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2020-21 Performances


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McGrathsipan

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Think he's been really good, but Pogba will always divide opinions.
Roy Keane never divided opinions, or Scholes or Beckham etc.
Sure they had the odd off day but in general they were brilliant and everyone could agree on that.
Pogba is a clown. Hes not what he thinks he is.
 

Adam-Utd

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Roy Keane never divided opinions, or Scholes or Beckham etc.
Sure they had the odd off day but in general they were brilliant and everyone could agree on that.
Pogba is a clown. Hes not what he thinks he is.
Yet he always starts for a french NT with 7/8 excellent CMs. I think as much as people go overboard praising him they go overboard criticising him too.

he’s been in bad form but this is the first real period of his career, I’m sure he will recover.
 

Stretender

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I think people view Pogba from the lens of being a 90 million pound player. He is not and never will be. He is a 40 million pound player.

He can do good things on his day, but it is never 90 million pounds good.

I see a poster saying he needs the players. Then it is not the players, it is the formation. Not the players nor formation, then it's the manager. It is not any of those things. It is the fact that he is not a 90 million pound midfielder. Never was.

I still think we should sell anyway. He is too inconsistent and does not want to be here. I dont think he ever wanted to be here, sort of like ADM, just not as bad.
You nailed it man. Top post!
 

Walters_19_MuFc

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Roy Keane never divided opinions, or Scholes or Beckham etc.
Sure they had the odd off day but in general they were brilliant and everyone could agree on that.
Pogba is a clown. Hes not what he thinks he is.
Forget about in general. I'm talking about his performance tonight.

Some people are saying he was average, some people are saying he was good.
 

VivaRonaldo85

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France play him as more of an AM with license to roam and stay forward.

We play him in a deep lying Double pivot where we’re asking more of his defensive work than any attacking qualities he possesses.

like chalk and cheese his international role vs his club role. Who’s right?
 

Pogue Mahone

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Yet he always starts for a french NT with 7/8 excellent CMs. I think as much as people go overboard praising him they go overboard criticising him too.

he’s been in bad form but this is the first real period of his career, I’m sure he will recover.
Who is he keeping out of the French NT who is good enough to start at a club with PL/CL ambitions?
 

FrankDrebin

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France play him as more of an AM with license to roam and stay forward.

We play him in a deep lying Double pivot where we’re asking more of his defensive work than any attacking qualities he possesses.

like chalk and cheese his international role vs his club role. Who’s right?
I mean he literally played that role rather well for France when they won the WC.

Up, down, left, right ,centre, whatever the role he's inconsistent. One good game followed by 2/3 average ones (or worse).

Its just how he is.
 

Foxbatt

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I am sure that he starts for France because he plays for a top club. He was ordinary even against Portugal but it was a boring match too and no one did anything much better.
 

JPRouve

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France play him as more of an AM with license to roam and stay forward.

We play him in a deep lying Double pivot where we’re asking more of his defensive work than any attacking qualities he possesses.

like chalk and cheese his international role vs his club role. Who’s right?
Well he doesn't play as an AM for France, since 2016 he has mainly played alongside Kanté with a lot of defensive responsibilities.
 

MrBest

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He has and does have all the attributes to be a world class midfielder. He plays well when he is happy, he does not look happy with the project at United and so his performances are average for us mostly. I think he also has great games and average games for France but his performances do not dip as low as they do when playing for us. We meed to sell him, what is the point im keeping a player that is disinterested here? I dont think we will ever get more than 100m for him, if we got close to that, sell him. I would happily bring in Jack Grealish for him next summer.
 

Bebestation

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For me, the reason he can play double pivot for France is because :

A) he is playing against National teams, these in my eyes dont undertake the tactics we see in the leagues to the same level. I dont see the pressing as intensily done, the possession as intensily done etc. Sure there maybe one nation who can do it well, but that's usually due to it being played to a higher degree at a club in the first place.

B) he plays alongside the most talented players by both quantity & quality in a single country, this helps his ability to play less tactical football ( as good as the manager for france is, I dont think any clubs would be crying out for his football in their leagues).


