Rangnick explains surprise Pogba substitution

Manchester United beat Leeds 4-2 on Sunday afternoon with Paul Pogba putting in a great first half shift. The Frenchman had started two Premier League games since making his return from injury before today, as well as a second half substitution against Brighton.

There was surprise when Pogba was withdrawn in the 67th minute given how well he had been playing, with nobody creating more chances, taking on more players or making more headed clearances.

Fred was the player Ralf Rangnick named as Pogba’s replacement and within three minutes he had put United 3-2 ahead.

With a massive game against Atletico Madrid on Wednesday, it makes perfect sense to rest the dynamic midfielder, and after the victory on Sunday the manager explained his thinking behind the substitution.

He did well in the first half, but he didn’t play from the wing, he played as one of the two eights along with Bruno. On the wing we played with Jesse Lingard and Jadon Sancho and he [Pogba] did great, but after 60 minutes you could see him starting to tire, which is normal after such a long injury break. It was great however to bring on two energetic players like Fred and Anthony Elanga.

With them both scoring in the end this is the best part of it but I didn’t bring them on actually to score goals. It was more about getting more energy into the team and playing in the similar style to how we played in the first half.