[SwansonsTache]

Wouldn't sell him for £250m, we simply wouldn't be able to replace his quality in todays market.

When was the last time we had a worldie \ potential wordlie to get excited about? Yeah I know, DDG, but come on - he is a keeper.

Some players are just worth way more than what they could potentially fetch on the market, and Pogba is one of those. Potential talisman for us in the coming years.

 

[AP88]

Wow.

We have other players that can tick the ball over. We want him to express himself and try things others can't.

Like who? That's the role he's being primed for (hopefully) Scholes used to be able to ping the ball 50 yards easily, but primarily he'd keep it moving simply waiting for the right moment to do so. PP should study the way he used to lend the ball to other players, then move to receive it back immediately in a better position. Yaya Toure is another who did this perfectly; he could seemingly beat 3 men and score at will, but he always knew when to do so.

If Pogba wants to be a genuinely elite midfield manipulator, rather than a YouTube highlights reel superstar, then he needs to embrace the simplicity of Kroos and Modric.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Like who? That's the role he's being primed for (hopefully) Scholes used to be able to ping the ball 50 yards easily, but primarily he'd keep it moving simply waiting for the right moment to do so. PP should study the way he used to lend the ball to other players, then move to receive it back immediately in a better position. Yaya Toure is another who did this perfectly; he could seemingly beat 3 men and score at will, but he always knew when to do so.

If Pogba wants to be a genuinely elite midfield manipulator, rather than a YouTube highlights reel superstar, then he needs to embrace the simplicity of Kroos and Modric.

These are all fair points but has feck all to do with his performance last night, which was as close to flawless as anything you'd see from Kroos and Modric. There's not a midfielder on the planet who completes every ambitious pass and - against Barca - Pogba struck a perfect balance between keeping it simple and taking risks. With added barn-storming runs down the wing that the other players you mention could only dream of.

 

[el3mel]

Was world class against Barca. Without a proper partner as Carrick was non existent he completely dominated their midfielders on the attack.

 

[El-Manos]

He is getting better, in two years time he'll be one of the best.

 

[AP88]

These are all fair points but has feck all to do with his performance last night, which was as close to flawless as anything you'd see from Kroos and Modric. There's not a midfielder on the planet who completes every ambitious pass and - against Barca - Pogba struck a perfect balance between keeping it simple and taking risks. With added barn-storming runs down the wing that the other players you mention could only dream of.

I meant generally, but I still feel last night he played about 4 long balls that were easily cut out by defenders, for the sake up being egocentric. And those runs up the line were Jesus Navas-esque, and came to absolutely nothing like the Spaniards generally don't either. Yaya Toure used to do that through the middle of the field and score or create absolute chaos, something I think Ross Barkley has in his locker too, under the right coach.

There's a reason Real Madrid chose not to sign him last summer, and that is simply he's not a great footballer. The Mbappe pursuit shows that they will pay whatever for potential greatness, and they didn't see it in showpony Paul.

 

[Walters_19_MuFc]

His ability to keep the ball under pressure is fantastic. Makes it look so easy, and to be fair, we could have done with a few more players like Pogba yesterday against Barca, because as soon as they pressed us, we panicked and lost the ball.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

I meant generally, but I still feel last night he played about 4 long balls that were easily cut out by defenders, for the sake up being egocentric. And those runs up the line were Jesus Navas-esque, and came to absolutely nothing like the Spaniards generally don't either. Yaya Toure used to do that through the middle of the field and score or create absolute chaos, something I think Ross Barkley has in his locker too, under the right coach.

There's a reason Real Madrid chose not to sign him last summer, and that is simply he's not a great footballer. The Mbappe pursuit shows that they will pay whatever for potential greatness, and they didn't see it in showpony Paul.

ok

(shuts down computer and walks away)

 

[Borden]

I meant generally, but I still feel last night he played about 4 long balls that were easily cut out by defenders, for the sake up being egocentric. And those runs up the line were Jesus Navas-esque, and came to absolutely nothing like the Spaniards generally don't either. Yaya Toure used to do that through the middle of the field and score or create absolute chaos, something I think Ross Barkley has in his locker too, under the right coach.

