Can we judge a player's commitment to the sport from his social media?

Boycott

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They're grown men and have lives outside of football.

One of the MEN reporters wrote a piece on how Darmian's wife's instagram shows how comfortable he is at Man Utd. First of all, it's stalkerish behaviour to trawl through a woman's account in the hope to find something to suit a narrative. But secondly, it's just ordinary things. Having a family meal at restaurants or visiting sights on a day out. So what.

Lingard used to get mocked for his use of it and I do think he's a little cringe in being a 25 year old saying words you hear 13 year olds on buses shout but now he hit a good patch of form people stopped it. Conversely Mata's blog was pretty cool initially but after a while it was a little bland. Does he still do them?
 

limerickcitykid

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Unless he is tweeting mid-game or getting haircuts at half time then it makes zero difference.

Pogba's complete lack of effort in games is the problem. Not his hair or him liking to dance or any other unrelated topic.
 

KM

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Of course he is. I'm not against social media and I'm not actively trying to trash his lifestyle or pick on him because he's Paul Pogba. I'm just questioning whether he has too many distractions in his social life and is failing to prioritise improving his game because of it.

Having millions of dollars at 25 and building your own brand outside of football is most certainly a distraction. It may well not be enough of a distraction to hinder your commitment on the pitch (which is what all posters are saying in this thread) but I'm just questioning whether it is given how progressively worse his performances have been since he joined on a bumper contract to Manchester United.
He was one of our best players last season. He was our best outfield player till the time he got redcarded in the Arsenal match. His poor/average form only started ever since that Spurs match.
 

vangagal

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Of course he is. I'm not against social media and I'm not actively trying to trash his lifestyle or pick on him because he's Paul Pogba. I'm just questioning whether he has too many distractions in his social life and is failing to prioritise improving his game because of it.

Having millions of dollars at 25 and building your own brand outside of football is most certainly a distraction. It may well not be enough of a distraction to hinder your commitment on the pitch (which is what all posters are saying in this thread) but I'm just questioning whether it is given how progressively worse his performances have been since he joined on a bumper contract to Manchester United.
How do you know he is distracting by his money? Did he looks like drunk at 3 in the morning everyday? You basically need to live with Pogba 24/7 to know how it affects him, else you just make assumption.
 

R.N7

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Inventive afro hairstyles, hip hop dancing, handshakes = no commitment

Definitely a hint of racism the way people go on about them being detrimental.
 
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Pogba has been like this since his days at Juventus, why should he change who he is? He didn't come to Utd and suddenly start doing these trendy haircuts, he's always been like this. If he has a poor game I can guarantee it's not because of his hairstyle, it's ridiculous.
 

Varun

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Fair point. I find Ronaldo a specimen in terms of commitment though - he is notoriously over committed to being the best at the sport.
You don't need to look further than Lingard to see the point. He's been fantastic of late while being as active on social media as he was some time back when he used to get shit for it as he wasn't delivering on the pitch.
 

SteveJ

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Gary himself has used all kinds of media to promote his own interests, business and otherwise. As for commitment, his five-minute spell as a manager - never to be repeated, apparently - rather undermines his criticism of others' dedication. If he wants to be taken seriously, then he should stop boasting about deliberately stirring up controversy, no doubt at the behest of his paymasters...those well-known friends of football fans, Rupert Murdoch's Sky. Or perhaps Gary simply loves attention? In which case he should perhaps dye his hair regularly. Or maybe he should try to understand young people's lifestyles, if he's going to comment on young people playing sport.
 

villain

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Of course he is. I'm not against social media and I'm not actively trying to trash his lifestyle or pick on him because he's Paul Pogba. I'm just questioning whether he has too many distractions in his social life and is failing to prioritise improving his game because of it.

