Thought he started a bit ropey but that grew into a very mature and solid performance. If he can string together a couple of months of these performances it will go a huge way to repairing the damage he's done his legacy over the last couple of seasons. That gallop and laying in Greenwood was just the type of move you want to see him replicate as his go to option for creativity in the midfield to break teams pressing him. He's had obvious struggles doing it in the premier league but I hope it becomes more of a staple when teams give him space. He definitely has the ability to take control of the attacking third in these sorts of ways that breed confidence in the attack.
6
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 42
- Goals
- 6
- Assists
- 6
- Yellow cards
- 9
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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 seems to be more at ease with more players in the midfield, a bit like when he was at Juve with three other midfielders in Pirlo, Vidal and Marchisio
100%
Word. He completed a well oiled puzzle but shouldn’t shoulder the burden of having the whole team built around him specifically. If everyone does their jobs, Pogba will shine and add that extra special spark to elevate everyone’s game even more. He needs intelligent runs, players who find space, and someone else like Fred to do the dirty work - though Pogba is no stranger to tackling himself!
Main difference seemed to be fitness and strength - I wonder if his covid recovery is over now.
Still, this isn't all he's capable of - in his best spells here he was trying more fantasy assists and/or runs into the box.
Still, this isn't all he's capable of - in his best spells here he was trying more fantasy assists and/or runs into the box.
Thought he had a very good match for us today, might be the best of the season.
Hoping there is more to come from him.
Hoping there is more to come from him.
Maybe we're starting to see a Pogba which we waited for so long. @Still ill nailed it, we dont need to make a team around him, just treat him like another talented player, surround him with talented players and he'll be in a good place, show what he's capable of.
Maybe his fitness was a problem too until now cause he looked a lot fresher and with more energy. Most important thing is he made things simple, didnt complicate on the ball and want to make all by himself. Onward and upwards Paul!
Maybe his fitness was a problem too until now cause he looked a lot fresher and with more energy. Most important thing is he made things simple, didnt complicate on the ball and want to make all by himself. Onward and upwards Paul!
A typical Pogba performance.
Assist was similar to the one he gave Ibra against Palace in his 1st season back.
Assist was similar to the one he gave Ibra against Palace in his 1st season back.
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Really good performance, skillful, got stuck in and showed some fight, cant fault it. More of the same against the gooners please.
Good stuff, the Leipzig players were not able to take the ball off him. He was always a step quicker than his opponents.
Strong performance. Coped with their press very well which was crucial to our game plan.
And that's exactly why he should be playing further forward like he was yesterday. He's one of the best at slipping the ball in between the FB and CBs, but he hasn't been put in that position to do in his last 4 seasons. He did that quite a bit in his first season, because he has Carrick and Herrera alongside him so he could push up into that space.
He was excellent last night. A few matches on the bench has done him well.
I though he was great and very concentrated, fought well and great pass that was for Mason.
Thought he was excellent. Think he can play deep in the odd game but putting him on the left works so much better. Having him and Martial close together works well as they both have good interplay.
Pogba was fantastic, I can't remember the last time I've seen him literally fight on the pitch for every 50-50 duel.
Great on the ball as well with barely any mistakes, though he still holds onto the ball a bit too long sometimes and when it's in our own half, it makes me sweat a lot.
Great on the ball as well with barely any mistakes, though he still holds onto the ball a bit too long sometimes and when it's in our own half, it makes me sweat a lot.
He was very good. I haven't seen him work this hard for a while. These are the sort of performances he needs to be putting in consistently.
Diamond formation suited him. I feel comfortable when he's closer to the wings and it also allows him to be more expressive with less risk on the turnover.
We must credit Ole for this too. He realised his mistake from early in the season by playing Pogba when not fit, took him out the team and slowly re-integrated him and whilst doing that, Pogba got some hunger from watching other players work hard.
Work hard off the ball and good things will come, very good from Pogba today.
Work hard off the ball and good things will come, very good from Pogba today.
Player playing better is correct position shocker. He's always been a left mezzala/left half winger player at his very best.
Exactly. This is all we need from him. His detractors (and I'm one of them) would have nowhere to go if this is the Pogba we had on the pitch week in week out. He was excellent and looked really at home with Fred and Bruno in the midfield. The formation seemed to work well for everyone around him and it was great to see Paul digging in and giving the team what it needs.
