Manchester United’s quest to catch derby rivals Manchester City suffered a major setback on Wednesday night as the Lilywhites beat them 2-0 at Wembley Stadium and Red Devils midfielder Paul Pobga posted his disappointment on his Instagram handle in the aftermath of the damaging loss.
Coincidentally, it was the first time Pogba has tasted defeat in the Premier League this season.
United have lost with Pogba in the lineup, but those games came in the UEFA Champions League (FC Basel) and the EFL Cup (Bristol City)
The 24-year-old Frenchman would have wanted his special night–the sixth anniversary of his United debut– to have been memorable for the right reasons, but after a disastrous start to the tie, Jose Mourinho’s men never truly recovered.
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Spurs midfielder Christian Eriksen put the hosts ahead with a goal inside 11 seconds and a Phil Jones own-goal would complete the score with inside half an hour.
United, with new signing Alexis Sanchez making his league debut, tried their level best to get themselves back in the tie but Spurs kept their vaunted attackers at bay without any fuss.
Notably, Pogba was hauled off for Juan Mata in the 63rd minute and while Mourinho insisted that he wanted to mix things up, many pundits felt that the Portuguese tactician was not impressed with the Frenchman’s performance on the night.
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The Red Devils now trail league leaders Manchester City by a massive 15 points and must accept the fact that they are battling to remain in the top-four.
Liverpool and Chelsea, in third and fourth place respectively, are just three points behind while fifth-placed Tottenham Hotspur are two points further back.
Pogba, who has come into his own this season, will hope his teammates can dust themselves off as they have a Premier League clash with Huddersfield Town on Saturday up next and the pressure is on the Red Devils to return to winning ways without much delay.