Having millions of dollars at 25 and building your own brand outside of football is most certainly a distraction. It may well not be enough of a distraction to hinder your commitment on the pitch (which is what all posters are saying in this thread) but I'm just questioning whether it is given how progressively worse his performances have been since he joined on a bumper contract to Manchester United.
You’re insinuating rather than speaking facts.
Pogba has had millions of dollars for many years, this constant speaking about his lifestyle and riches comes across as jealousy rather than any critical analysis or depth of thinking. And you are trying to trash his lifestyle based on his social media presence.

He’s rich, social, and a happy guy.
You can’t take that away from him.
He likes to change his hairstyle often, there is literally nothing wrong with that.

That’s all there is to it.
 

Varun

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I would. Clearly trying to make out I am stupid because I have an opinion.
Nice one.
No, one illogical post doesn't mean you're stupid. It'd be stupid of me to make such a leap based on a single post and trust me, I'm not stupid, I'm awesome.
 

Snowjoe

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Not this shit again.

I’m gonna be bad at my job next week because I just posted on Instagram.
 

breakout67

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Inventive afro hairstyles, hip hop dancing, handshakes = no commitment

Definitely a hint of racism the way people go on about them being detrimental.
As far as I'm aware, Lingard's milly rock at the emirates was a massive hit with fans? In fact, Lingard is actually seen by most as a committed player, hard worker etc.

Lingard's dancing and handshakes are viewed positively because he performs on the pitch.

Pogba's dancing and handshakes are viewed negatiely because he is in poor form.

That's how it's always worked, very few care about player's lives until they start underporming. Then, their life gets micro-analyzed.
 

villain

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Maradona and Best regularly played football while drunk/on drugs, but they didn’t change their hair regularly so I guess their lifestyle choices were acceptable.
 

Rado_N

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No, one illogical post doesn't mean you're stupid. It'd be stupid of me to make such a leap based on a single post and trust me, I'm not stupid, I'm awesome.
It's like he's calling you stupid by even suggesting it. Insultception.
 

Dante

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No it doesn't reflect commitment, but it does affect reactions after the event. Why make yourself more of a target than you need to?

Both aren't related to each other.
Bad performances bring criticism.

Bad performances plus attention-seeking brings extra criticism and added pressure. That pressure then makes Pogba an even bigger target. If he doesn't perform in the next match, the pressure builds. And that carries on and on.

Pogba tends to wilt under pressure. He's not doing himself any favours by making himself stand out when he's playing below par.

He makes his own life difficult by shining the spotlight on himself when his arse is hanging out for all to see.
 

deafepl

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Ronaldo, Griezmann, Neymar, etc, are they committed to the sport and judge it from the social media? Does that affect my workplace and study if I get more involved in social media like Pogba?
 

Boycott

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Giggs would have been an instagram addict if it were around in his early days.

He had tv cameras following him on holiday after-all.
 

VP89

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He was one of our best players last season. He was our best outfield player till the time he got redcarded in the Arsenal match. His poor/average form only started ever since that Spurs match.
We'd have to just be civil and disagree on our judgements of Pogba's performances.

How do you know he is distracting by his money? Did he looks like drunk at 3 in the morning everyday? You basically need to live with Pogba 24/7 to know how it affects him, else you just make assumption.
You don't need to be chronically drunk or even miss training (these are drastic and obvious signs that he's not committed). But you can give away activities that can make some question whether time would be better spent on improving form.

Clearly I've jumped the gun in my accusation because there are a lot of respectable posters who beg to differ, even though some posted replies haven't been respectful in nature. I wont judge him as much from his social media going forward and the best way to shut the rest of the doubters up is to perform on the pitch.
 

Akshay

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As far as I'm aware, Lingard's milly rock at the emirates was a massive hit with fans? In fact, Lingard is actually seen by most as a committed player, hard worker etc.

Lingard's dancing and handshakes are viewed positively because he performs on the pitch.

Pogba's dancing and handshakes are viewed negatiely because he is in poor form.

That's how it's always worked, very few care about player's lives until they start underporming. Then, their life gets micro-analyzed.
Lingard was getting the same analysis last season and earlier this season as well though. I'd agree with your point, but I also think some players get less leeway than others.
 

