[youmeletsfly]

Still not convinced wether he will sign a new contract. He has some decision to make. He is 27 and the next contract is so important to him as he wants to win it all. Still think we are in for every titles in the next few years but Paul is that type of player that wants Real Madrid on his CV.

He might want Madrid on his CV, but Madrid might not have the money we'd ask for. His decision is hard to make in terms of actually winning stuff, but with who?

 

[Yagami]

Also. As @Dante said somewhere else, Bruno tends to give the ball away attempting a first time pass. Speeding play up. Which is nowhere near annoying as someone giving the ball away after taking several touches and slowing our play down (which is how Pogba/Matic usually lose the ball).

Bruno gives it away like that, too. One of the rare times he was deeper than Pogba and McTominay, he gave the ball away in our half as cheaply as Pogba and Matic have done. It's not as rare as most think.

 

[Foxbatt]

The Pogba who played further forward early in his career was the better player. I think we need to play the diamond with him on the left side of the diamond and he does have the opportunity to go further forward. He doesn't push up further forward now where he can create and cause trouble for the opposition.
Our own half is not where you want him to be most of the time.

 

[MadDogg]

Still not convinced wether he will sign a new contract. He has some decision to make. He is 27 and the next contract is so important to him as he wants to win it all. Still think we are in for every titles in the next few years but Paul is that type of player that wants Real Madrid on his CV.

I'm fairly sure he doesn't care about 'having them on his CV', but he may want to join them if he feels that he'll compete and win more with them.

 

[UNITED ACADEMY]

Still not convinced wether he will sign a new contract. He has some decision to make. He is 27 and the next contract is so important to him as he wants to win it all. Still think we are in for every titles in the next few years but Paul is that type of player that wants Real Madrid on his CV.

He will sign after we get Sancho imo. We only need to convince him the club's project and getting top player is the way to convince & excite him.

 

[horsechoker]

The Pogba who played further forward early in his career was the better player. I think we need to play the diamond with him on the left side of the diamond and he does have the opportunity to go further forward. He doesn't push up further forward now where he can create and cause trouble for the opposition.
Our own half is not where you want him to be most of the time.

Was he a better player or does he just look better in compilations?

 

[Cassidy]

Was he a better player or does he just look better in compilations?

He played a deeper role when he first played for Juve also

 

[georgipep]

Was he a better player or does he just look better in compilations?

And even more importantly, was that for the benefit of the team? Why should we play a system that only makes one player look better? The 4231 now is working great for the team. I don't care if any one player could be x% better in a different system if the team as a whole doesn't benefit.

 

[Keefy18]

Bruno gives it away like that, too. One of the rare times he was deeper than Pogba and McTominay, he gave the ball away in our half as cheaply as Pogba and Matic have done. It's not as rare as most think.

Yep, confirmation bias is definitely at play.

Bruno's passing vs Palace and Southampton. His passing accuracy at one point in the Palace game was as low as 64%, finished with 73% I believe.

Bruno is in the honeymoon phase though and folks are turning a blind eye to it to some degree.

 

[Cassidy]

Bruno gives it away like that, too. One of the rare times he was deeper than Pogba and McTominay, he gave the ball away in our half as cheaply as Pogba and Matic have done. It's not as rare as most think.

We dont have a midfielder that doesnt. Which suggests its not an exactly issue with the individual but how we play IMO

I guess Pogbas style does exacerbate the issue but so does Bruno when deep.

 

[GMoore23]

And even more importantly, was that for the benefit of the team? Why should we play a system that only makes one player look better? The 4231 now is working great for the team. I don't care if any one player could be x% better in a different system if the team as a whole doesn't benefit.

This exactly, people suggesting formation changes are just Pogba fanboys. If Pogba needs a very specific formation to look good then he is not a top player and not good enough for Manchester United full stop. Great players can adapt to any formation, for example, Frank Lampard played under something like 10 different managers in is his time at chelsea, all with different tactics and approaches to the game. Frank was fantastic under all 10 of them.

