Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has revealed Paul Pogba will stay on penalty duty when quizzed by reporters, whilst Pogba has discussed whether he will alter his stuttered approach.
Pogba missed a first-half penalty in the 2-1 win over Everton at Old Trafford after his trademark, paused run-up was saved by Jordan Pickford, before the Frenchman tapped home the rebound.
United's no.6 added an assist to his goal, laying the ball off for Anthony Martial's cracker, which was enough for the three points, despite Gylfi Sigurdsson pulling a goal back from the penalty spot himself.
And boss Jose Mourinho has admitted he is happy with the 'desire' Pogba shows to step up and take United's penalties under pressure.
“The thing I like is the desire to take it. I don’t like [players who are like], ‘Mickey Mouses,’ fragile and afraid to go and take a penalty. I don’t like that. I like a player that wants to take it,”
he said.
“Like, for example today, the Crystal Palace boy [Luka Milivojevic] missed last week against Everton and today [against Arsenal] two penalties, give me the ball and if I miss, I miss, but I go there and take it. Paul wants to take them and that, for me, is fantastic. If he misses, he misses.
”Can he improve his penalties? I think he can. I think the goalkeepers know his run-up, they don’t move and they are waiting until the last second for his decision, so I think he probably has to learn from that, but what, for me, is the most important thing is that next time he has a penalty, he goes again and he goes happy again. And that, for me, is the most important thing.“
Pogba was also questioned on his techique in his post-match interview and revealed he may look at change his penalty technique after Pickford had denied him.
“Today, sure, I was lucky, but the most important [thing] is the ball went in and I scored the goal, so it was the one that was good for us. It was good for me and then after we carried on and we had other chances and the most important was the win today,”
he said on Sky Sports.
“I always try to disturb the keeper. I always shoot like this and that's how I know how to take penalties, so I might maybe practice to change it, because maybe the keepers start to know my step, but the most important [thing] is when the ball goes in.”
Ashley Young also had his say on Pogba's penalty style and, when asked by MUTV's Stewart Gardner if his United team-mates ever have a joke with him about his run-up, Young admitted they have!
“I think we have [wound him up about his run up],”
said the skipper.
“Someone just told me he took 26 steps [in his run-up], but if he wants to take 62 steps and scores the penalty that's all that matters,” he continued.
“As long as he scores the penalties, you can't take anything away from him.”