Ødegaard

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No.
Unless there is stuff like pictures of taking a vacation when you should be training of course.
 

villain

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Giggs would have been an instagram addict if it were around in his early days.

He had tv cameras following him on holiday after-all.
Didn’t Ferguson have to tell Giggs to choose whether he wanted to be a celebrity or whether he wanted to be a footballer because he was more interested in partying than training?
And that’s as one of the reasons why he sold Lee Sharpe?

I’m sure I’ve read something like that before
 

VP89

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You’re insinuating rather than speaking facts.
Pogba has had millions of dollars for many years, this constant speaking about his lifestyle and riches comes across as jealousy rather than any critical analysis or depth of thinking. And you are trying to trash his lifestyle based on his social media presence.

He’s rich, social, and a happy guy.
You can’t take that away from him.
He likes to change his hairstyle often, there is literally nothing wrong with that.

That’s all there is to it.
Don't get so offended. I haven't "trashed" any lifestyle. I've just questioned whether he is allowing himself to get distracted more than others.
 

The Bloody-Nine

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My interest in football is slowly but surely eroding because of stupid shit like this. Sensationalise everything.

I used to have respect for Gary Neville. I don't anymore because he is part of the problem. Whether he's doing it because he's been told to is irrelevant.
 

Rado_N

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Didn’t Ferguson have to tell Giggs to choose whether he wanted to be a celebrity or whether he wanted to be a footballer because he was more interested in partying than training?
And that’s as one of the reasons why he sold Lee Sharpe?

I’m sure I’ve read something like that before
Giggs use to be in the Hacienda all the time. My god of the caf had been around then the threads would have been incredible.
 

el3mel

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No it doesn't reflect commitment, but it does affect reactions after the event. Why make yourself more of a target than you need to?


Bad performances bring criticism.

Bad performances plus attention-seeking brings extra criticism and added pressure. That pressure then makes Pogba an even bigger target. If he doesn't perform in the next match, the pressure builds. And that carries on and on.

Pogba tends to wilt under pressure. He's not doing himself any favours by making himself stand out when he's playing below par.

He makes his own life difficult by shining the spotlight on himself when his arse is hanging out for all to see.
Bad performance brings criticism. Brings it with social media is absurd though. Just because the player plays poorly means he should stop posting completely on FB or Twitter and got isolated from the world till his performance improves. Both aren't related. Let's separate between them please.

Beckham was always caring about how he looks and his hair. Never affected him.
 

breakout67

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Lingard was getting the same analysis last season and earlier this season as well though. I'd agree with your point, but I also think some players get less leeway than others.
It tends to be the case with extroverted players; they put a lot of their life on social media and there are a lot of trolls and bitter people that don't like others enjoying themselves.
 

villain

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Don't get so offended. I haven't "trashed" any lifestyle. I've just questioned whether he is allowing himself to get distracted.
Nobody is offended, it’s just lazy critique done to sensationalise headlines in order to grab headlines/clicks.
It’s representative of the lack of critical thinking, and it almost always involves United.

It’s just annoying when our own fans can’t see the wood for the trees and join in.
 

McGrathsipan

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Didn’t Ferguson have to tell Giggs to choose whether he wanted to be a celebrity or whether he wanted to be a footballer because he was more interested in partying than training?
And that’s as one of the reasons why he sold Lee Sharpe?

I’m sure I’ve read something like that before
Also Beckham - I think Ferguson was sick of the hype and circus around Beckham, leading to his decision to sell him.

They are footballers first and foremost - they owe all of their celebrity and appeal to the fact they are top players. That should be their number one priority really.
 

Dante

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Bad performance brings criticism. Brings it with social media is absurd though. Just because the player plays poorly means he should stop posting completely on FB or Twitter and got isolated from the world till his performance improves. Both aren't related. Let's separate between them please.

Beckham was always caring about how he looks and his hair. Never affected him.
My post is about 'pressure'. Try reading it again.

Beckham could stand up to the pressure better than Pogba. Good point.