Is Paul Pogba being bullied and harassed on TV

[Robaldo]

Some of the criticism he receives is silly, and he's not the club's biggest problem, as some might have you think.

But, being injured for the vast majority of the season while he heads off to Paris Fashion Week, to America whilst playing basketball, releasing videos of him dancing at his brother's wedding when he's declared himself ill, and having his brother and agent saying he wants to leave is not a good look.

Rashford's just got injured and says he'll be "involved in team meetings, team huddles and team sessions throughout this recovery" but I don't get the impression Pogba's been doing much of that.

It feels like there's an implication of racism with complaints about TV and news coverage, and while I'm not dismissing that theory, because it was absolutely justified in Raheem Sterling's case for instance, Paul Pogba deserves criticism for not taking his career or the club entirely seriously, I think.

 

[DWelbz19]

Ryan Giggs - and some others - were literally on live television, criticising an injured Paul Pogba, for posting an Instagram story where he was listening to a Quranic recitation.

There's no agendas here. No undertones of xenophobia, racism, or anything like that. It's just that they know something we don't.

 

[momo83]

He doesn’t watch us anyway so he’s not going to be bothered one bit.

Any idea why? As I recall he used to watch out matches when injured.

 

[fergiesarmy1]

It's pretty disgusting how some people can get singled out with unsubstantiated criticism and offensive attacks on their characters just for doing their job. People who do this should be ashamed of themselves. But enough about the accusations of racism being made towards the football pundits. Pogba also probably deserves a tad more respect too.

 

[LilyWhiteSpur]

Ryan Giggs - and some others - were literally on live television, criticising an injured Paul Pogba, for posting an Instagram story where he was listening to a Quranic recitation.

There's no agendas here. No undertones of xenophobia, racism, or anything like that. It's just that they know something we don't.

I think that you took me up wrong, I'm not suggesting they do, its very bizarre the treatment he is getting.

 

[fergiesarmy1]

Any idea why? As I recall he used to watch out matches when injured.

Might be time zones I guess as he doesn’t spend much of it on GMT anymore, fashion shows are usually Saturdays as well, basketball usually played in the wee hours to united games.

 

[momo83]

For work place; most applicable to Pogba situation.
Bullying and harassment is behaviour that makes someone feel intimidated or offended. Harassment is unlawful under the Equality Act 2010.

Examples of bullying or harassing behaviour include:

• spreading malicious rumours YES
• unfair treatment YES
• picking on or regularly undermining someone YES
• denying someone’s training or promotion opportunities NA.

 

[Kostur]

Nope, people used to think that it was Mourinho's doing and poor guy was being bullied by him too. Mourinho is long gone, Pogba is still being 'bullied' as you call it so maybe, just maybe, some people are simply tired of him running to Raiola and letting him loose on us all the time talking shit 24/7 (this is something that seems to elude most of our fanbase, almost as if Raiola wasn't working for Pogba but the other way around) and Pogba isn't as much of a nice guy as he is painted to be.

 

[passing-wind]

Fans will appreciate Pogba when he leaves and starts ripping it up in a team that actually knows how to play football.

 

[Bojan11]

Lingard has been given attention prior to this season as has Pogba. Social media means a lot when it's being posted by verified accounts with huge outreach which are the people that have blasted Lingard. Lingard has been labelled as all of these things too. I'm not equalling the situations at all. I just don't like how there is bullying/harrassment in both cases and one is noticed and the other isn't. Neither are acceptable. Bullying isn't a case of one is worse than another as it's very individual and I'm not claming that either. Social media has as much power as TV nowadays, probably more so.

I find both cases disgusting and something which needs to be cut out of the game and the media. I don't like either of it.

Lingard has been playing all season and has had a free pass. Then comes out with shit like 0.01 percent.

Pogba has barely played due to injury, so don’t you see the difference?

I haven’t seen one pundit criticise Lingard despite him not scoring or creating a goal for a year. He’s had a free pass. You think he’s bothered what some randomer has to say on Twitter? Nope. He will be bothered if Keane or Neville criticise him just like both do with Pogba. But that never happens.

Lingard to rub salt into the wound then teams up with agent who hates our club. Same agent Neville was criticising yet made no comment when Lingard joins up with him.

The guy is stealing a living. I’m sure I can do a better job. It’s not the fact he is wank. It’s the fact whenever he goes on the pitch he tries his best to avoid having the ball. If he receives a pass he will just straight away pass it back to wherever the pass came from.

 

[SilentWitness]

Lingard has been playing all season and has had a free pass. Then comes out with shit like 0.01 percent.

Pogba has barely played due to injury, so don’t you see the difference?

