He's done it in plenty of big games. He can’t do it in every one.
Pogba is the best midfielder in the world
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) was joined by comedian Ali Woods to look back at the best and worst moments of a rollercoaster season with the annual United Hour Awards.
Has Ten Hag been sacked yet? We're not sure and we hope not, but it's looking more likely as the days pass.
Who should replace him and why is it taking so long to make a decision?
I’m praying for Pogba to be at his absolute best against the bin dippers and lead us to victory, I'd say talent wise Pogba is the best midfielder in the world but he needs to do it over an entire season to be fully recognised as such.
Been saying it for months. During Jose’s reign even. Special player.
14 goals and 10 assists in 32 games. Is there a central midfielder who comes close to those stats?
How many of these goals are penalties?
PSG as a whole is a much better team than United. There’s no player that is the best player in every match they play. Such a weird reply.
True statement from OP.
De Bruyne last season got 8 goals 16 assists in the league, without penalty taking duty obviously. Pogba will probably end up beating that. Dele Alli in 17/18 ended up on 9 goals 10 assists, but that's down to whether or not you consider him an actual CM.
Pogba's goal/assist record for a central midfielder is obviously superb, but it's arguable he does play more advanced than your average CM and a lot of his play is in and around the box. In terms of past central midfielders who were similarly productive Frank Lampard is one that springs to mind, Gerrard as late as the 13/14 season ended up on 13 goals 13 assists in the league.
I do think Pogba is probably (on current form) the best attack minded central midfielder in the world.
KDB last season playing out of his skin got 32 goal involvements (12 goals and 20 assists) in 52 games.
Pogba as a minimum 13 games left to add 8 more to match that output and he will play about 8 games less in total.
Easily been one of the best in England last two months. If he keeps his level up to May I'd fully expect him to be in PFA team of the year.
Didn't quite happen for him v PSG though so still things to work on when opposition denies him space well.
Didn't quite happen for him v PSG though so still things to work on when opposition denies him space well.
K calm down dude.
Take a chill pill.
Take a chill pill.
Doesn't seem so long ago some people round here were saying 'no-one is bigger than the club' and we should get rid.
He's in the conversation for sure
I think you need to be on this form for longer to make it absolute
But then I don't watch Veratti and others often enough to say either
I think you need to be on this form for longer to make it absolute
But then I don't watch Veratti and others often enough to say either
The most complete midfielder in the world. He got it all!
Passing, physical beast and mentality. Funny how a couple of months ago people wanting him out of the club.
Passing, physical beast and mentality. Funny how a couple of months ago people wanting him out of the club.
He's been doing it since world cup. Only at our club he cannot show his true desire to play the way he wanted to play when Mourinho was here.
OK mate.
Finally some words of wisdom from your part dude.
16 assist thanks to set pieces.
Imagine if we sold him martial and rashford. what a joke Jose turned into.
Back to pog, i must admit when we bought him i was not enthused but oh my in the last 8 weeks i have quickly eaten my words and admire 90% of what he does. He still has that lazy tendency to give the ball away but you can clearly see Ole is smartly coaching that out of him and making him focus more on getting into the box to attack the ball. Scary to think he is just 25 and we have 4 years left to watch him grow before he peaks ... although he dont drink to will he peak later?
Back to pog, i must admit when we bought him i was not enthused but oh my in the last 8 weeks i have quickly eaten my words and admire 90% of what he does. He still has that lazy tendency to give the ball away but you can clearly see Ole is smartly coaching that out of him and making him focus more on getting into the box to attack the ball. Scary to think he is just 25 and we have 4 years left to watch him grow before he peaks ... although he dont drink to will he peak later?
It was laughable then, it's almost surreal to think it was ever a question, or a debate on here, and it wasn't that long ago. Hilarious stuff.
Jose mourinho. A rubbish manager but a beast manipulator of the simple minds.
