You mean the Pogba who has been deployed in several positions in his time here? 6,8,10 center back even? Pogba has also been played in double pivots with the likes of McTominay and Fellaini. Bruno has his position locked in. Pogba is still the midfielder on our books with the most end product despite the positional changes over the years. I mean Pogba was our best creative outlet and TOP scorer the season Solksjaer got the job
6
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 42
- Goals
- 6
- Assists
- 6
- Yellow cards
- 9
- Status
Exactly my sentiment - he needs to play as an AM like in the last match against City or not at all. He's terrible as a deep midfielder, against better sides than Sheffield his giving the ball away will be punished.
I think part of what makes him an ill suited deep midfielder is that he's always looking for a good pass and wants to make something happen rather than playing the safe sideways pass, so often ends up trying to take on the pressing midfielders. It's not a bad trait but you want it to be done near the opponents final third - not near our box where there's no cover.
For me how to use Pogba is simple - he's a classy player as shown today so you want to play him more often than not, but only as an AM. Against better teams you need the 2 deep midfielders in Fred and Mctominay as Pobga defensively is terrible. The fact managers haven't figured this out yet baffles me.
Pogba is a bluffer. Yes, he is capable of classy moments but those turnovers kill you against proper sides. Look forward to him leaving.
I agree. We've done half the job with Bruno and Van de Beek. A top passer alongside a top defensive mid are the priorities. Shame that we couldn't surround him with more class in his time here though. Matic is not the one.
Embarrassing for most of the season so far. Agent confirms he's off and now he's playing well.
Is it any wonder why he's not a fan favourite? Can't dispute his contributions recently but he's doing it for him and to get his move rather than for the manager, team and badge. That's the sad thing.
Can't drop him though when he's playing well even if it's for the wrong reasons.
Is it any wonder why he's not a fan favourite? Can't dispute his contributions recently but he's doing it for him and to get his move rather than for the manager, team and badge. That's the sad thing.
Can't drop him though when he's playing well even if it's for the wrong reasons.
So i am the only one who want that he signs new contract? 
Pogba has never been played as a ten for us. Also Bruno is critiqued like a normal player. Pogba can’t have a 60% pass completion and get an assist with a square pass and it be accepted. Nor was it acceptable when he scored a lot of penalties.
The best case scenario would have been for people to accept that at times all players lose possession, Bruno more than anyone, at time players lose runners, like Telles, an actual defender, did last week. But it doesn’t matter. The bigger picture is what matters. Not every loss of possession as is the case with Pogba.
Shame he’s been harshly treated and will leave. What could’ve been if he was judged like other players.
Let's not forget it was 1 point Sheffield that we played.
He's not a defensive mid. Credit to him that he's able to function there. If Bruno was 5 inches taller and we stuck him there, would you not be saying the same things about him too?
You guys are relentless every bad touch analysed to the smallest detail yes he had a poor 3 minutes but the rest of the game he was world class. Both attacking and defending.
Pogba put out Bruno-equalling or surpassing numbers from that same position at the back end of 18-19. Then at the start of 19-20, he was shifted to defensive midfield to accomodate the playmaking skills of Jesse Lingard, and to plug the gap left in the team after Herrera left and Fred was still crap.
More excuses for PP. Just accept it hasn’t worked out and move on.
I do but too much shit has happened. Our fans hate him too. Situation is untenable at this stage. Everyone involved at fault really. Blame to be put on the club , Pogba, Raiola and the fans for sure.So i am the only one who want that he signs new contract?
Best scenario is we sell him and buy a top top Cm to replace him. Though we won't get anyone better than him.
The real issue is the likely scenario where we sell him and either don't replace him or replace him with someone half as good.
Paul, what is your favourite position to play in?
"Yes"
"Yes"
Why was McCoist so concerned with where Pogba was aiming the pass? Pretty bizarre.
Good game from Pogba.
Good game from Pogba.
Yeah, I thought that was annoying. Who gives a feck if it's intended, lucky or not. It looked amazing.
Good game by him but he’s an unreliable character and thus needs to be sold. I’m confident him playing well is to make sure enough good teams are interested in him.
None of that happened.
He was the mastermind today, by far our best midfielder.
Hm, 16 G+A in half a season playing as the most attacking midfielder in a 4-3-3. Then one of the two in a 4-2-3-1 behind Lingard at the start of 19-20, when he gets a long-term injury. So literally all of it happened.
Maybe I'm wrong about it being only Lingard, maybe he was also pushed back to accomodate Ronaldinho's heir Andreas Pereira.
That's not excuses. Him creating turnovers is the trade-off for playing deep in midfield, same as it would be for Bruno. But Bruno plays so high up that it isn't a problem.
It hasn't worked out for reasons in his control/out of his control, which is a real shame. A midfield of Bruno & Pogba with a top class defensive mid is a monster midfield. It's a shame we won't get to see that.
He wasn’t pushed back to accomodate either Lingard or Pereira, obviously. Or anyone else. He was moved to try and get the best out of himself. A recurring theme in his United career. Nor did he match Bruno’s scoring/assisting rate (never mind surpassing it) in that half season.
This.
Great performance today. If he can carry on like this till he goes back to Juve in the summer, happy days.
