It's because they know feck all about football and about him. I mean the general football fan.
Spot on.
6
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- Appearances
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- 1
- Assists
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- Yellow cards
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It's not a french thing though and the people criticizing him are the ones following Football closely, most know football as much as most Caf members but they are also as susceptible to listen to terrible pundits which is pretty much all french pundits. The people that don't watch Football don't even know who Pogba is and I know a few of them.
It's not a french thing per se but it still corresponds to a lot french fans
It's not. He mixed two set of people that shouldn't be mixed. Pogba isn't disliked by casual followers and people that don't watch football, these people don't care about Pogba or any other footballer in particular. And to claim that people who are actually fans of Football and watch it religiously know nothing about Football, is at best arrogant and at worst insulting.
I was in Paris most of the time, to be exact it was from 2004 to 2009 and I found people there generaly didn't care much about football. They didn't think Paris St. Germain is the club representing Paris either. They prefer tennis, rugby, biking, swimming etc. than football. When I travelled to Lyon and Marseille, I found people there seem to love football much more than people in Paris. French people who I talked to also said so.
I only lived there like 5 years so my observation is probably incorrect anyway.
Because Paris St. Germain comes from Saint-Germain-en -Laye, Red Star and Paris FC are the historical clubs from Paris(75). Marseille and Lyon are particular, it's two football cities, though Rugby is big in Lyon too, but they don't represent the south, they are the exceptions not the norm. The north is mainly about Football and the south is mainly about Rugby. And it's not the people that don't care about football that crititicized Pogba it's the one following closely football, the ones coming from cities like Lyon and Marseille.
The reason some people had an issue with Pogba in France is exactly the same than in the UK, pundits talking nonsense, complaining about his haircuts and why he isn't Vieira or Zidane.
From the restart:
Notice the similarity with all the players mentioned there.
The south is pretty football crazy from my knowledge. Football looms large over others sports throughout France even in Clermont-Ferrand and you can drop footballer names anywhere and people will know the mediatic ones.
He is more than a player to give balance, he is not Vieira he is Pogba. By now people should have realized just because he is powerful and black that his play far more resembles that of Zidane and Ronaldinho; his two footballing role models growing up. I can't see him playing that deep role for us for too long.
It is partly due to racist punditry as anyone who watches TF1 will see they almost always have positive headlines for white players and negative headlines for black players. Griezmann got a lot of presstime on equipe du soir without doing much at the world cup while I do not recall Pogba getting any though he was the player of the tournament for anyone who watched objectively. Also they complain about him not being Vieira, never heard them say anything about Zidane.
Not really, I'm from the south and only Marseille could be described as football crazy. And Pogba has been compared to both which seems to be a very french thing, everyone is supposed to be next X. In the case of Pogba it's more about influence than style, here you have an example that is popular among fans.
The bolded part is what is detrimental, when Karembeu says in 2016 that Pogba is the key player for France and that he hopes to see him lead France like Zidane did in 1998 and 2000. Pogba isn't Zidane and we shouldn't hope a similar impact, it's not reasonable.
He really is a unique player. He's been untouchable in midfield since the restart.
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I spent a lot of time in Toulouse and I must say while the people do not really support the local team they do talk a lot about football elsewhere particularly PSG and even Marseille. Also if you say pundits talk about his influence rather than style then I agree but still not many. I only know of the french espn journalist who talks about Paul's influence a lot and thanked him for finally taking the french team to a title.
The quote from Karembeu is fine to me and it is no surprise that he is the one that said it but he is not a regular pundit.
People don't want to him to be Vieria, they want him to be a more athletic Scholes, someone who dominates the flow of the game, provides structure and direction for the team, while also having his moments to attack.
Pogba is a wonderful talent with 2 great feet and natural flair, but that doesn't mean that he is best suited to playing as a pure attacker. You only have to look at what Bruno gives with the tempo and energy in his play to see a player more suited to playing higher up. Pogba is more talented but he likes to play at his own pace and in those tight areas high up the pitch with his back to goal he is prone to losing the ball and overplaying.
Pogba is much more than more than Vieira.
Pogba is like Gourcuff
I just wanted to be different
I just wanted to be different
Aston Villa 0:3 Man Utd
Most disciplined I've seen him play since he's been here
Class on grass.
Our best player.
Vive la Pogba FC!
Our best player.
Vive la Pogba FC!
Exceptional game! I thought he completely ran the show. This was a prime example of why we need both Fernandes and Pogba as Fernades didn't play great, but Pogba picked up the slack. Nice finish for his goal, was my MOTM.
Can someone please reassure me and tell me he didn’t injure himself at the end there?
Was he limping at the end?!
Absolutely superb performance. So dominant.
Hope he did not pick up an injury...
Hope he did not pick up an injury...
Better and better each game. Still some steps to go regarding his close control.
Very impressed tonight. Just a great all-round performance again.
Close run thing between him, Martial and Shaw for my MOTM
Deserved his goal for running the show
Deserved his goal for running the show
Big big baller
I’ve been critical of him, no doubt, but that was a fantastic job well done by PP tonight. Some great passes, dictated our play and scored a beauty!
Excellent performance, seeing him and Bruno makes me think we can break anyone down now. He was stretching a bit when he got tackled right at the end.
Quality performance, great goal. Hopefully not injured again, right at the end of the game as well.
First goal of the season, finally!
Looked like he was just annoyed at not getting a penalty and was just knackered.
Really happy that he got on the scoresheet today, it was a peach too 
.
Looked so happy after when he ran over to thank Bruno
Looked like his strike against Croatia in the final 2 summers ago
.Looked so happy after when he ran over to thank Bruno
Looked like his strike against Croatia in the final 2 summers ago
He has to sign on now
MOTM
He has been amazing ever since he returned and deserved to finally get his goal.
He hasn't put a foot wrong for a long time now. Every thing he does is mature, efficient and quality.
Great player to have when fully committed and playing in his top form.
He hasn't put a foot wrong for a long time now. Every thing he does is mature, efficient and quality.
Great player to have when fully committed and playing in his top form.
He is a million times better when he’s not the main focus of attention. He’s been quietly excellent since this return.
So so good.
Top class.
MOTM for me today, happy that he got the goal, thoroughly deserved, hoping he signs a new contract in the coming week or so.
Agree with that. Our 3 best players today.
A joy to watch.
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