There's a reason Real Madrid chose not to sign him last summer, and that is simply he's not a great footballer. The Mbappe pursuit shows that they will pay whatever for potential greatness, and they didn't see it in showpony Paul.

This fecking guy

 

[Inter Yer Nan]

Can't wait to see him this season especially with another midfielder. Going to make so many people look stupid after writing him off and criticizing his fee. My guess is this time next year he will be seen as a bit of a bargain and one of the world's elite players and the mugs that insist Henderson, current Carrick and the like are better will look even more ridiculous.

So glad we have him.

 

[Trigg]

I meant generally, but I still feel last night he played about 4 long balls that were easily cut out by defenders, for the sake up being egocentric. And those runs up the line were Jesus Navas-esque, and came to absolutely nothing like the Spaniards generally don't either. Yaya Toure used to do that through the middle of the field and score or create absolute chaos, something I think Ross Barkley has in his locker too, under the right coach.

There's a reason Real Madrid chose not to sign him last summer, and that is simply he's not a great footballer. The Mbappe pursuit shows that they will pay whatever for potential greatness, and they didn't see it in showpony Paul.

So... yeah, erm.

Ok...

 

[Stacks]

I think all three of them played poorly and I would be critical of them too. I just find it weird that people prefer to discuss depressing crap like a poor performance from a player on the team they support when they could be hailing a really exceptional display from our best player. Against one of the best teams around. Especially with all the doubts expressed about him last season.

Its human nature. Studies suggest that if a person receives poor service from a restaurant or some form of hospitality, they will tell 5 people about the negative experience, right off the bat. If they receive wonderful service, they won't tell a soul unless prompted. Also it is easier for people to go into negative thinking mode about a subject based on fewer negative experiences, than it is to be positive about something, with more positive examples.
Conclusion - we are mostly negative, miserable, b******s who love to have a moan.

 

[Stacks]

He's an incredible player. His entertainment value is immense, he almost always does something extremely impressive when he's on the ball. So excited about what he can do next season and beyond.

£89m will be a snip by the time he's finished here.

Its already a snip based on the valuations of premier league players and potentially (Mbappe) being bandied about.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Its human nature. Studies suggest that if a person receives poor service from a restaurant or some form of hospitality, they will tell 5 people about the negative experience, right off the bat. If they receive wonderful service, they won't tell a soul unless prompted. Also it is easier for people to go into negative thinking mode about a subject based on fewer negative experiences, than it is to be positive about something, with more positive examples.
Conclusion - we are mostly negative, miserable, b******s who love to have a moan.

That holds true if a fan's relationship is the same as they have with restaurants. Customers consuming a product. I always thought the relationship was deeper and more complex than that. I just find it toxic, emotionally, to constantly stew about how players/the club are letting you down. It will just make you miserable. There's almost always some joy to be found. Savouring those moments is time much better spent than constant belly-aching.

Mind you. Thinking about it. I'm much more keen to voluntarily tell my friends about a really nice meal I had than bore them with complaints about bad restaurants I went to. So those studies you reference might just be an internet thing...

 

[Kevin]

@Rory 7 is still devastated by this signing. Awful luxury player. Was right all along.

 

[SirAF]

I meant generally, but I still feel last night he played about 4 long balls that were easily cut out by defenders, for the sake up being egocentric. And those runs up the line were Jesus Navas-esque, and came to absolutely nothing like the Spaniards generally don't either. Yaya Toure used to do that through the middle of the field and score or create absolute chaos, something I think Ross Barkley has in his locker too, under the right coach.

There's a reason Real Madrid chose not to sign him last summer, and that is simply he's not a great footballer. The Mbappe pursuit shows that they will pay whatever for potential greatness, and they didn't see it in showpony Paul.

You what?

 

[Dazzmondo]

Thought he was incredible in the 1st half against Barca. Wasn't as impressive in 2nd half but still, I'm very pleased with his pre-season.