 

[0le]

This exactly, people suggesting formation changes are just Pogba fanboys. If Pogba needs a very specific formation to look good then he is not a top player and not good enough for Manchester United full stop. Great players can adapt to any formation, for example, Frank Lampard played under something like 10 different managers in is his time at chelsea, all with different tactics and approaches to the game. Frank was fantastic under all 10 of them.

Pogba can play in different roles.

 

[He'sRaldo]

And even more importantly, was that for the benefit of the team? Why should we play a system that only makes one player look better? The 4231 now is working great for the team. I don't care if any one player could be x% better in a different system if the team as a whole doesn't benefit.

The 4-2-3-1 isn't optimal and never has been. In fact, it's the formation that has led us to 5th in the table overall, with us needing to shoehorn average players in just to fit that formation.

Throughout the season (when Pogba was injured, just so you understand it wasn't purely about Pogba) and even before then many have complained about the formation but unfortunately it looks like Ole won't be changing it.

 

[He'sRaldo]

This exactly, people suggesting formation changes are just Pogba fanboys. If Pogba needs a very specific formation to look good then he is not a top player and not good enough for Manchester United full stop. Great players can adapt to any formation, for example, Frank Lampard played under something like 10 different managers in is his time at chelsea, all with different tactics and approaches to the game. Frank was fantastic under all 10 of them.

Pogba looks very good in this current role, but the formation itself has never been good enough. The thing that has improved in recent times is the players on the pitch, and that's what has led us to our current good form.

 

[georgipep]

The 4-2-3-1 isn't optimal and never has been. In fact, it's the formation that has led us to 5th in the table overall, with us needing to shoehorn average players in just to fit that formation.

Throughout the season (when Pogba was injured, just so you understand it wasn't purely about Pogba) and even before then many have complained about the formation but unfortunately it looks like Ole won't be changing it.

We are in 5th place because we have no depth. And we can't switch systems every other week depending on who's injured, players need time to get versed with a system. They can't play to any respectable level of performance in a new system every time.

 

[He'sRaldo]

We are in 5th place because we have no depth. And we can't switch systems every other week depending on who's injured, players need time to get versed with a system. They can't play to any respectable level of performance in a new system every time.

Depth is another part of it yes. Still, the setup has been an issue. I maintain that ever since we switched to the 4-2-3-1 and I haven't yet seen anything to make me think otherwise.

 

[Web of Bissaka]

Was he a better player or does he just look better in compilations?

You're right - He was not.

Better player today but no doubts he play better attacking freely further up than being more defending and discipline at the back.

His best traits are suited for attacking and the main role he's playing now is limiting him, even-though the trade-off is we get to see him improving his overall abilities.

 

[red woppit]

Pogba looks very good in this current role, but the formation itself has never been good enough. The thing that has improved in recent times is the players on the pitch, and that's what has led us to our current good form.

I'm not sure he's looked 'very good'. I much prefer him further forward. Both he and Bruno do make passes that are cut out, but the difference between them is that Pogba uses his athleticism and strength to get past or hold off an opponent, where as Bruno tends to move the ball quicker, and as we've seen recently, Pogba has lost the ball several times in deep, dangerous positions, which has cost us at least one goal, and also did when we played Palace at home. I'm not convinced that we can play Pogba and Bruno together in our current formation, as this poster has stated, a diamond would suit them better, or a 4-3-3, with Pogba as the central midfielder, slightly further forward, and Bruno as a withdrawn 9, with licence to roam.

 

[georgipep]

Depth is another part of it yes. Still, the setup has been an issue. I maintain that ever since we switched to the 4-2-3-1 and I haven't yet seen anything to make me think otherwise.

Like 19 games undefeated, incredible improvement in defense and freescoring attacking unit? Nothing makes you think that the system isn't the issue?

 

[He'sRaldo]

I'm not sure he's looked 'very good'. I much prefer him further forward. Both he and Bruno do make passes that are cut out, but the difference between them is that Pogba uses his athleticism and strength to get past or hold off an opponent, where as Bruno tends to move the ball quicker, and as we've seen recently, Pogba has lost the ball several times in deep, dangerous positions, which has cost us at least one goal, and also did when we played Palace at home. I'm not convinced that we can play Pogba and Bruno together in our current formation, as this poster has stated, a diamond would suit them better, or a 4-3-3, with Pogba as the central midfielder, slightly further forward, and Bruno as a withdrawn 9, with licence to roam.