The way Pogba plays is like a raging bull in midfield and its absolutely beautiful to watch. :(We saw him above Pirlo & marchiso - it was great to watch much mode than his France performances. We saw it in that one Game against City. Is this because he cant put his foot down or we are making him play deeper and more compact than he is capable of. We are holding a bull back unnecessarily by playing him under the tactics of Jose and Ole that keep him so deep and timely in his approach rather than wild. I'm not his biggest fan, but neither do I think he has been used correctly- far from it.

A 433 with the ability to be free in midfield to get up and down with both him and Bruno would be literally fire. The guy doesnt have the best intelligence to play the most tactical football and the areas/positions he plays require you to have eyes on the back of your head type of footballing ability.
 

UNITED ACADEMY

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For me, the reason he can play double pivot for France is because :

A) he is playing against National teams, these in my eyes dont undertake the tactics we see in the leagues to the same level. I dont see the pressing as intensily done, the possession as intensily done etc. Sure there maybe one nation who can do it well, but that's usually due to it being played to a higher degree at a club in the first place.

B) he plays alongside the most talented players by both quantity & quality in a single country, this helps his ability to play less tactical football ( as good as the manager for france is, I dont think any clubs would be crying out for his football in their leagues).


The way Pogba plays is like a raging bull in midfield and its absolutely beautiful to watch. :(We saw him above Pirlo & marchiso - it was great to watch much mode than his France performances. We saw it in that one Game against City. Is this because he cant put his foot down or we are making him play deeper and more compact than he is capable of. We are holding a bull back unnecessarily by playing him under the tactics of Jose and Ole that keep him so deep and timely in his approach rather than wild. I'm not his biggest fan, but neither do I think he has been used correctly- far from it.

A 433 with the ability to be free in midfield to get up and down with both him and Bruno would be literally fire. The guy doesnt have the best intelligence to play the most tactical football and the areas/positions he plays require you to have eyes on the back of your head type of footballing ability.
To be fair today he didn’t play in double pivot. France played diamond based on the first half I watched.

Pogba in double pivot worked in the World Cup because there is Matuidi to create balance for Kante & Pogba. While we have attacking mind player Greenwood/Rashford in place of Matuidi. Although I always thought Bissaka could create the balance but Bissaka has been shit recently.
 

kouroux

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I think people view Pogba from the lens of being a 90 million pound player. He is not and never will be. He is a 40 million pound player.

He can do good things on his day, but it is never 90 million pounds good.

I see a poster saying he needs the players. Then it is not the players, it is the formation. Not the players nor formation, then it's the manager. It is not any of those things. It is the fact that he is not a 90 million pound midfielder. Never was.

I still think we should sell anyway. He is too inconsistent and does not want to be here. I dont think he ever wanted to be here, sort of like ADM, just not as bad.
I agree with everything except the last paragraph. He really wanted to be here and he really he could be that player to carry us back to the glory days however like you perfectly said, he never was that kinda player and still do this days, many of our fans haven't really grasped it
 

Arka_BleedingRed

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For me, the reason he can play double pivot for France is because :

A) he is playing against National teams, these in my eyes dont undertake the tactics we see in the leagues to the same level. I dont see the pressing as intensily done, the possession as intensily done etc. Sure there maybe one nation who can do it well, but that's usually due to it being played to a higher degree at a club in the first place.

B) he plays alongside the most talented players by both quantity & quality in a single country, this helps his ability to play less tactical football ( as good as the manager for france is, I dont think any clubs would be crying out for his football in their leagues).


The way Pogba plays is like a raging bull in midfield and its absolutely beautiful to watch. :(We saw him above Pirlo & marchiso - it was great to watch much mode than his France performances. We saw it in that one Game against City. Is this because he cant put his foot down or we are making him play deeper and more compact than he is capable of. We are holding a bull back unnecessarily by playing him under the tactics of Jose and Ole that keep him so deep and timely in his approach rather than wild. I'm not his biggest fan, but neither do I think he has been used correctly- far from it.

