Jose Mourinho was revisiting his decision around Paul Pogba and the captaincy. 'After weeks of analysing and changing opinions with my coaching staff, we decided Paul is just a player and not a captain,' he said.
Really? Weeks? Most people sensed Pogba wasn't captaincy material after he was given the armband in August and responded with cryptic comments about his future and veiled jibes in Mourinho's direction. It took until the end of September, apparently, for the manager to figure this out. What is the matter with him?
Time was, Mourinho was the most decisive boss out there. He was the type who made changes in the first half if he sensed it wasn't working, who wasn't scared to switch three players at half-time. 'Have I done it before? Yes. Would I do it again? Yes,' he said after an game at Newcastle in 2005.
After losing one match heavily, he responded by changing Chelsea's philosophy mid-season, to win a third Premier League title. Not every gamble paid off, not every smart, pragmatic move won admirers, either, but Mourinho was indisputably a manager of action.
Now he's one who takes a month or two to make a straightforward character call, who looks on as games drift and who, most importantly, doesn't seem to know his best team. Mourinho always knew his strongest starting XI. Not that he was rigid but, like all the best managers, there was a basic team that was his — and he was sure of it.
How will Manchester United line up against Valencia on Tuesday? How will they play at Newcastle on Saturday? Who knows? Not Mourinho any more. He has burned through three formations and made 19 changes in seven Premier League games this season as he struggles to alight on the way ahead. Players come from nowhere into vital roles as battlefield promotions, and disappear again as quickly.
It is as if he is either distracted by the political machinations at United, or is running out of ideas. Where Mourinho was once all cold efficiency, now he is throwing his plans at the wall in the hope something sticks.
-MARTIN SAMUEL - SPORT FOR THE DAILY MAIL