Jose Mourinho has rejected claims that Paul Pogba picked up an injury in Sunday's Premier League loss against Newcastle. He substituted Pogba off in the 67th minute, but said it was for tactical reasons, not because of injury.
When asked if he had taken off the £90million midfielder because he had picked up an injury, the Manchester United boss said "No, no, no. There are no problems".
Pogba was apparently seen to be limping during the warm up, as he grimaced and went over to speak to assistant coach Rui Faria. He was then substituted along with Jesse Lingard in the 67th minute, in favour of Juan Mata and Michael Carrick. After the game, a journalist also tweeted that the French star appeared to be limping :
However, Mourinho explained: "I was trying that with the simplicity of Michael Carrick because he tries to make everything simple. This brings Alexis (Sanchez) in area close to (Romelu) Lukaku where he could be a second striker to try to win the game."
The 'Red Devils' had conceded the first and only goal of the game two minutes before the substitution, through Matt Richie. "I was unlucky because they scored the goal in the seconds before that and then I’m going to face a different Newcastle side, when in that moment, the only thing they are thinking is to defend."
The game eventually ended 1-0 to Newcastle, in a frustrating afternoon for the Manchester outfit as they failed to close the gap to leaders Manchester City.