I haven’t seen one pundit criticise Lingard despite him not scoring or creating a goal for a year. He’s had a free pass. You think he’s bothered what some randomer has to say on Twitter? Nope. He will be bothered if Keane or Neville criticise him just like both do with Pogba. But that never happens.

Lingard to rub salt into the wound then teams up with agent who hates our club. Same agent Neville was criticising yet made no comment when Lingard joins up with him.

The guy is stealing a living. I’m sure I can do a better job. It’s not the fact he is wank. It’s the fact whenever he goes on the pitch he tries his best to avoid having the ball. If he receives a pass he will just straight away pass it back to wherever the pass came from.

I don't think you understand. It doesn't matter if there is a difference in the bullying or harrassment. They're both bullying and harrassment despite who it is saying it and where it's coming from. They're both wrong. They're both disgusting. They both need to stop.

 

[Ludens the Red]

Yes, he is. I don't like him, but Pogba is being made the alternative target. They are feathering the nest for our decline, by placing blame on 'expensive foreigners' entirely and absolving useless British players and a useless manager of blame altogether. If Ole was say, Ralf Hassenhuttl, in the same situation, he'd be crucified by every single pundit out there and less emphasis would be placed on someone like Pogba.

Our former players make me sick sometimes. Rio is turning now slightly, thankfully.

Yeah Rio was genuinely fuming after Burnley.

 

[Bojan11]

I don't think you understand. It doesn't matter if there is a difference in the bullying or harrassment. They're both bullying and harrassment despite who it is saying it and where it's coming from. They're both wrong. They're both disgusting. They both need to stop.

So criticising a players performance is bullying and harassment now? Interesting.

May as well close the player performance section. It’s not like Lingards performance are suddenly going to improve.

 

[HJ12]

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[Maticmaker]

Football is all about opinions, was it hand ball, did he dive, the referee's a 'homer ' even VAR hasn't helped with some of these matters, in fact made them worse. Pogba is a celebrity player, when he's good he is very, very, good, when he is bad he is horrid, or so many think. Pogba's personal thoughts are very rarely known, his brother and his agent seem to do all the talking for him. Paul's antics on the pitch when things are not going well look a times childish, when they are going well he can win games on his own!

Pogba is paid a lot of money and if you believe his agent, still wants even more? Why did he come back to United, was it just money? Has he made up with SAF for first of all not playing him enough, then not paying him enough, did he really expect Jose to treat him differently than other players? Does he really love the club that nurtured him as a youngster, gave him a chance at the big time, does he want to help the club regain its old glory days. To be honest I've never heard him speak about such things, only odd 'reported comments' to others, many unknown sources!

It certainly true Pogba divides opinion, however if he wants a quiet life he's in the wrong job, or more likely mixing with the wrong people. Some of the criticism and lets face it the abuse he gets is highly personal and excessive, but as someone once said "if you can't stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen". Its good advice Paul!

 

[RedTiger]

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I'm a bit pissed at John Barnes reply to the tweet. If any player knows about being scapegoated and undervalued it would be him.

 

[fergiesarmy1]

So criticising a players performance is bullying and harassment now? Interesting.

May as well close the player performance section. It’s not like Lingards performance are suddenly going to improve.

Snowflake generation - won’t be able to boo the opposition soon for fear of their mental health.

 

[redcafe_reader]

I don't think you understand. It doesn't matter if there is a difference in the bullying or harrassment. They're both bullying and harrassment despite who it is saying it and where it's coming from. They're both wrong. They're both disgusting. They both need to stop.

I will tell you what is disgusting, and this is just an example:

Ryan Giggs - and some others - were literally on live television, criticising an injured Paul Pogba, for posting an Instagram story where he was listening to a Quranic recitation.

There's no agendas here. No undertones of xenophobia, racism, or anything like that. It's just that they know something we don't.

Pointing out a shit player is shit, in case of Lingard, is not. That's what the forum is for. Otherwise, we can just close the performance thread.

I think you still don't understand (or don't want to understand) and hide behind the "It doesn't matter if there is a difference", but what can I do? After all, it's you who want to equal Lingard's situation with Pogba's. Again, I find your attempt to equal the systematic harassment of Pogba to (justified) criticism of Lingard's performance, disgusting.

 

[poleglass red]

High profile name, he cost £89m (bumped up to £100m for narrative purposes) and older pundits probably don't like him doing things on Instagram.
What annoys me though is the lack of evidence provided by the like of Keane and McAteer (the same McAteer who was part of the Spice Boys). I mean in the video posted above with Keane, he calls Pogba a nuisance, but doesn't specify why? Evidence free.