Pogba often tends to be better defensively when pressing people in front of him. It's once they get in behind him he just gets lazy. It's actually something a lot of more attacking players do. The likes of Sanchez, KDB, Aguero, etc are all good at pressing players ahead of them in short bursts, but once the opposition actually get past them they get quite lazy at tracking back. Pogba is similar in that regard, which is obviously quite a bad trait for a deep-lying midfielder who has to help shield the defence from runners. The opposition can move him around and try to get in behind him, knowing that once they do that they basically take him out of the play.
It's still not a great trait for any footballer of course as in a perfect world they'll all hunt backwards as well, but it doesn't cause as many issues when he's played in that more free role with two more solid players covering. He can just focus more on what's in front of him.
Exactly this. Let Fred and Mctominay do the dirty work so pogba can concentrate on what he is good at. Left of the diamond is his ideal position it seems and allows us to accommodate him and Bruno in same team. McFred then for other two slots and we are good.
I've been very critical of him so only right that I give him credit when its deserved such as last few games. Well done Paul.
This, for me.
He deserves huge praise for last night. A solid performance and he looked like a team player, which is where criticism of him has started from.
Needs to deliver consistently now. Consistent 7/10s interspersed with 8/9 out of 10 performances and we suddenly have a baller in our team.
My MOTM
Sounds like he had a good game which is nice to hear, people say we play better without pogba that doesnt seem to be the case.
He did, it was good to see him looking at home in his surroundings and fighting for the team. If that's what we get on a regular basis, the team will be better with him in it.
We play better without the Pogba we saw in the first few games of the season, that’s for damn sure.
The unequivocal praise he is getting today really just proves that the criticism he’s been getting isn’t unfair or biased or some sort of agenda against him. Or even that he has the sort of style where good stuff goes unnoticed.
When he does have a good game everybody notices and the praise is unanimous. Now he needs to do this more consistently than he has done in his United career to date.
Absolutely nailed it. A supremely talented player - but just another important cog in our machine.
We play better without the version of any of the players we saw in the first three games of the season. Terrible performances all round.
He was getting butchered last night but came through the 1st half as our best and biggest threat.
True but irrelevant to my point. Pogba has been objectively bad up until the point at which he played objectively well. I’ve read some crazy posts in recent weeks about how he gets unfair criticism. Someone even said the issue is islamophobia! Turns out it’s actually quite easy to get his critics to stop criticising him. All he has to do is play well.
I still think there is extra added on when he has an off day. So many times he's played well and he's still criticised, when other players can do a lot worse but hardly a peep is mentioned. His recent bad patch has had people going wild and it's just odd why.
Last night though is definitely more of what we want to see, I think his fitness has improved but he just looks a lot happier and more natural in that position. Playing him deeper doesn't suit his best abilites and he's always best closer to the oppositions goal rather than ours.
It seems like the pennies dropped for Ole and the coaching staff now, the 3 of Fred/Mctominay/Matic can cover the DM role.
Truth is, the extra hate that he gets is due to Mourinho calling him a virus. Now I don't think Mourinho meant to imply that he has a pathogenic presence, but rather that he has an infectious presence. Whatever the truth, so many developed a loathing of him since then.
I was reading something the other day on the psychology of cruelty, and the writer made the point that calling people names has long been a tactic used by the who wish to get the public to hate a person or people.
For example, Hitler called the Jews rats and viruses, the Hutus called the Tutsi cockroaches, and other examples, all of which were geared towards making it easy to see them as less than human, and thus easy to hate and kill.
Now I'm certain Mourinho never intended for anyone to kill Pogba, but he seems to certainly have attempted to turn the fanbase against him in order to preserve himself.
I also think that the racial element might play a factor, hypothetically, as a lot of people are moderate racists who might like and be friends with certain minorities, so long as they "know their place". Once you step out of line--whatever they imagine that line to be--then you might see these attitudes. In Pogba's case, I think a lot of the this type might resent his flashy, big shot behaviour and perceive it as him stepping out of line.
Islamophobia is clearly nonsense. However, I think it is relevant and he does seem to get unfair criticism, much like singling out his performances in three games when the lack of pre-season meant the whole team was objectively bad and he had also just had covid.
Everything is amplified when it comes to Pogba, presumably because of the price tag.
Agreed, things definitely changed for Pogba since that point.
It didn't help that he said he wanted a new challenge after that and then got injured for a long time unfortunately - but he's still one of our best players when he's playing in top form.
Who'd have thought?
He played in the Grealish role, coming in from the left being the third man in midfield and receiving the ball in halfspace. I think this is his best position.
Much better last night.
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