Barney Ronay on Pogba vs. Mourinho

[sugar_kane]

https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...its-sympathy-for-mourinho-amid-pogbas-malaise

A good article as ever from the Guardian's best football pundit.

Nice to see a more nuanced view of the situation rather than the simplistic standard narrative of "Mourinho holds back precocious talent..."

Interesting stats in this paragraph:

Pogba is yet to make a single interception. Sixty-eight midfielders have made more tackles per 90 minutes, including Fulham’s Tom Cairney, who is a throwback to the strolling-playmaker golden age of the 1960s, and Bernardo Silva, whose manager’s best quote so far in England is “what is tackles?” If Mourinho really is worried about Pogba giving the ball away, not imposing himself and not working enough for the team, then maybe it is because he gives the ball away, does not impose himself and does not work enough for the team.

He is also right to flag that Mourinho has a track record of defending Pogba pretty much from the moment he signed, eg. when he went to war on the "Football Einsteins" in his favour.

 

[Treble]

Well, that stat is a bit damning.

 

[el3mel]

Great article. Best I have read on the subject. He's not taking any sides. He's just saying both have their flaws and this poisonous jabs in media between both have to stop for the sake of the team.

 

[SqualorVictoria]

Bit weird to actually include Bernardo Silva to mock Pogba though as he's literally everywhere pressing his nuts off and trying to tackle the shit out everyone.

 

[SirAF]

Refreshing article.

 

[Barr]

Doesn't that mean Jose is freeing Pogba to work his magic? it's just that Pogba can't do his stuff consistenly.
I think Jose made a mistake in trying to build his midfield around Pogba

 

[TheFlagStaysDown]

What? I swear Pogba made at least two interceptions even against Wolves

 

[Charlie Foley]

Haven't read the article yet, I'm sure it's good, but he's a twat too. And I used to like him

 

[Shiva87]

Thats not such a great piece. It's still agenda driven. The reality is that both Jose and Pogba came out and complained about the same thing - the attack.

But somehow this is about Pogba jibing at Jose as opposed to jibing at his teammates. He had a very good game actually, and apart from the mistake, was the only player (except Shaw) who had the right attitude.

 

[BeforeKeanetherewasRobson]

Ok article, nothing special. Pogba could do more, so could Jose.... who knew?

Never been a fan of isolated stats - I get the point here and it's not great, but a few games in? How about saying Pogba has two goals, top midfielder has three so he's just behind them?

Give it 10-15 games then see how it looks.

 

[Treble]

Ok article, nothing special. Pogba could do more, so could Jose.... who knew?

Never been a fan of isolated stats - I get the point here and it's not great, but a few games in? How about saying Pogba has two goals, top midfielder has three so he's just behind them?

Give it 10-15 games then see how it looks.

That's a fair point.

 

[We need an rvn]

I think it simply boils down to Paul doesn't suit Jose's attacking style type player. He's obviously not a holding midfielder but more an attacking midfielder, but he's not a winger, playmaker (like Hazard) nor a no 10. WTF is Paul Pogba. Is he a Pirlo-esq player and hence to get the best out of him you build the team around him...

I don't know but what I know he plays better for France and played better at Juve and we either need to get rid of Paul or get rid of Jose for this to work

 

[noodlehair]

I haven't changed my position on Pogba.

He doesn't play for the team and he shows no signs of being willing to learn or listen to anyone. He is in his mid 20s so if he was going to learn you'd expect there to be some sign of it by now.

There is no role or position in a midfield in the PL where you can get away with choosing not to do half your job, or constantly inviting pressure on yourself because you simply don't want to pass the ball yet. It doesn't matter how good you are. Paul Scholes was a better footballer than Pogba and would not have gotten away with doing this.

The fault with Mourinho at this point is that he continues to persist with him despite there being no sign of Pogba getting it. You either bring the player round to playing for the team, find a way to enable them to, or play someone else. Jose has tried the first two in fairness, but we're at a point now where it should either be working or he should have moved on to the third option. It's no good having someone who'll get you the odd great goal or assist, if in doing so he's costing you just as much in terms of enabling the team to win a game or play well as a unit, and it's no good settling for that when your goal is to make your team better than anyone else's.

 

[Keeps It tidy]

A lot of times Ronay seems to just be looking to make the contrarian argument.

 

[TMDaines]

Well, that stat is a bit damning.

It’s not great, but probably likely to be a weird anomaly from a small data sample as much as anything. Lukaku I think had 1 interception over a ridiculously long period and I was mocked when I raised it as evidence of us not defending as a team from the front.

 

[BeforeKeanetherewasRobson]

It’s not great, but probably likely to be a weird anomaly from a small data sample as much as anything. Lukaku I think had 1 interception over a ridiculously long period and I was mocked when I raised it as evidence of us not defending as a team from the front.

I remember people saying Shearer was just a good club player because he didn't score for England pre Euro 96 (10+ game goalless run?).

Lies, damn lies and stats.

 

[Keeps It tidy]

Zaha, Salah, Sterling, Hazard and Firminio are some of the other leaders in getting dispossessed. And the best teams usually have low tackle and interception numbers.

 

[MDFC Manager]

Give it 10-15 games then see how it looks.

Well, then a pretentious article couldn't have been written

 

[Cassidy]

Well, that stat is a bit damning.

Didn't he make interceptions vs Wolves?

 

[nikineil]

In Pogba’s defence there was some provocation. It was veiled, snidey and largely overlooked at the time but Mourinho did appear to start this episode with some comments that might have been a spill-over from the post-match dressing room. “I think Wolves played how I like to play, which is like every game is a World Cup final,” Mourinho told the press. “That is the attitude that I like my team to have. They had it and we didn’t.”


World Cup final you say. Hmmm. Who does that make you think of? How many of the United squad have just played in a World Cup final? Clue: only one. He plays in midfield. And his fine performance in that World Cup final was used as a stick with which to beat Mourinho over the summer. Never forget, José, never forget.

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These couple of paragraphs completely take away, for me, any credibility this article might have. Really? Based of that one line in the press conference, Jose is trying to blame Pogba? What a load of garbage.

 

[The Firestarter]

In Pogba’s defence there was some provocation. It was veiled, snidey and largely overlooked at the time but Mourinho did appear to start this episode with some comments that might have been a spill-over from the post-match dressing room. “I think Wolves played how I like to play, which is like every game is a World Cup final,” Mourinho told the press. “That is the attitude that I like my team to have. They had it and we didn’t.”


World Cup final you say. Hmmm. Who does that make you think of? How many of the United squad have just played in a World Cup final? Clue: only one. He plays in midfield. And his fine performance in that World Cup final was used as a stick with which to beat Mourinho over the summer. Never forget, José, never forget.

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These couple of paragraphs completely take away, for me, any credibility this article might have. Really? Based of that one line in the press conference, Jose is trying to blame Pogba? What a load of garbage.

Indeed. It's lazy and cheap argument.