Nuisance part is easy to explain, it applies to Pogba and by extension his agent. Both he and his agent have publicly stated his desire to leave. Say what you want about Pogba's ability but he hasn't lived up to his fee. The team isn't good enough, manager didn't like him are all valid points but Pogba has been inconsistent in his ability and application. Back as far as 2018 his own agent offered him to City. His agent had made several public comments about us, never once has Pogba rebuked him, so you have to assume he's doing it with his blessing. This agent works for Pogba not the other way around. Re Pogba himself being a nuisance, he's been injured, it happens to all players, but he's been pictured at parties, playing basketball, meeting Zidane and not our attending games. He's our best player, he's not some squad player, he's the face of our club and quite frankly meeting the manager of the club you want to play for is taking the piss. It's calculated as well, he can play basketball, meet people and go to family parties without it being captured on camera and posted online. It was his own team that made the decision for him to get operated on, we have a medical team, rightly or wrongly that opens a dangerous precedent. Pogba gets plenty of praise when he does good things from the media.The issue with high profile players like him is the credit is too much when it's good and conversely it's too negative when it's not going good, no happy medium. What you don't do for the press or pundits is give them ammunition, which unfortunately Pogba and agent do by the bucket load.He can very quickly silence the doubters by getting his head down and come back and show the world what he can do on the pitch.

 

[Blind]

Maybe if people don't like him being labelled a trouble maker then they should hope that he, y'know, stops causing trouble?

I mean his agent is a cnut, his brother a complete fool in Spanish media, and Ole seemed to imply that it was his people that pushed for him to have the operation in January.

All of the above points to him causing trouble, no? And pundits, including some proper United leaders, are allowed to comment on the back of that publicly available info, no?

Bullied. You lot are weird.

Spot on, the sooner he leaves the better.

 

[Maluco]

They are groups of ex-pros with links to the club. We only get the reports that reach the newspapers. For all we know, his reputation could precede him and be well known among those still involved in the game.

His behavior at times and the behavior of his agent don’t provide evidence of a consummate professional.

 

[Scaring Europe to Death]

As a City fan it never really occurred to me that Pogba was being bullied until witnessing Evra's post match comment on Sunday, which made a lot of sense, after listening to Neville and Keane.

As a footballer, I can never work out his particular strengths and weaknesses. He doesn't score enough goals to be box-to-box, and is too peripheral to really dominate games, either with vision and determination, or leading by example. However, as evidenced by United's comeback at the ETIHAD in 17/18, he's occasionally capable of explosive brilliance.

As a personality, the appears surrounded by a negative media narrative, (perhaps originating from Ferguson's comment when he first departed for Juventus), forever scapegoated for defeats, regardless of whether he's actually on the field, and painted as a troublemaker.

 

[He'sRaldo]

People talk about him wanting to leave, but he's been harassed even before then. Even Mourinho was constantly coming out to defend him.

It's only when he had enough and stated his desire to leave that people finally had some hard evidence to base their hatred on, a "lack of commitment" to a losing situation.

 

[caid]

Pundits can be ultra catty with foreign players. Nani always got dogs abuse - he wasn't inconsistent, he was braindead. Same with Fred earlier in the season, he got a disproportionate level of abuse that they'd never dream of giving to an English player. Which is kind of part of the problem, they treat most players with kids gloves so when they get the knives out it stands out, and theres just too common a theme to who and what they criticise. I've taken to turning the sound off for most football, I'm just not interested in their opinion.

 

[momo83]

Nuisance part is easy to explain, it applies to Pogba and by extension his agent. Both he and his agent have publicly stated his desire to leave. Say what you want about Pogba's ability but he hasn't lived up to his fee. The team isn't good enough, manager didn't like him are all valid points but Pogba has been inconsistent in his ability and application. Back as far as 2018 his own agent offered him to City. His agent had made several public comments about us, never once has Pogba rebuked him, so you have to assume he's doing it with his blessing. This agent works for Pogba not the other way around. Re Pogba himself being a nuisance, he's been injured, it happens to all players, but he's been pictured at parties, playing basketball, meeting Zidane and not our attending games. He's our best player, he's not some squad player, he's the face of our club and quite frankly meeting the manager of the club you want to play for is taking the piss. It's calculated as well, he can play basketball, meet people and go to family parties without it being captured on camera and posted online. It was his own team that made the decision for him to get operated on, we have a medical team, rightly or wrongly that opens a dangerous precedent. Pogba gets plenty of praise when he does good things from the media.The issue with high profile players like him is the credit is too much when it's good and conversely it's too negative when it's not going good, no happy medium. What you don't do for the press or pundits is give them ammunition, which unfortunately Pogba and agent do by the bucket load.He can very quickly silence the doubters by getting his head down and come back and show the world what he can do on the pitch.

