Manchester United vs Liverpool: Graeme Souness continues Paul Pogba criticism as resurgence ‘proves him right’

The former Liverpool manager has been Pogba’s biggest critic this season after Jose Mourinho’s sacking

Graeme Souness has reiterated that he was right to criticise Paul Pogba for his public falling out with Jose Mourinho, with the pundit urging fans not to get “carried away” with the Manchester United midfielder’s resurgence.

The former Liverpool midfielder and manager has been a constant critic of Pogba this season, taking aim at the Frenchman during the final weeks of Mourinho’s reign at Old Trafford as a divide set in between the pair.

Souness predominantly blamed Pogba for United’s crisis earlier this season, when the squad appeared to down tools and stop playing for Mourinho that brought about his dismissal in December.

Since Ole Gunnar Solskjaer came in to replace Mourinho as interim manager, Pogba has looked every part the £89m that the club spent to bring him back from Juventus.

But Souness has taken his resurgence with a pinch of salt and believes that his resurgence under Solskjaer only goes to validate his previous comments.

“The stats show that United are running more than they were previously, putting in the hard yards for the new manager in terms of closing down and sprinting back, all the stuff that they weren’t doing for Mourinho,” Souness said in his column for The Times. “I was critical of Paul Pogba, in particular, but was I wrong? Look at the difference in him between then and now, and let’s not get carried away either: he never got a kick against Paris Saint-Germain, then showed his frustration by lunging at Dani Alves and being sent off.

“I find it disappointing that all of them, not just Pogba, downed tools under Mourinho. I’d have hated to be accused of that in my career, but it appears to be the reality in the modern game when players want a manager out. It was as if they were on an unofficial strike. What else could it be other than that, when you look at the transformation from where they were to where they are now? They have a different mindset now when they go out to play games.”

Since Mourinho was sacked on 18 December, Pogba has contributed eight goals and five assists for United – more than any other player in Europe since Solskjaer was appointed including Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe, Sergio Aguero, Son Heung-min and Cristiano Ronaldo.