Jose Mourinho insists his decision to drop Paul Pogba for Manchester United is "not the end of the world" for the midfielder.
The Portuguese coach opted to drop Pogba from his starting XI three days on from the disappointing 2-0 away loss to Tottenham, with Scott McTominay starting against Huddersfield at Old Trafford.
Phil Jones and Ashley Young were also left out by Mourinho, and United went on the win the game with second-half goals from Romelu Lukaku and Alexis Sanchez.
Mourinho has rarely if ever dropped (or even substituted) Pogba for tactical reasons since arriving at Old Trafford in the summer of 2016, but the Portuguese coach insists that a little time on the bench is nothing for United's record £89million signing to be overly concerned about.
"I changed a few players and the intention was not to punish anyone," he told reporters.
"I made a few changes thinking about the characteristics of this game.
"Paul is a fantastic player - no doubt for me one of the most talented midfield players in the world.
"But to sit on the bench one day (Pogba came on in the 65th minute) is not the end of the world."
When pressed on why Pogba was left out, Mourinho replied: "Just change, try different qualities with different players."
Mourinho has already suggested that he could well be in the market for more central midfielders this summer, with Marouane Fellaini yet to sign a contract extension and Michael Carrick set to retire and take up a coaching position with the club.
And Mourinho's midfield plans took a further hit after he revealed that Fellaini has undergone knee surgery and will be out for at least two months.
"He had surgery (on Saturday morning)," said Mourinho. "I don't want to be very specific.
"It's not the end of his season, not at all.
"It's a small intervention in his external (lateral) meniscus and I want to believe that by the end of March he can be back.
"If he can be back by the end of March, I hope we have a big April and a big May still to play in more than one competition."
Fellaini first injured his knee playing for Belgium last October and has already had two spells out trying to rectify the problem.
Additional reporting by the Press Association and Reuters.
