I explained why I didn't think he kept it simple in the past. And, you said there were debates about it? Well, so I must not have been the only one who thought that.
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Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 27
- Goals
- 1
- Assists
- 9
- Yellow cards
- 9
- Red cards
- 1
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik and Imran hold a long overdue conversation about United's awful league form with 1 win in 7. They discuss a disappointing draw at Bournemouth, a not so disappointing draw against Liverpool and a crushing defeat at Chelsea - Is time nearly over for Erik Ten Hag?
Then in a special second half of the pod, Nik welcomes Natalie ( https://twitter.com/natalie_17) to discuss the fortunes of Manchester United Women as they booked a place in the FA Cup Final after a historic first ever win vs. Chelsea.
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He really did, you're right. I still put what Pogba went through as more vicious. Specially when it's been fueled by assholes like Souness and Mourinho when he was there
I don't know if it was more vicious because people openly attacked his character, they blatantly lied about his fitness, questioned his intellect and all of it was based on Mourinho running his mouth. My poin isn't about Pogba not being unfairly treated but just to highlight that it's not an isolated case and that people need to grow up, I would extend that to Lindelof there is no need lambasting when he isn't even playing.
The attitudes are actually very similar. American fans get up upset when players wind their contracts down and sign for other teams and receive no assets in return (see Lebron James when he signed for Miami and many other examples).
Not relevant and still a goofy take.
7 assists already 
A real noticeable difference in his pressing and tracking back this season too. Going to be a force to be reckoned with this year and he's not even started shooting yet!
A real noticeable difference in his pressing and tracking back this season too. Going to be a force to be reckoned with this year and he's not even started shooting yet!
I've noticed he's being less selfish with his shot attempts. A season or two ago he wouldn't shy away from belting one outside the box when given half a chance, but watching him this season he always seems to look for the killer final ball instead.
7 assists already
A real noticeable difference in his pressing and tracking back this season too. Going to be a force to be reckoned with this year and he's not even started shooting yet!
Christ, how many is he going to have by the end of the season?
66.5, obviously
Christ, how many is he going to have by the end of the season?
Well, let's see if he get's at least 30 before we aim for 6.66.
KDB and Henry have the record at 20 right now......
I see him play like yesterday and just imagine if we'd bothered to buy a decent DM to partner him with in his time here other than a passed-it Matic.7 assists already
A real noticeable difference in his pressing and tracking back this season too. Going to be a force to be reckoned with this year and he's not even started shooting yet!
That aside, he's had a brilliant start to the season, joy to watch.
Exactly what I've said in my post, they don't have that passing ability and yet Mcfred is our most effective midfield pair by far.
You seem very defensive towards Pogba, there's no need because I'm not really criticizing him, just saying if he tweaks his game a bit it'll benefit the team more. Like you said, not on every occasion there is space to play the ball to the right player, it's a matter of picking the moment. I also said multiple times already it might be down to instructions, Bruno seems to force long passes quite often as well, and our forwards line up for that long pass behind the defense as well. But I don't think it's the most effective way to play, good things happen when our midfield plays it fast and simple, it's not always about Hollywood pass.
You think I'm defensive and I think you are one of those agenda driven posters (or the posters who just moan about Pogba no matter what). All this ends up in endless nonsense.
You made a post and I disagreed with that and said why. There is nothing defensive in that.
It's not always hollywood pass, yes. That post should go in Bruno's thread, not Pogba's. Also good things happen when our players take the risk and create chances. Not when they keep it simple.
I think he will leave at the end of the season also. Real Madrid are calling.
Atleast we are in agreement a new record is incoming
You're wrong simply because you'll see me praising Pogba for good performances. There are a few agenda driven posters and you can predict 100% what they're going to say, I'm not one of them. They're mostly in the Pogba camp by the way, shitting on our other midfield options like it would somehow make Pogba a better player.
You seem defensive because you bring some irrelevant stats from the last game to show he had a good performance (and I agree), but I'm talking about his game in general. Playing in Central (2 man) midfield is more about supporting attack and defense than playing attacking mid role from deeper areas.
Bruno is guilty of similar things, but he's not playing in CM.
Agreed. Ironically even with his legs going/ gone, I think Matic compliments Paul the best. Definatley going to be our must position come next summer, but between Fred, Scott and Matic we should be okay for now.
Honestly, I think it'd be a shame if he leaves this United squad to go to Madrid. It really feels like United is coming back to knocking on the door of title challengers and that's one of the main reasons he wanted to come back. Now if they do win this season (anything is possible at this point), then maybe that's the nail in the coffin and he can feel justified in leaving, but if they come close, he's playing well and often, and he still decides to leave, I'll be a little disappointed with him. I'd rather see him stay in England than in Spain with Madrid, same for Mbappe.
Just having a back and forth in the Matic thread about this. I agree that Matic compliments Paul the best but only by default of him being an actual defensive midfielder because once you split up Fred and Scott they are shown to be box-to-box midfielders rather than true DM's (which is what we need to partner Pogba with.)