A 433 with the ability to be free in midfield to get up and down with both him and Bruno would be literally fire. The guy doesnt have the best intelligence to play the most tactical football and the areas/positions he plays require you to have eyes on the back of your head type of footballing ability.
Agree with this. And therein lies our problem. We have no player suitable to play at the base behind a midfield of Pogba and Bruno. Essentially, we have needed a Matic with much more mobility and stamina. And, not a single midfielder in our squad is capable of playing that role. Pogba, Matic and Maguire, Lindelof at the centre in a defensive high line has been a recipe for disaster seen time and time again.
 

Red_toad

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A 433 with the ability to be free in midfield to get up and down with both him and Bruno would be literally fire. The guy doesnt have the best intelligence to play the most tactical football and the areas/positions he plays require you to have eyes on the back of your head type of footballing ability.
So
Matic
Bruno - Pogba is workable in your post?
Do you actually watch football ever?
 

UNITED ACADEMY

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Pogba is a hybrid playmaker and hybrid box to box. When I said hybrid means he has half of the important assets to be playmaker and half to be box to box. He has great passing ability to be top playmaker but he lacks of awareness what’s surround him and he doesn’t dictate. He has great skills, flair, can dribble, physically gifted to be top box to box but he doesn’t have the defensive attribute & work rate.

If we have prime Carrick & also Herrera, that’s the best midfield to suit Pogba. A fully deep playmaker and a fully box to box to compliment what Pogba lacks just like with Pirlo & Vidal. We don’t have Carrick type of midfielder and instead we have the advanced type one like Bruno which imo won’t work to play with Pogba week in week out. Those two can’t play together imo, may be diamond but that’s may be.
 

gregor

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I've watched France:Portugal and noticed that Pogba and Bruno occupy same positions in their teams. They both played most advanced role in midfield.
I think if we want to play them both we need to drop one of the forwards, and I think we all want to play them both because they are two of our most talented players. IMO it was big mistake not to sign defensive midfielder this summer.

With current squad my ideal selection in midfield would be:

McTominay - Fred
Bruno--------------Pogba

I know we loose some attacking width but let say with Telles at LB there will be no issue there and I think Bruno could be very useful with his crosses from right.
 

Vargo Hoat

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Maybe it has been posted before, but I am curious as to whether Manchester Unites has the option to extend Pogba's contract one additional year? I'm pretty sure half of posters in here would be in total meltdown if he was to leave for free next summer, while the other half would just shrug and move on? Thoughts?
 

VivaRonaldo85

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Well he doesn't play as an AM for France, since 2016 he has mainly played alongside Kanté with a lot of defensive responsibilities.
He must have not been following instruction last night as kept seeing him popping up in a no. 10 position just behind the striker
 

AltiUn

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He must have not been following instruction last night as kept seeing him popping up in a no. 10 position just behind the striker
He has license to get forward, he wasn't the attacking mid though, if anything it was Griezemann occupying those spaces last night.
 

JPRouve

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He must have not been following instruction last night as kept seeing him popping up in a no. 10 position just behind the striker
He didn't do that yesterday though. He played in a similar area to Rabiot except that it was on the right side of a flat midfield three, basically a box to box role. You can check it on whoscored if you don't believe me, you will see were he made his passes and touches.
 

dev1l

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Imo the game vs Portugal should do him a lot of good, in terms of fitness as well as performance wise.
 

Adam-Utd

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No surprise that the closer to goal the better he looked. I still think we should be doing that for united, having him closer to our own goal just seems a complete waste of his ability and makes his weaknesses stand out more.
 

sammsky1

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Maybe it has been posted before, but I am curious as to whether Manchester Unites has the option to extend Pogba's contract one additional year? I'm pretty sure half of posters in here would be in total meltdown if he was to leave for free next summer, while the other half would just shrug and move on? Thoughts?
Yes: we have an extra year option which I’m sure will be activated by Woodward soon.
 

Highfather_24

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I think Pogba and Bruno are their best in the same position in a 3 man midfield(furthest forward in a 3 man midfield) so one of them has to go.