Pogba's touches and pass map shows he doesn't play in and around the box. He plays as a CM but he makes lot of runs.
His touches vs Chelsea.
Heat map
Average position
He isn't defensively loaded, he gets that freedom but he doesn't play as AM. Mata and before that Lingard played that position.
Edit: Btw, Gerrard scored more than 10 penalties out of 13 goals.
4 goals, 1 assist in all comps this season.Sell him and buy Sergej Milinković-Savić they said
Opportunism is awesome.
He's really good though.
He's really good though.
Would you swap Pogba for Alli?
Aye there was a pool fan in the “5 most expensive players” thread who doesn’t think any club would pay £170m for Pogba
De Bruyne was incredible last season and was a top 3 midfielder in the world. Keep in mind that Pogba if his form continues for another month or so will overtake De Bruyne's last season statistically - even more impressive given that the vast majority of his goal output have been in the last 2 months.
Dele Alli is probably closer to a secondary striker than he is a CM, so not the best comparison. Pogba has played as a CAM several times this season but for the most part he is playing as a box to box CM (LCM).
On Gerrard, I believe about 10 of the 13 goals he scored were penalties that season.
He's going to hit 20+ goals by the end of the season, a lot of strikers in this league wont be getting those numbers ha, we've got true world class talent on our hands..
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De Bruyne took almost every free kick and corner though.
Do penalties take away from Kane’s goal scoring ability? Did it make a big difference to Gerrard and Lampard scoring 5-10 pens a season? Still got to put them away.
9 goals and 6 assists since Ole has been in charge, in 12 games
Its not all about stats. The PSG game shows his biggest weakness, he can't control a game against a strong midfield. He gets into a shell and can't take the team out. Verrati far out shown him.
That being said, the two perinial best midfielders over the past few years, Kroos, and Modric, are not having great seasons so you can argue that he's having the best season amongst midfielders this season. Pogba still needs to perform better in the UCL though.
EDIT: Forgot about De Bruyne and Silva. De Bruyne has been injured all this season but Silva can certainly claim to be better than Pogba. His ability to control games is on another level compared to Pogba.
You are expecting wrong things from Pogba if you are expecting him to control midfield. It's like saying Verratti's weakness was shown as he offers almost nothing in goals.
Their roles are different. Pogba isnt one to control midfield. He is the one to create chances and score.
I think you're too smart to not get my point so I'll assume you're being pedantic, but clearly it matters when you say he's the best in the world and yet can't do it against the best team we play, especially when their midfielders, Veratti especially, absolutely bossed the game.
Messi falls away in the CL knockout stages every year since they last won it. He has had minimal impact in the latter sages for quite a while now.
If you depend on one player for your entire creative output then it says more about your side than the quality of player that is unable to get into the game.
Verrati himself has fallen at this hurdle time, and time again yet he is the benchmark?
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That's true, I acknowlegde that and have said repeatedly that he needs someone like Verrati or Kroos to get the best out of him. He didn't offer any threat against PSG as well, which deeply disappointed me. It's something we've seen from him time and time again, when our midfield gets snuffed he can't seem to get himself into the game.
I think Pogba needs a bit too much support to be called the best midfielder in the world at the moment. I think De Bruyne/Silva can do the duel role of controlling possession and contributing on the offensive end better than Pogba can.
What support? He has Matic and Herrera beside him, not exactly world class midfielders. KDB and Silva play with better players!
Does he have to play beside me to be world class?
KdB and Silva alone don't control the midfield. Fernandinho controls the midfield, Silva and KdB hurt the teams in final third. One player can't control, create and score. That's why it's a team game.
Controlling midfield is not the only way to play, when you play on counter you don't try to control the midfield. You win the possession and hit them on the breaks rather than pointless side passes to win possession battle. At least that's how we play under Ole. Won't bother talking about Jose as we didn't do anything.
He's still developing too.
He is not the best midfielder in the world. Great vein of form, let's see if he can sustain this form for an entire season.