When his form was good last year. Gary Neville and other pundits were still going about “but he wants to leave and should sort it out”. He made a transfer request. Didn’t go on strike unlike other players. Showed commitment but the pundits didn’t let it go.

 

[Steerpike]

Depends how you feel about Pogba. I guess if you pretend he hasnt wanted out for ages - his agent and brother arent speaking for him, he has given 100% for United and hasnt caused any issues in the dressing room or taken the mick then you could see it that way.
Im not a fan so tend to agree with a lot of the negative stuff. As talented as he is I cant wait for him to go. Only problem is we need a bigger clear out than just Pogba. Starting with Woodward.

That is exactly the issue. Pogba continues to be the story, even though he isn't playing, because of the continuing noise coming from his representatives. It would be naive to think that Pogba himself isn't condoning what they're saying. If he was unhappy with what was being said on his behalf, he could put a stop to it with one conversation with Raiola (after all, Raiola works for him, not vice-versa, and stands to pocket a tidy sum from any future transfer).

If Pogba wanted to be the model professional, just keeping his head down whilst recovering from his injury, we would not be hearing much at all from his representatives. But we are hearing regular criticism from them, so he can hardly complain now if people who seem to have more of an affiliation with the club than he does criticise him in return. He wants out, his representatives are keeping up the pressure to try to ensure he gets his wish, and he deserves most of the flak coming his way.

 

[momo83]

People talk about him wanting to leave, but he's been harassed even before then. Even Mourinho was constantly coming out to defend him.

It's only when he had enough and stated his desire to leave that people finally had some hard evidence to base their hatred on.

Like driving someone crazy and then telling everyone “see told you he /she was crazy”

 

[He'sRaldo]

If Pogba wanted to be the model professional, just keeping his head down whilst recovering from his injury, we would not be hearing much at all from his representatives.

None of this prevented them from going after him before. He was always targeted even before anyone spoke out about anything.

 

[He'sRaldo]

Like driving someone crazy and then telling everyone “see told you he /she was crazy”

Exactly.

 

[momo83]

Pundits can be ultra catty with foreign players. Nani always got dogs abuse - he wasn't inconsistent, he was braindead. Same with Fred earlier in the season, he got a disproportionate level of abuse that they'd never dream of giving to an English player. Which is kind of part of the problem, they treat most players with kids gloves so when they get the knives out it stands out, and theres just too common a theme to who and what they criticise. I've taken to turning the sound off for most football, I'm just not interested in their opinion.

but the abuse, as disproportionate as it maybe to others, is about form and ability. It’s not personal. Whereas for Pogba it’s personal and that’s what makes it even worse and more easy to class as bullying

 

[poleglass red]

When his form was good last year. Gary Neville and other pundits were still going about “but he wants to leave and should sort it out”. He made a transfer request. Didn’t go on strike unlike other players. Showed commitment but the pundits didn’t let it go.

is that a plus though, doing what he's paid to do. He's been trying via his agent to leave since 2018, he's only here because no-one will pay for him

 

[DWelbz19]

As a City fan it never really occurred to me that Pogba was being bullied until witnessing Evra's post match comment on Sunday, which made a lot of sense, after listening to Neville and Keane.

As a footballer, I can never work out his particular strengths and weaknesses. He doesn't score enough goals to be box-to-box, and is too peripheral to really dominate games, either with vision and determination, or leading by example. However, as evidenced by United's comeback at the ETIHAD in 17/18, he's occasionally capable of explosive brilliance.

As a personality, the appears surrounded by a negative media narrative, (perhaps originating from Ferguson's comment when he first departed for Juventus), forever scapegoated for defeats, regardless of whether he's actually on the field, and painted as a troublemaker.

The thing is, he actually does. 13 goals and 9 assists last PL season (37 appearances), 6 goals and 10 assists the year before (27 appearances).

That’s 19 goals and 19 assists in 62 appearances. A goal or an assist every 1.63~ games.

Kevin De Bruyne aside, how many central midfielders in the league [in Europe?] average higher than those sorts of numbers? It’s beyond mental the criticism he receives.

 

[poleglass red]

The thing is, he actually does. 13 goals and 9 assists last PL season (37 appearances), 6 goals and 10 assists the year before (27 appearances).

That’s 19 goals and 19 assists in 62 appearances. A goal or an assist every 1.63~ games.