Pogba could have stayed if he had played well as a deep lying playmaker, but he hasnt. He is just not suited for that role. So I think we should sell him, and get a natural DLP. Play that player alongside Fred/McT/VdB.
 

Ali Dia

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How are people not getting that Bruno was bought as pogbas replacement. That’s why we held off on Bruno last summer when PP didnt go. Pogba gets injured but we still badly need creativity. Bring in the replacement early. Covid happenes, Pogba decides he actually likes being here for a few weeks for whatever reason, shit goes south and now we are back to square one with Paul and Mino

Drop pogba. Give Bruno and the defence the solid base in midfield they need to thrive and work away. If we were going to continue playing both of the guys we needed to sign a mobile DM beast or a very clever DLP who can beat the press with great passing.... we only have Matic. Pogba at the moment is a total luxury player and he’s making us a worse team when he plays.
 
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Mr PG

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Yes: we have an extra year option which I’m sure will be activated by Woodward soon.
Why pay 250m/week for his kind of output. Will lose all my respect for Ole if he doesn't move him on. Even if we have to take a huge loss on his fee.
 

K_Ash

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We need an upgrade. 4 yrs it just hasn't worked out.
I don't think you were complaining too much when he won that Europa League player of the year. Look at the kind of players that have won it.
2018/19: Eden Hazard
2017/18: Antoine Griezmann
2016/17: Paul Pogba
I don't think you complained too much of his play when he was deployed as a 10 during Ole's caretaker role "Ole's at the wheel".
 

kouroux

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I don't think you were complaining too much when he won that Europa League player of the year. Look at the kind of players that have won it.
2018/19: Eden Hazard
2017/18: Antoine Griezmann
2016/17: Paul Pogba
I don't think you complained too much of his play when he was deployed as a 10 during Ole's caretaker role "Ole's at the wheel".
All of them are struggling big time nowadays. They went downhill since then
 

Highfather_24

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How are people not getting that Bruno was bought as pogbas replacement. That’s why we held off on Bruno last summer when PP didnt go. Pogba gets injured but we still badly need creativity. Bring in the replacement early. Covid happenes, Pogba decides he actually likes being here for a few weeks for whatever reason, shit goes south and now we are back to square one with Paul and Mino

Drop pogba. Give Bruno and the defence the solid base in midfield they need to thrive and work away. If we were going to continue playing both of the guys we needed to sign a mobile DM beast or a very clever DLP who can beat the press with great passing.... we only have Matic. Pogba at the moment is a total luxury player and he’s making us a worse team when he plays.
This.

Bruno and Pogba both played their best football when they had a solid midfield 2 base behind them. Pogba's best football came when he had Herrera & Matic behind him. Bruno's best football came when he had Matic & Fred behind him. Matic needs a mobile workhorse alongside him, and that can be Fred/VdB. So this should be our midfield going forward imo :

---Fred/VdB---Matic/McT
----------Bruno/Pogba

Would that mean our 2 most talented midfield players wont play together most of the time? yes. But our midfield and team would be more balanced.
 

Bestietom

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We need to find our best midfield 3 quickly. I would play VdB instead of Pogba and probably Fred instead of Matic.
 

JPRouve

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I am sure that he starts for France because he plays for a top club. He was ordinary even against Portugal but it was a boring match too and no one did anything much better.
He started for France because he has been good for France and Deschamps rewards that type of things. His goal has always been to create a team, with a team spirit, not just a selection of players.
 

romufc

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If we have prime Carrick & also Herrera, that’s the best midfield to suit Pogba. A fully deep playmaker and a fully box to box to compliment what Pogba lacks just like with Pirlo & Vidal. We don’t have Carrick type of midfielder and instead we have the advanced type one like Bruno which imo won’t work to play with Pogba week in week out. Those two can’t play together imo, may be diamond but that’s may be.
Matic is a Carrick type player though. Fred is a Herrera type player as well. So clearly the issue is with Pogba rather than the team.

Also, Pogba plays with a Bruno type player in Griezman for France though.
 
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