Sensational.
6
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 37
- Goals
- 6
- Assists
- 16
- Yellow cards
- 5
- Red cards
- 1
- Status
He will. Still don't know why's that an issue?
We altered the formation coupled with his position into those that actually suit his qualities and surprise, surprise, he looks fantastic. Also it made us look fantastic on a tough away ground. This is happening in time of the season when we have problems with injuries, fatigue, still playing Mata on the right and Lingard as a left winger. Pogba isn't a box to box midfielder. He's a world class attacking mid, be it playing from the left or more centrally. Stick with it or burn at stake!
What a player. His passing is just superb, also his dribbling. He also brings lot of composure in the final third too.
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Imagine if he was pale and ginger, or was playing for Pep.
Pogba doesn't get the credit he deserves, he's been POTY for us despite missing about half of the season so far.
Edit: To the poster questioning his big game performances, he's only ever played in 1 of them this season i.e. vs Arsenal and he setup two goals. He missed the matches vs Liverpool, Chelsea, Spurs and City. So he's 1 out of 1 so far.
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Sexual.
He's got amazing skills, some of the passes he pull off are Scholes-esque. However, I still feel that we don't quite get maximum from him. He should be able to really take control of a game and dominate. He's mostly showing us glimpses as is. Not sure Mourinho is the one to steer and mould him correctly. Wonder how he'd look like under Pep.
Fantastic second half.
Unanimous first half.
Love him.
Unanimous first half.
Love him.
Saw somewhere Jose gave him freedom to play.
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Looked strong and energetic again tonight. Dunno what happened to him on Boxing Day but it was like 1 of his brothers were playing instead.
When he’s on form and playing that way we look so much better.
When he’s on form and playing that way we look so much better.
It was put down to the other team being knackered and us simply being opportunistic but at the start of the season we were blitzing teams when we brought a player (usually Fellaini) on and pushed Pogba further forward. It was seen as a defensive move but a defensive move that actually made us turn some 1-0's into 4-0's.
Pogba is a creative player. He likes to travel with the ball distances and not be too worried what's going on behind him. He likes drifting wide, particularly to the left. He's actually got a great cross on him but we never get to see it when he plays deep.
It will benefit him and the team. Pogba vacates a lot of space when he plays in a midfield two. He gets caught between two stools of wanting to play his own game but knowing in the back of his head he needs to be on the edge of his own box in a moment if the ball gets lost.
Keep him further forward and lets see how it goes. A controlling midfielder next to Matic for the summer and it could be made to be great.
Pogba is a creative player. He likes to travel with the ball distances and not be too worried what's going on behind him. He likes drifting wide, particularly to the left. He's actually got a great cross on him but we never get to see it when he plays deep.
It will benefit him and the team. Pogba vacates a lot of space when he plays in a midfield two. He gets caught between two stools of wanting to play his own game but knowing in the back of his head he needs to be on the edge of his own box in a moment if the ball gets lost.
Keep him further forward and lets see how it goes. A controlling midfielder next to Matic for the summer and it could be made to be great.
That actually only happened once, against Swansea. In the other games ending with 4, Utd was up by two or three when a third midfielder was brought on.
But hasn't this in-game tactical change happened only twice this season? Against Swansea turning 1:0 into 4:0 and against WHU from 2:0 to 4:0. We've brought on our other midfielders for attacking players on plenty of times, however it didn't go hand in hand with pushing Pogba forward.
I don't know, I really don't like performances like his first half one from Pogba. Sure, he looked good, was untroubled, played some nice passes, and generally looked a class apart, but he didn't really impress himself on the game. I don't really have any criticism of him in the first half from an objective standpoint. He was, as you say, good, but he's so much better than that. In many ways you'd almost rather him have an absolute stinker trying things which don't come off because he's trying to make the difference than going through a half without really influencing it.
This was Pogba at half time: 34 touches, 92% pass completion, 1 key pass, 0 dribbles, 2 blocked shots,
In the second half: 50 touches (the most on either team), 79% pass completion, 4 key passes, 2 dribbles, 3 shots, 2 assists
(He had 7 chances created in the whole game, but I can't find a half by half breakdown of them)
Regardless of whether it comes off or not that second half Pogba is the one you want to see: heavily involved, creating chances, taking shots, and taking risks. Criticism of his first half is less about being 'unfair' on him, but a recognition of how damn right fantastic he is and his incredible match winning abilities. He's not in the team to look pretty, he's there to take the game by the scruff of its neck and win football matches.
That’s fair I think, well put.
100% agreed here
Won it for us today. He was exceptional in the 2nd half.
You make it sound like great players have to be great all the time. That's a very modern expectation but it isn't remotely grounded in reality. Here's Zidane arguably at at his peak as an individual, months before his sublime Euro 2000 performances - up there with the greatest individual tournament in international history - against Lazio.
He gives the ball away with his first pass, falls over a few times, mishits a few shots and loses the ball a few times more. 2 out of 4 shots on target, 5/9 dribbles completed, 34/44 passes landed; 0 goals, 0 assists. Mixed in with that you have some moments of sheer brilliance and some moments of simple play. That's a very typical Zidane performance in a game like that.
It's important to set the context here: this Juve team ended up finishing 7th the season prior, while they were facing a Lazio team that finished 2nd and 1st between 98-00. So it wasn't an easy game - it wasn't compable to Everton. However it's worth bearing in mind that Juve did finish 7th with Zidane, and at that point Zidane was undeniably a great player. Here's a very ordinary performance from Zidane in that very ordinary season.
What the game against Lazio does is highlight is how silly the idea is that Pogba being unable to drag us into the top 4 last season demonstrates his failings compared to his peers. Likewise for the idea that failing to shine in a tight game disqualifies him from being in the elite. Neither of these standards match up to his most apparent comparison, and Zidane is considered by many as one of the very best in history.
