Nemanja Matic tells Paul Pogba to make a difference in every Manchester United game – not just over Christmas
United’s £89m World Cup-winner has looked a different player in the two games since Jose Mourinho was sacked
NEMANJA MATIC says Paul Pogba should be making a difference in every game — not just at Christmas.
Manchester United’s £89million World Cup-winner has looked a different player in the two games since Jose Mourinho was sacked.
He set up two of United’s five goals in Saturday’s 5-1 victory at Cardiff in Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s first game in charge.
And then Pogba followed up Matic’s opener by scoring twice from distance in the 3-1 Boxing Day triumph over Huddersfield.
Yet Matic believes his French midfield partner can still be better than he has shown in the last two games.
The Serb, 30, said: “He’s very important for us and when he plays at his best he can make the difference in every game.
“He played very well against Huddersfield — but I think he can do even more. I think he can do better, slowly, game by game.
“Against Huddersfield it was very important for him to score some goals.
“The confidence for the next one is going to be bigger and he needs to know that he still can improve.
“He needs to know that he is very important for this team.
“As I said, his quality can make the difference every game and, yes, I hope he will continue like this.”
Matic was considered a Mourinho ‘disciple’ having played under the Portuguese coach at Chelsea before following him to United in July 2017.
But Norwegian Solskjaer has impressed him since taking charge in the wake of Mourinho’s exit on December 18.
MORE MAN UTD NEWS
Ex-striker Solskjaer, whose deal runs until the end of the season, hit 126 goals in 366 United appearances — including the injury-time winner against Bayern Munich in the 1999 European Cup final.
Matic added: “He is a legend at this club. He scored so many goals here, they will never forget him.
“But now it’s a new page for him. As a manager, he needs to show again because in football every day is a new challenge.
“But I am sure that he will do great things again.
“He is a great person and a good manager from what we have seen in the first few days here.”
United’s energy levels appear to have improved under Solskjaer. But with games at home to Bournemouth on Sunday and Wednesday night’s trip to Newcastle coming up, Matic admits this is no time for United to be taking their foot off the gas.
He added: “When we have not been at our best this season, teams are going away from Old Trafford with a point — which was the case a few times.
“But when we are fighting, when we know what we have to do in every moment of the game, other teams don’t have a lot of chance to take points from here.
“Sometimes you are not lucky enough to win, sometimes you hit a post or something. But most of the games you will win — and we need to know that.
“The next game is always a new challenge. We have to do more. We have to do everything to win because this is the way to make improvements.”