 

[Jib]

Mbappe loves Real Madrid ( and Cristiano ) but Pogba not.

http://www.espnfc.com/story/3039927...barcelona-and-real-madrid-for-man-united-move

 

[Martial]

"There is only one Messi and one Neymar, one Suarez, Iniesta, Pique, Ronaldo, Bale, Modric, Toni Kroos. There is only one (of each) so they can only be playing for one club not two.

"We can't have them, they belong to those clubs. You can work very hard tactically to improve your players but there are players that are special players and there is nothing you can do.

"You try to compensate for the difference in quality with a certain tactical organisation and with that you can win in football. It's possible a team is, on a certain day, better than the sum of its parts.

"But their parts are amazing, their relation with the ball is amazing. You can argue about the occupation of spaces but the relation with the ball is still the most important thing and as an opponent on the bench, like I am, it is beautiful to see their relation with the ball.

"But one of my players, Paul Pogba, showed he belongs to that level."

 

[Synco]

@Martial
Cool that you described this. That answer stood out in that presser for me, and I thought it was a perfect summary of United's general situation. (The question was how far away United still is from the standard of Barcelona and Real Madrid.) Deserved praise for Pogba too, of course.

 

[edcunited1878]

A wonderful feeling to know that United, again, have a world class outfield player in their prime.

 

[Phil]

I meant generally, but I still feel last night he played about 4 long balls that were easily cut out by defenders, for the sake up being egocentric. And those runs up the line were Jesus Navas-esque, and came to absolutely nothing like the Spaniards generally don't either. Yaya Toure used to do that through the middle of the field and score or create absolute chaos, something I think Ross Barkley has in his locker too, under the right coach.

There's a reason Real Madrid chose not to sign him last summer, and that is simply he's not a great footballer. The Mbappe pursuit shows that they will pay whatever for potential greatness, and they didn't see it in showpony Paul.

This.. This is a bad post.

 

[Rossa]

That holds true if a fan's relationship is the same as they have with restaurants. Customers consuming a product. I always thought the relationship was deeper and more complex than that. I just find it toxic, emotionally, to constantly stew about how players/the club are letting you down. It will just make you miserable. There's almost always some joy to be found. Savouring those moments is time much better spent than constant belly-aching.

Mind you. Thinking about it. I'm much more keen to voluntarily tell my friends about a really nice meal I had than bore them with complaints about bad restaurants I went to. So those studies you reference might just be an internet thing...

There are far more negative posts in the player performance threads than positive, and people always find something to moan about. Some "fans" also seem to just wait for that one little mistake to be there and tell you "I told you so, he is shit". Sad really!

 

[SuperiorXI]

Wow this thread seems to be a polar opposite to last seasons performance thread...

 

[macheda14]

This.. This is a bad post.

Yeh, like phenomenaly bad.

 

[ti vu]

This fecking guy

I can't remember I ever agreed with any of this guy's post I came across. I am surprised how he even finally got promoted... Seriously scouts?

Back to the topic, it's clear Pog belongs to that top tier. He is still inexperienced & he is only consistently at good level. To realize his full potential, I expected him to bring out his better performance more. Seems like toward the end of last season, he's stepping up. Hard to judge pre season, but this Barcelona performance especially the first half indicates he is getting there.

 

[Vaibhav Raj]

Not to be harsh on our other players but take Pogba out of the match day squad and I do not think any team will fear coming up against us with a hope to steal a victory. Especially now that Zlatan is not here. I personally feel worried that in case our other players like Martial, Mkhitaryan, Mata, yet again, under-performed, we will yet again not get to see the very best of Pogba. For his sake, I hope, the other players can raise their game to Pogba's level.

 

[Rory 7]

@Rory 7 is still devastated by this signing. Awful luxury player. Was right all along.

Eh? I was wrong! That's some memory you have!

 

[haram]

He's better than Kante.

 

[Runner]

im wondering if he'll add more goals to his league campaign. Was a big thing missing last season from him. he hit the woodwork so many times. he's got a shot I'll give him that but he needs to score more often for me.