He actually looked at Martial as the ball was coming to him. There’s no way that ball wasn’t intended for Martials run. There’s no way it would be questioned if another player played it.Yeah, I thought that was annoying. Who gives a feck if it's intended, lucky or not. It looked amazing.
He definitely intended the ball. It looked like a routine they’ve been practicing.
The post you're responding to literally shows the verifiable stats that prove that Pogba did indeed best Bruno in 2018/19 (rate of end product). He was our top scorer that season and was unplayable during Solskjaer's honeymoon phase
Well let's be clear, that goal scoring season was massively benefited from his taking of penalties, which were accompanied by Pogba missing a shit load of penalties too. If he wasn't pretty average at taking penalties he still would have been taking them the season afterwards, and his goal return would have been better that season too.
I highly disagree that we can get back to the top without another top creative passer to replace Pogba. A Bruno-Fred-Fred clone midfield is easily neutralised at the highest level imo. If Bruno is man-marked out of the game, what then?
I don't think Pogba is out of place in this team, as much as we don't have the sufficient defensive mid to support both Bruno & Pogba. Fred's too small, Matic's too immobile, McTominay's not good enough full stop.
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Literally not true. If you stretch the “second half of the season” in 2018/19 to start in late December, to include as many of his goals as possible, he still doesn’t match Bruno’s productivity (which has already been sustained over a much longer period). And he certainly never surpassed it.
It's clear that some commentators, pundits, fans (etc) look for any opportunity to say something negative about him or are reluctant to give him credit when he does something good. Unfortunately, there is something in that. I thought he played very well tonight.
I’d go with ‘better today’, but World class? Really?
Must prove the saying “It’s a small world “.
First point:
2018-19 away vs Newcastle Pogba heatmap
2018-19 0-1 win vs Leicester
2019-20 first game of the season 4-0 vs Chelsea
2019-20 second game of the season, 1-1 vs Wolves
Second point: 16 goals and 11 assists in 2018/19, of which 10 goals and 6 assists came between December and April.
For the first time ever when it comes to pogba I agree with you, intentional, and a fantastic pass.
He’s playing well now because he wants his dream move to Real. Either to replace Modric (36 next year) or Kroos (31 next year), I believe.
Which is fine. Never really worked out for him here unfortunaly.
The gentlemens agreement between him and the club is most probably already settled. Play well so United can get a decent fee £60m+ and so clubs is ready to pay that.
I wish him all the best of he leaves because I do think he wanted to succeed here. It just wasnt meant to be.
Which is fine. Never really worked out for him here unfortunaly.
The gentlemens agreement between him and the club is most probably already settled. Play well so United can get a decent fee £60m+ and so clubs is ready to pay that.
I wish him all the best of he leaves because I do think he wanted to succeed here. It just wasnt meant to be.
He was good, but nothing really special today, against a crap team as well.
There's 4 penalties in those 16 leaving 6 open-play goals and 6 assists. Yes, he's not the best at penalties, but you remove penalties from Bruno's stats and it'll be comparable. Also want to point out that Pogba, even when he was the attacking midfielder, was never a forward, which is the position Bruno has now.
Whatever. I think in hindsight, the club seems to have decided to build a team a different way. There was some obvious profiles of players that could have been bought if the plan was for him to continue in his best role, and they haven't been touched. Maybe it was a reaction to him getting booed at the end of that season.
I thought he was the best player in the pitch tonight. Made some incredible passes and was pivotal in two of our three scored. The pass to Martial and them the pirouette past two Sheffield Utd players to start the attack that led to the second goal.
We saw the best and worst from him tonight. He overplays too often and gets caught in possession frequently. Right before our second goal he received three passes. Sheff Utd pressed him three times and on every occasion he lost the ball. He struggles more than most too class players when faced with a coordinated press. But in the fourth pressing opportunity he pirouetted away from his marker and launched our second goal. Something very few players could have done.
It's time to let him go as he's never performed to the level we need and in his view he's never been given the platform to show what he's capable of. He'll always be a what if player for us.
We saw the best and worst from him tonight. He overplays too often and gets caught in possession frequently. Right before our second goal he received three passes. Sheff Utd pressed him three times and on every occasion he lost the ball. He struggles more than most too class players when faced with a coordinated press. But in the fourth pressing opportunity he pirouetted away from his marker and launched our second goal. Something very few players could have done.
It's time to let him go as he's never performed to the level we need and in his view he's never been given the platform to show what he's capable of. He'll always be a what if player for us.
As I said. He was moved. But not to accommodate Lingard or Pereira. Obviously. Those two were moved around to accommodate better players, not the other way round.First point:
2018-19 away vs Newcastle Pogba heatmap
2018-19 0-1 win vs Leicester
2019-20 first game of the season 4-0 vs Chelsea
2019-20 second game of the season, 1-1 vs Wolves
Half-line and beyond in 18/19, half-line and below in 19/20.
Second point: 16 goals and 11 assists in 2018/19, of which 10 goals and 6 assists came between December and April.
And I’m repeating myself again but that 10 goals and 6 assists (in 21 league games) purple patch was still less productive than Bruno’s entire United career to date (and Pogba definitely didn’t surpass him)
Bruno got 8+7 in 14 last season and 7+4 in 12 this season.
We’re going in circles now, so I’ll leave it at that.
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