No doubt. The formation has looked good at times, and at other times pretty bad (f.e Southampton when he was alone surrounded by 6 constantly). I also prefer the 4-3-3, though I'd probably have Bruno and Pogba both play as 8's, since Bruno has pretty much no physicality so won't be able to cut it at 9.

 

[He'sRaldo]

Like 19 games undefeated, incredible improvement in defense and freescoring attacking unit? Nothing makes you think that the system isn't the issue?

Like I said, I haven't seen much to make me think otherwise. Those stats are great, but not what I'm looking at in terms of the formation.

 

[georgipep]

Like I said, I haven't seen much to make me think otherwise. Those stats are great, but not what I'm looking at in terms of the formation.

Out of curiosity, what are your criteria?

 

[Brwned]

Not sure if he reacted badly to being rested but his attitude was shocking when he came on

 

[mewnew11]

Not sure if he reacted badly to being rested but his attitude was shocking when he came on

What makes u say so? I thought he was alright and tried

 

[AFC NimbleThumb]

Not sure if he reacted badly to being rested but his attitude was shocking when he came on

Was his attitude bad or his performance?

 

[MyOnlySolskjaer]

Paul wasn't feeling it today.

 

[Brwned]

Was his attitude bad or his performance?

At 3-0 he'd given up playing with any intensity. That's generally not his strong point but you can see when he takes it down a notch. Most players were tired and demoralised but tried to hustle. I don't think he did

 

[Hammondo]

He looked like he didn't want to be there. Hid away from the game at times, not good when pressed.

We really need a midfielder to run our games, make space, and get us ticking.

 

[VeevaVee]

He always has a brief honeymoon period after being away for a while, before returning to average performances with a nice pass thrown in sometimes. I didn't want to call it while people were enjoying him playing well, including myself, but had a feeling it'd happen again. Was also hopeful it might be different this time, but I think we might be there. Will happily be proven wrong in the next two games.

 

[Class of 63]

Starting to think Paul is being sponsored to be shit, shocking again today.

 

[Coops73]

Paul wasn't feeling it today.

Haha, I think that’s been the understatement of the player performance forum.

I just don’t know about this guy, I really don’t.

 

[el3mel]

Didn't notice he was even playing to be totally honest. Hard to rate him today then.

 

[jamesjimmybyrondean]

I think the negatives of him is that he gets tired fast and has a weak mentality when losing

 

[MadDogg]

With Matic playing in the defence and Bruno playing in the attack, there were long periods once again where he was basically in midfield all by himself. Has been happening quite a bit lately.

He could still have done better though.

 

[Thiagoal]

We simply can’t carry a player that only turns up when he wants to if we’re hoping to challenge in the next couple of years! Been way off the pace the past two weeks

 

[criticalanalysis]

Could have played better but the adversion to play passes to his feet and in a timely manner was shocking from Maguire, Lindelof and Matic.

Every time he was free, they just dallied and waited until he had a Chelsea player breathing down his neck ffs.

Don't they realise 'give Pogba the ball early' and he will 9/10 do something progressive with it? It's like they think he's just another regular team mate. Bewildering.

 

[Sayros]

It's hard to blame him when the entire team were shit, he has as much and as little blame as the next person. I'm expecting him to turn up next game and create danger and opportunities.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Absolutely classic Pogba today when he showed amazing strength and skill to hold off a couple of Chelsea players, burst into space and then ping a pass... straight to a Chelsea player.

 

[Womp]

Both the team and he looks much better when he doesn't dawdle on the ball for 15 minutes and keeps it simple

 

[#CR7]

Didn't really pay attention to his performance today but he seems to be carrying some extra bulk since he's come back into the team which I don't think is helping him. Either that or he needs a preseason to condition himself properly.