What about Daley Blind and Luke Shaw?
As for Bournemouth - they've been pretty, pretty good since Christmas, those understandable shellackings by Tottenham and Liverpool and the rather disturbing one by Huddersfield aside. The victory over Arsenal and their red and black letter day at Stamford Bridge give them genuine hope of beating a disjointed, intermittently bland United tonight as they did back in 2015 when Josh King scored the winner against a United defence of Guillermo Varela and Cameron Borthwick-Jackson at full back and Daley Blind alongside Paddy McNair in the middle. Louis van Gaal had so few viable options that he forlornly resorted to sticking Nick Powell up front to try to save the game.
Even if they are out of form, out of sorts and out of favour, Mourinho is nowhere near as strapped as his predecessor. He has far more resources and a far more gifted squad. It's up to him to get the best out of it, just as Howe does with Bournemouth's.