Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has admitted he substituted Paul Pogba due to a tactical decision in the 1-0 loss to Newcastle United on Sunday.

The Frenchman was replaced by Michael Carrick in the 66th minute, shortly after Matt Ritchie scored what would be the match-winning goal.

Although Pogba failed to compete with Ayoze Perez, who headed down the ball that eventually fell to the Scotsman, Mourinho says he brought Pogba off to increase the chances of Alexis Sanchez having an impact on the game.

"No problems," said Mourinho when asked if Pogba had an injury. "I wanted a better way to come out in the first phase against a team that was defending in a very compact block.

"I was trying that with the simplicity of Michael Carrick because he tries to make everything simple and bring Alexis [Sanchez] close to an area to [Romelu] Lukaku where he could be like a second striker to try to win the game."