 

[Canagel]

This guy is head and shoulders above anyone in the team, his touch, awareness, technique and passing is just on another level to anyone else. It's quite disheartening to see him play with guys who aren't on the same wavelength as he is. I wish we could surround him with more quality. You can already see he is more than talented to play for Barcelona or Madrid and if we don't buy players of similar quality that's where I fear he'll end up. It's clear sometimes he's being held back by the lack of movement up top and if you're key players are being held back you're going to struggle. He took a lot of criticism last season some justified but how would you feel if you went from playing with Pirlo, Vidal to Fellaini and Lingard no disrespect to either but you'd definitely notice the step down in quality. Just surround him with more quality and then you'll see the real Pogba.

 

[Canagel]

Like who? That's the role he's being primed for (hopefully) Scholes used to be able to ping the ball 50 yards easily, but primarily he'd keep it moving simply waiting for the right moment to do so. PP should study the way he used to lend the ball to other players, then move to receive it back immediately in a better position. Yaya Toure is another who did this perfectly; he could seemingly beat 3 men and score at will, but he always knew when to do so.

If Pogba wants to be a genuinely elite midfield manipulator, rather than a YouTube highlights reel superstar, then he needs to embrace the simplicity of Kroos and Modric.

Pogba is already as good as Kroos and Modric. The difference is that they play with better players at Real. If you put either of them in our midfield they wouldn't do better than Pogba.

 

[Jib]

im wondering if he'll add more goals to his league campaign. Was a big thing missing last season from him. he hit the woodwork so many times. he's got a shot I'll give him that but he needs to score more often for me.

He scored 9 goals last season, more than Kroos, Modric, Iniesta, Rakitic...

If you think that he can scores 15-20 goals in a Mourinho team, you are deluded.

 

[Adam-Utd]

He's an elephant in a room full of mice.

 

[Runner]

He scored 9 goals last season, more than Kroos, Modric, Iniesta, Rakitic...

If you think that he can scores 15-20 goals in a Mourinho team, you are deluded.

I specifically mentioned league campaign in which he scored 5 goals and 4 assists. That's a pretty average return for someone with 2600 minutes played. There's about 20 players that outscored him, Allen, Redmond, Mata, Fer, Ayew, Siggy et cetera.

I never said i wanted him to score 15-20 goals a season, he's not Toure, Sanchez or Lampard. I'm pointing out weakness in his game and if he can get closer to 8-10 goals a season I'd be pleased. Those extra 3 or 4 goals when we're drawing 0-0 at home could be huge at the end of the season. He hit the woodwork more than any other player which is evidence he's taking the shots, it's his finishing that's letting him down.

 

[Jib]

I specifically mentioned league campaign in which he scored 5 goals and 4 assists. That's a pretty average return for someone with 2600 minutes played. There's about 20 players that outscored him, Allen, Redmond, Mata, Fer, Ayew, Siggy et cetera.

I never said i wanted him to score 15-20 goals a season, he's not Toure, Sanchez or Lampard. I'm pointing out weakness in his game and if he can get closer to 8-10 goals a season I'd be pleased. Those extra 3 or 4 goals when we're drawing 0-0 at home could be huge at the end of the season. He hit the woodwork more than any other player which is evidence he's taking the shots, it's his finishing that's letting him down.

5 goals and 4 assists it's a very good return for a CM. It's better than Modric or Iniesta and they don't play in a midfield 2 like Pogba but in a midfield 3.

The problem isn't him but Mata, Lingard, Rashford, Mhki and Martial...

 

[barmyarmy]

Pogba appreciation thread on twitter with his best bits from last season:

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

.

Hopefully he have a cracker in Super cup match against Real. In my view he is going to be immense this season & contender for player of the year.

 

[Paxi]

Remember at the start of last season some absolute weapon compared Pogba with Fellaini. Would love to find that post to laugh at it again.

 

[Akshay]

Remember at the start of last season some absolute weapon compared Pogba with Fellaini. Would love to find that post to laugh at it again.

Still not as good as the Ajax fans who told us just a couple months ago he wouldn't get into their team.

 

[Paxi]

Still not as good as the Ajax fans who told us just a couple months ago he wouldn't get into their team.

Do they still come on here? They usually all feck off after.