Kevin De Bruyne aside, how many central midfielders in the league [in Europe?] average higher than those sorts of numbers? It’s beyond mental the criticism he receives.

playing devils advocate here, how many goals last season were penalties. How many central midfielders in Europe have no defensive duties at all. At one point we had Pogba with 2 defensive mids in Matic and Hererra

 

[DWelbz19]

playing devils advocate here, how many goals last season were penalties. How many central midfielders in Europe have no defensive duties at all. At one point we had Pogba with 2 defensive mids in Matic and Hererra

I mean, this is just totally untrue, isn’t it? Paul Pogba plays with no less ‘defensive duties’ than many central midfielders in the league.

I didn’t realise penalties were such a negative. Even so, 7 of his goals in those past seasons were penalties. That’s 12 goals and 19 assists in 62 league matches. A goal or assist contribution directly once every two games from central midfield.

 

[RUCK4444]

Absolutely. Regardless how us United fans view him pundits and media alike have treated Pogba disgracefully the entire time he has been here.

From day one they were looking for a stick to beat him with, why on earth would his wages play any part in what a feckin' pundit has to say on a player. Talk about him as a player.

Where do all the constant 'he's a disruptive and negative influence in the dressing room' come from? Many interviews and opinions of people who have played alongside him confirm it's the complete opposite. Yet the narrative is pushed week after week.

I hate to say it, and I have never levelled this at anybody in my life, but on a certain level I believe race comes into it. There's a vile undertone to this, I think it's hard for anybody to disagree on that. It's taboo and of course you can't prove it but it just ooze's from the likes of Souness and the press in my personal opinion.

Yet another aspect to the game that I hate currently. The anti United and the constant sensationalist tabloids are one thing, but when you single somebody out like this it's a disgrace.

 

[Jacckk1985]

It's Vile how the angry boomers out there can't contain themselves enough to think before they say stupid things.

 

[Kerry Donaghy]

After the loss against Liverpool, where Pogba was injured and didn't play - a panel of ex-players were paid to sit and discuss the game and the form of the two clubs...

At 8.45 Roy Keane states in the middle of a high-pitched rant about how his mate Solskjaer must be given more time, that 'they've got Pogba in the background, he's a nuisance', this is after Pogba hasn't been playing for months after recovering from an operation.

Evra then states that 'Pogba should leave the club because it's his fault if he plays and his fault if he doesn't play'.

This is crazy - and it's going to affect how other flair players view Utd when you've got an old-boys network of players literally name-calling and bullying talent.

Seriously - if you think that creative players will see this culture and think, 'I want to go there' then you're fecking deluded.

The OP is absolutely bang on. It's become worse in the Brexit F.C era and I for one find it repulsive.

You can watch the pathetic spectacle yourself here, starts at 8.45 -

Agree 100%, I said the same thing after the Watford defeat a few weeks ago.
In the post match analysis, the sky sports team spent about 20 minutes discussing Utd's problems and at least 10 minutes of it was about Pogba.

At one point they were all literally watching a clip of De Gea (the highest paid player in in the Premier league) fumble the ball into his own net but not one of them even mentioned De Gea at all in the context of what our problems are in the whole discussion. It was all Pogba's fault apparently, that's despite him not even playing in that game.
It genuinely baffles me.

Im not for one second suggesting Pogba has delivered for us, overall he has been a massive disappointment in my opinion, but he is far from the worst culprit in this team and the criticism he receives compared to others is totally disproportionate.

I was embarrassed when our fans were booing him last season, and as I said, giving others a free pass despite them performing even worse.
When that happened, I decided that I wouldn't blame him if he wanted to leave.

 

[poleglass red]

I mean, this is just totally untrue, isn’t it? Paul Pogba plays with no less ‘defensive duties’ than many central midfielders in the league.

I didn’t realise penalties were such a negative. Even so, 7 of his goals in those past seasons were penalties. That’s 12 goals and 19 assists in 62 league matches. A goal or assist contribution directly once every two games from central midfield.

he doesn't have defensive duties, that's why we played 2 defensive midfielders with him, to cover that aspect of his game. Problem here is when Pogba got shut down or drifted out of games as he often does, we have no central mids to pick up the slack as they aren't there for their creative ability. Penalties are not a negative, in fact he would have had more goals last season had he not missed some. You were trying to make out like he's some sort of free scoring midfielder, when effectively we play him as far up as we can get him and more than half his league goals were penalties. A goal is a goal nothing wrong with that, just giving some perspective to your post

 

[Crashoutcassius]

Yes but far far far less than lingard on social media

 

[Red_toad]

It's Vile how the angry boomers out there can't contain themselves enough to think before they say stupid things.

Which boomers are you on about? Or you just being ageist and vilifying our seniors?