The Manchester United Afternoon Bulletin

THE SPECIAL ONE

Paul Scholes reckons that Manchester United are not far away from being a top team again. He believes that The Special One will make the club special again. The legend also claimed that Rooney will leave if he is left on the bench.

FOUR-PRONGED ATTACK

In his presser yesterday, Mourinho believes that success in the FA Cup and Europa League will mean a fixture pile up and ‘trouble’ for United down the road. United are still competing on three fronts and remain lodged in one of the more fascinating races for the top 4 places in recent seasons. The aforementioned trouble seems to be rearing its head already with four matches till next Sunday’s EFL Cup final against Southampton. Mourinho believes the problem lies with postponed games with the Manchester Derby already pushed back. A win at Blackburn in the FA Cup will result in the rescheduling of the Premier League match against Southampton.

POGBA V POGBA

Meanwhile, the Pogba brothers already seem to want to out-perform the other and a ball hasn’t been kicked. St. Etienne’s Florentin’s visited the barber to get the numbers ‘19’ and ‘6’ inscribed on his head. The numbers are a reference to the brother’s jersey numbers at their respective teams.

TRACK TO FIELD

Meanwhile, die-hard United fan and arguably the greatest track-and-field athlete of all-time Usain Bolt reckons that he has got what it takes to be a United player. His dream of pulling on a red-shirt is not unknown. He even believes that he can be as good as, if not better than leading United scorer Wayne Rooney. Bolt even has a week of training with German giants Borussia Dortmund scheduled.

BAILLY PRESS-CONFERENCE

Eric Bailly has insisted that United will not be distracted by the Pogba V Pogba sideshow. In yesterday’s presser he also thanked Mourinho and the coaching staff for his smooth transition into United’s defense. “One surprise for me was getting into the team so quickly. But what I’ve had from day one is the excellent work of the backroom staff, the coaches and the backing for the manager. It’s helped me settle.” Said Bailly. The Ivorian also singled-out Mourinho’s man-management style for praise. “He looks at situations in games that happened and takes time to talk through stuff, it’s something that’s been really helpful for me.” Eric will take his place at the heart of United’s defense along with Smalling in the St. Etienne fixture.

PABLO BLOW

Juventus forward Pablo Dybala has revealed that he is close to agreeing a new deal at the club. This news comes amid growing interest from Premier League giants Manchester United and Chelsea. The news comes after Juve chief Giuseppe Marota said that he expects the player to stay.

ONE UP

Former United star Cristiano Ronaldo has passed United legend on the Champions League chart for most assist. He now has 31 compared to Giggs’ 30. Two current United players Ibrahimovic and Rooney are on 22 and 17 assists respectively. Ronaldo is already the top-scorer in the competition’s rich history.