Paul Pogba Apologises to Manchester United Fans After Tottenham Defeat

Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba has apologised to the club's supporters following their 3-0 loss to Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League on Monday. 

The Red Devils produced a poor second half display in front of their fans at Old Trafford, as Spurs ran in all three goals after the interval to secure a comfortable win.

Afterwards, Pogba said sorry to United fans and that he wasn't quite sure what was going wrong with the team at the moment, per RMC (h/t Get French Football News).

"Even we don't understand," said Pogba. "We started the game really well, and we concede two goals in the second half. That was tough to take. ... Our fans were still pushing us. We are really sorry for them, and really disappointed, we wanted to do better. I think that this is a defeat that we did not deserve."

Pogba finished by defiantly saying "we are Manchester United and we will never give up."

The result continued a disappointing start to the 2018-19 Premier League season for the Red Devils. While they beat Leicester City 2-1 on the opening day, they've followed that with back-to-back losses against Brighton & Hove Albion and Spurs.

After Monday's setback, manager Jose Mourinho was clearly agitated and called for "respect" when assessing his performance:

As noted by OptaJoe, the Portuguese coach has never been on the end of such a humbling result in front of his own supporters in the past:

While Tottenham deserve credit for the ruthlessness and cohesion the team showed in this game, the most striking factor throughout the 90 minutes was the lack of organisation from the Red Devils.

Mourinho's teams have been associated with watertight defensive play down the years, but here the likes of Chris Smalling and Victor Lindelof were well below the standard required. Pogba himself had a difficult night too, as he failed to exert his authority on the game alongside Fred and Nemanja Matic in central midfield.

Football writer Liam Canning commented on how certain players, like Pogba, appear to thrive when away from United but struggle when in the red jersey:

Meanwhile, journalist Daniel Harris said supporters should look at other factors aside from the manager when analysing the current predicament the team finds itself in:

Mourinho is under pressure, and Sunday's trip to Turf Moor to play Burnley promises to be a huge challenge for the team. If United slip up again there, you struggle to see a way back for the manager, and the Red Devils ambitions may be limited to a top-four finish this term.

The coach will be looking to his big characters in the squad to step up and help the team through what has become a mini-crisis for the club. While Pogba can't haul the XI to a result singlehandedly, if United are to lift themselves off the floor here they'll need a big performance from their record signing.