Jose Mourinho must quell a growing rift within his dressing room that has been exacerbated by the toxic fall-out with Paul Pogba.
As Manchester United prepare to travel to London to face West Ham on Saturday, Mourinho must first restore some harmony to a group of players who are growing tired of his antics. It will be a test of Mourinho’s debatable man-management skills.
There are growing concerns at United that Mourinho's fallout with Pogba is in danger of poisoning his relationship with other first-team players.
Mourinho's differences with Pogba have become all too apparent in recent days after the United manager confirmed that the France star has been stripped of the vice-captaincy and the two men then became embroiled in a training ground spat in front of the television cameras.
Their relationship appears to be irreparable and there are now worries that other players are backing Pogba in a move that will bring them into conflict with Mourinho and threaten to split the United camp in two.
Anthony Martial is the most obvious ally as part of a coterie of unhappy French-speaking players that also includes Eric Bailly.
Martial fell out spectacularly with Mourinho in the summer after going AWOL from the club's US tour to be at the birth of his baby son in Paris, fuelling his desire to leave Old Trafford.
Bailly is no longer a first-choice centre-back after the Ivory Coast international angered Mourinho by pulling out of the home game against West Brom in April due to illness.
One club insider told Sportsmail that 'you could have cut the atmosphere between Pogba, Martial and Jose with a knife' at the Lowry Hotel before United won at Burnley earlier this month.
Andreas Pereira, another player frustrated by his limited opportunities, is understood to have attached himself to the group of Pogba disciples.
It has not gone unnoticed around Carrington that while Pogba arrives at training in a black chauffeur driven Rolls Royce, Pereira has bought himself a white Bentley.
It was no coincidence that the Brazil international featured on the video posted on social media that has landed Pogba in trouble with Mourinho.
Pereira can be seen laughing and joking with Pogba in a private box at Old Trafford while United were struggling to overcome Derby County in a Carabao Cup tie that saw United eventually go out on penalties.
Luke Shaw was the other person in the clip and continues to have a fragile relationship with Mourinho despite his return to the first-team this season.
Shaw is on the periphery of that group along with Marcus Rashford who has grown increasingly unhappy over his lack of game time under the Portuguese coach.
When Pogba irritated Mourinho once again by playing loud music on the top deck of the team bus en route to Old Trafford from the Lowry for Saturday's draw with Wolves, new signing Fred was the other player making the noise upstairs amid concerns that he too has come under Pogba's influence.
While footballers playing loud music is nothing new, those who have grown tired of Pogba since he returned to United from Juventus for a then world record fee of £89million in the summer of 2016 insist that it is symptomatic of the brash, over-the-top behaviour that has become part of daily life around Carrington.
It was typical of Pogba to turn up for the Derby game in a bright white tracksuit and gold-rimmed glasses, and it did not go down well when he appeared in the dressing-room area.
Under Sir Alex Ferguson, non-playing members of the squad were required to wear official club wear.
Although that policy has been relaxed in recent years, players are still expected to dress conservatively when they watching from the stands, and this is another area where staff feel that Pogba is setting a bad example.
Other senior players have distanced themselves from the 25-year-old, mindful that Mourinho is monitoring the dynamic in his squad.
Ashley Young, Nemanja Matic and, previously, Michael Carrick are among those who have kept their distance.
Intriguingly, Romelu Lukaku has also cooled his friendship with a team-mate who played a part in his £75m move to United from Everton last year by joining him on holiday in the US.
Lukaku does not want to be seen to be backing Pogba against Mourinho and has stepped back from the situation. They remain on good terms but club insiders have noticed that they are not as close as before.
The delicate balance within the squad explains Mourinho's determination to assert his authority and bring Pogba down a peg or two this week.
'You're not a captain, you will never be a captain,' he told the player in front of team-mates on Tuesday morning having already informed Pogba by text message last week that he would no longer wear the armband because of his desire to quit United for Barcelona.
It was no coincidence that Mourinho chose the 15-minute segment of training being filmed by Sky Sports on Wednesday to confront Pogba over the video posted on Instagram, mindful that young players like Mason Greenwood could see the United star being given a very public dressing-down.
Having accepted that his relationship with Pogba is now beyond repair, Mourinho wants to re-establish control over the rest of the squad before it is too late.
yeucekmopu
111
Since Pogba returned from the world cup his attitude changed against his manager bcuz he chances on the least opportunity to dig at his manager, he want him sacked and that is bad bcuz Maurihno was the one who bought Pogba but now he is fighting him out. Pogba should leave United before he poison the minds of the rest of the players against the manager.
beslsz
58
when Ibrahimovic and Rooney were here Pogba could not try these nonsense . He feels he's bigger than the team. It's a challenge to them. Pogba would help their career. If MU want to sack a coach it's not Pogba they will use. This Pogba issues is irritating.
Perecozy
49
Barca lose yesterday and the coach said the players lack attitude in public if it were to be Jose people we start criticizing him for saying such to is players. People forget when Jose was defending pogba style of play when English and former players were criticizing him pogba is heartless even if Man U decided to sack Jose .pogba can never be good as KDB in man city Jose criticize Luke Shaw now Luke is doing better he said it him self that what Jose said about him was right that he needs to up is game which he later thank Jose for .criticizing him dose not make Jose to hate him but to challenge him to be the best. Like I always say those supporting pogba should go and challenge their boss in the office or criticize him in public if u will not be sack making fun on ur IG page when ur team is losing is not funny at all Paul should learn to respect if Messi and CR7 were to have such negative attitude I don’t think they would have been the best in the world to day .