But IMO Matic legs have gone and we can't really rely on him this season, that my concern. I really hope this position doesn't let us down this season as it's the one real weakness in the team during an exciting time.
Did he? Like @Rozay said, what Pogba actually does and what people post is so different. It's like people have written down some points and no matter how he plays, they just post that randomly.
Again, defensive because I think Pogba played well and picks his passes well? If that's defensive then you are agenda driven poster for coming up with posts like "he plays like attacking mid from deeper areas". Yeah few in Pogba camp shit on other midfield options and then posters like you shit on Pogba to make other midfield options better than they are.
He plays like CM, he is a defensive liability but his on the ball decision making is good and picks right passes. Also like @Jeppers7 correctly predicted, no matter how well he plays, people post random stuff. He is arguably ManUtd's best player since december and he played in midfield 2 in most games. He supports attack and defense, he supports attack much better than he can support defense, just like other midfield players who supports defense better than they support attack.
I think we can rotate, use him for the home games, with Mctominay/Fred for the way games. We can survive on this till the next window or new season. Have him play maybe once a week or so. Maybe even test mctominay and see if he can step up.
I'm curious because I've noticed this is a major weakness as part of his defensive game.
He tends to go shoulder to shoulder with an attacker and they brush him off, which allows them to break away or he fouls them.
If he either stopped trying to challenge them and try to position himself ahead of them or was a bit more physical in pushing them off the ball, I think a lot of his defensive issues would be alleviated.
A transfer to Real Madrid? No, thanks.
I agree about him being the only defensive midfielder but he is also our most competent passer along with Pogba from CM which makes him that bit more important to us right now. He should be saved for games like today, when we will be against a very deep block. Maguire miss timing a challenge left us on the back foot but I don't see that happening to often.
Scott and Fred have shown they can handle the pressure of the big matches and whilst not being the most expressive of passing ability, they can both move the ball on quickly enough for our front four to be effective. I can't disagree a DM who could be relied on to play most games would have been perfect, but I think with the right management we have the players capable of doing the job.
Edit. Sorry for taking thread of topic.
I think we're not gonna agree on this one. Cheers.
That I can agree with.
Yeah I hope it's enough for us to mount a challenge. If we can maintain our away form and get Old Trafford back to being a fortress, lets hope.
I suppose this is on topic because when Rashford is back it will be a hot topic if Pogba drops into the midfield two and if so then who partners him.
Pogba's issues in midfield are simple, if he doesn't see a pass, he holds onto the ball which can have dire consquences if hes one of the 2 deep midfielders. he isnt all that fond of negative passing which means he limits his passing options to positive ones. At least neutral ones. Thats a great for a playmaker as they'd always look to make things happen but not so good for midfielders who are so close to their goal.
Bruno and Pogmum together.
Man I love our current team. Been a long time since that's been the case for so many of them.
Man I love our current team. Been a long time since that's been the case for so many of them.
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Thing is our other defensively "Good" Midfielders make just as many if not more detrimental mistakes but people just ignore it more for some reason.
Anyway Pogbas been great this season.
I think it's more to do with the fact that he tries dribbles, shimmys, feints and does other ball carrying techniques in high risk and low percentage situations, which imo is down to several things we've discussed and dissected many times already e.g overdoing it, taking too much responsibility because there's no movement in front of him, playing too deep etc.
When he's further up the pitch and able to isolate players or in transition i.e where there's open space, his dribbling and 'strength' of ball retention is usually very good. To over simplify, It's when he's in the centre of the pitch, trying to take a ball under pressure and turn with players at all angles that I find he puts himself in those situations where he gets barged off etc.
We've seen two good examples in the previous two games already. That heavy touch when he caught Neves and again the touch after his step over just before the Lingard assist was him trying to do a hesitation and create space/angle to take on/draw a player in. Any other player would take a very simple and steady touch before playing it. He likes 'loose' and 'open' touches so he can manipulate the ball for more passing angles and the opening of his body.
It's fantastic to watch and I love it but it's high risk.
The Virus number...
In truth that lot arent good enough to start for us but then here we are. Pogba without mistakes can paper alot over our other midfieders inability to play football.
He's been brilliant obviously but playing him in midfield against teams that press is asking for trouble as we got reminded again against wolves.
The fact the Southampton game was worse probably shows that was more a reflection on Fred's current form than Pogba.
Pogba and McTominay is the midfield to play most games IMO
Hope we can keep him, I think with Cristiano in the team now we have a better chance.
Considering Fred’s form I would have to agree with you. And I have been firmly in the Pogba on the left camp. But perhaps the weapons we have now in attack will discourage most teams from pressing us.
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Just sign the damn contract, Paul.
Hopefully he signs.
I don't see why he would leave now when we can compete for trophies and Pogba has a great platform himself to succeed.
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