The trigger for Manchester United’s thrilling, swashbuckling comeback win against Newcastle has been revealed… and it’s as unlikely as the thought of Sir Bobby Charlton kitting up, taking to the hallowed turf of Old Trafford for one last hurrah, and banging in a perfect hat trick to seal the points.
Believe it or not, Jose Mourinho turned to the advice of none other than PAUL EFFING POGBA at half time on Saturday evening, with United 2-0 down and heading for a colossal embarrassment on their home patch.
Mourinho later said, ‘During half-time we opened our hearts and we spoke about tactical changes for two minutes. ‘Then we spoke for eight minutes about other things that I thought would let the players be a little bit more free to face the second half and it became 3-2. Amazing.’
Mind you, we’ll never know if he’d have spoken about the half-time honesty session if it had all gone wrong after the interval – I mean, you rarely hear Jose criticise his players in public, do you?
It’s all got me hoping that Mourinho and Pogba can now forge ahead in unity and create a double act that will be feared throughout the whole of the kingdom of football – especially now that Jose needs a wingman following the disappearance of Rui Faria.
It’s also got me thinking as to how the all-new power duo will rank alongside some of history’s greatest partnerships – and is there anything they can learn from them?
SCOOBY & SCRAPPY DOO
Are there any real similarities here?
Hmmm… they’re both idiots, but for significantly different reasons.
One of them is a clumsy, awkward mover and the other never knows when to shut up. The cartoon dogs aren’t much better. ARF!
LAUREL AND HARDY
Regarded as one of the funniest double acts in history, but do they match up against Mourinho and Pogba?
Well, Ollie was an arrogant, blowhard know-all, never afraid to loudly declare an opinion on even the most trivial of matters, while Stan was his bumbling inferior – continually failing to follow his partner’s instructions and causing chaos everywhere they went.
Yeah, pretty similar then.
R2-D2 & C-3PO
This Star Wars pair were just like humans, and Mourinho and Pogba are almost certainly humans too. Except the beepy one – he wasn’t really human at all. But weirdly, he’s more fun than the other three put together.
Again, we have a bossy half of the double act, teamed up with (in this case) a beepy one.
I’m not seeing too many similarities, but what I am feeling is that it would all be a lot better if Mourinho or Pogba (or even both) beeped more often. Sorry – I’m not a scientist.
UB40 & CHRISSIE HYNDE
Arguably history’s greatest double act – where Brummie reggae meets a louche American post-punk drawler.
To date, Mourinho has failed to make any kind of impression on the reggae scene, and there were eight members of UB40, whereas there’s only one of Mourinho.
This final comparison feels like a bit of a mess, but makes more sense if you throw in the fact that UB40 and Hynde reached the top of the charts with I’ve Got You Babe in 1985, whereas Mourinho and Pogba’s Manchester United will never be top of the Premier League as long as all of us live.
Paul Pogba is 7/1 to join Barcelona before the closure of the 2018-19 January transfer window