If you wanted a direct comparison to Everton, you can look at his game against Bari in the same season. Bari were just outside the relegation zone and Juve finished 2nd. No goals, no assists, plenty of mistakes, plenty of brilliance. That's not to say Zidane didn't have immaculate performances against the weaker teams, or sparkling performances against the elite...but he certainly didn't all the time. He didn't even do it most of the time. No player ever has.
Many of Pogba's great performances this season are comparable to many of Zidane's in 2000. Similarly many of his ordinary performances are comparable to many of Zidane's in 2000. The difference is Zidane's average performances dwindle in the memory and disappear from the stories and eventually, the image we've created is almost entirely fictional. That's what you're expecting Pogba to be. A player that has only ever existed in your imagination.
Taking everything into account I wouldn't swap him for any other midfielder anywhere - Real, Barcelona, City, Bayern, have no one I’d trade for Pogba.
I look at others and think ‘you’re a terrific footballer playing at your absolute maximum’.......I watch Pogba and think ‘you’ve just given an awesome performance but I think you were only at about 70%’......
His potential is off the scale.
I look at others and think ‘you’re a terrific footballer playing at your absolute maximum’.......I watch Pogba and think ‘you’ve just given an awesome performance but I think you were only at about 70%’......
His potential is off the scale.
Might be, my memory is not great when it comes to these things. But (regarding the post I initially answered to) what I think can't be discarded is the factor that, due to the leads, the opponents had to open up towards the end of these games, giving more space for attacks.
I guess my main point is that there are more factors to the development of a game than just the formation of one team, or the position of one player, even if he's as good as Pogba. And what works great in a specific phase of one game might not be repeatable 1:1 in the next. So while Pogba was without a doubt brilliant in today's second half, too many general conclusions were drawn too quickly here in my eyes. And Mourinho might not be as much of an idiot as quite a few people here will claim if he changes things around again.
@Brwned is back, nice.
Wow. Excellent post.
Brilliant post.
That second half was the best he played for us and it was exactly what he did for Juventus. I don't know why it took us this long but that second half is the player we bought for £90m. With freedom and being on the left he is unstoppable at times. Please for the love of god keep him there and never move him to a midfield two.
If we get Dybala aswell can you imagine the link up and especially with his pal Jesse
If we get Dybala aswell can you imagine the link up and especially with his pal Jesse
Just because @Brwned doesn't give us a brilliant post all of the time, or even most of the time, does not mean he is not a great poster. For most of us, the image of Brwned we have is one that only exists in our imagination. Nonetheless, that last post should shut most of us up in this thread. It's not for nothing they voted him poster of the year in 1957.
Zidanes run of form wasn't confined to 2000, by and large he was terribly inconsistent throughtout his career v lesser sides but turned it on every single time against quality opposition.
Kind of counter productive to the point @Brwned was trying to make I think.
He didn't turn it on every single time against quality opposition. He had many memorable big game performances, absolutely. But not every time.
@Bubz27
Then I remember it differently, everything went through him in big games but he seemed content to stand aside for Figo etc v the lesser sides.
The French Jamie Vardy if you will
Then I remember it differently, everything went through him in big games but he seemed content to stand aside for Figo etc v the lesser sides.
The French Jamie Vardy if you will
What a player. Though i think it's quite generous to credit him with the two assists today. It was mainly pure individual brilliance from Martial and Jesse for their goals
He's ours though
He's ours though
Considering that Zidane's Juve were pretty much the ultimate European bottlers (despite being the best side of that era), he definitely wasn't an all-conquering big game force, never mind his image. Lost in 96/97, 97/98 finals, and the 98/99 semis of course@Bubz27
Then I remember it differently, everything went through him in big games but he seemed content to stand aside for Figo etc v the lesser sides.
The French Jamie Vardy if you will
Excellent post. I think Messi at club level is about as good as it gets though.
Pogba had a brilliant second half and it certainly looks like it's worth changing our shape and tactics to get more out of him.
Says it all.
Imagine every post on this forum had the thought behind it, if not the detail and length. If posters just thought about what they were going to type for a minute before posting. Standard would be way higher, disagreements would actually be interesting debate and the YouTube posters would basically get shut down.
Anyway I'm off the read a few more of those 'omg Jose took on scholes what a pathetic embarrassment of a man' posts.
I said ‘in difficult situations or genuine box office games.’ The fact that you all quote the same game, in which most of our team was exceptional, kind of proves the point.
Everton parked the bus yesterday more than a Mourinho side so he was rarely under presure. And in second half, we had a some good performances from other players.
We have been in several ‘difficult situations’ in December and yet Pogba has not impacted any of those games as I’d like expect from a world record transfer fee player, especially as he is technically more skilful and capable than every other player on the pitch.
He is being out performed by several team mates this season: I expect him to consistently be our best player and help us win matches when others dont step up. For me that the mark of a world class player as opposed to one who is simply very skilful.
Closer to Veron than De Bryune or Scholes so far, he still has some way to go to justify that transfer fee. Maybe it will come: as I said it was very enjoyable to see him excel in 2nd half yesterday.
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Take a bow. Brilliant post.
Love the link up play between him and Martial. Shame he couldnt convert a nice cross from Martial to have his own goal in second half, it was so close
Jose said that they won't be any signings this Winter. So hopefully he's just bluffing.
We could do with some signings.
excellent post, i always said pogba is no less skilled player than zidane, people just become better and more appreciated when they retired with all their medals and youtube compilation
if pogba manage to score goals in world cup final , won us UCL , 15 years later people would talk about him in the same way people talk about zidane
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