That is according to former Manchester United defender Wes Brown.
United’s manager and star player have endured a fluctuating relationship at Old Trafford ever since Mourinho signed the Frenchman in 2016.
The ‘Special One’ insisted he had “never been happier” with Pogba than he was at the start of the season, naming him captain in The Red Devils’ first two league games.
Perfect pupil Pogba then found himself facing the wall when he made suggestive comments about moving away from Old Trafford and criticised his manager’s tactics in their 1-1 home draw to Wolves.
Following those comments, Mourinho stripped Pogba of his vice-captaincy duties in front of his team-mates.
After being dropped for United’s Carabao Cup loss to Derby, the World Cup-winner posted a jovial video on his Instagram story during the game and was then angrily confronted by Mourinho about it at training the next morning.
Former United defender Brown played under Sir Alex Ferguson for 15 years and insists that such spats between player and manager are common.
Speaking exclusively to Express Sport, the five-time Premier League champion said: “I had a few arguments myself with Sir Alex Ferguson – it’s football.
“When the going gets tough – it gets tough.
“And United have had it tough over the three or four weeks, basically on results – they’ve lost some bad games.
“But personal football things where managers fight with players, players fight back – that’s normal; that’s been going on for as long as I can think of.
“Managers are managers, that’s what they do.”
Ferguson notoriously used his media duties to his advantage, taking calculated swipes at Arsene Wenger and Rafa Benitez during tense rivalries with Arsenal and Liverpool.
On whether such actions from the boss ripple onto the training ground, Brown said: “It never affected me – I just got on with it.
“Ultimately, you’re there to play for Man United. The manager is the manager – regardless of what he says it doesn’t matter. You just go out on the pitch, play as good as you can and try and help the team.
“Some things get said in the press sometimes – it doesn’t affect the players at all.
“I completely understand [that players are different nowadays] – the world has changed. You have to change with it. Yeah, there are things that are done differently.
“When I was there, social media wasn’t done but that’s the way it is now. So you just have to organise it in the best way you can.
“Don’t get me wrong, if you’re not playing too well and you hear something come out on social media – I completely understand why you would be bothered, but the game is the game.”
Wes Brown took on Dennis Wise as part of 888sport’s A Tenner Says campaign. Take ‘Em On at www.888sport.com.