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2021-22 Performances


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laughtersassassin

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Some mentioned it after the Leeds game where he made like 4 great chances which were all taken and that led to 4 assists and that was seen as a great game, but in another day those chances get wasted and it won’t get talked about again.

The second half was one of those performances. About 3 genuinely goalscoring chances were made from his passes
Exactly. Second half he was great and probably deserved an assist
 

MetoTTT

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It wasn't your normal double pivot in a 4-2-3-1. It was

Sancho - Bruno - Greenwood - James
------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------
------------------- Fred -------- Pogba ------------
Shaw -------- Maguire -- Varane ----- AWB
Sure it was. The famous Ole's "back 6".
 

Schmeichel's Cartwheel

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Got away with that foul. Could have been a red and should have been a yellow at the least.

Our best player on the ball. The amount of times we played out of a press or got the ball into a free player due to his composure on the ball was instrumental. It wasn't due to amazing team movement or tactics, it was due to him holding onto the ball for an extra 0.5 seconds and then switching it. We live dangerously because as we also saw, he can sometimes dally on it too much and we lose the ball in open space. That's down to Ole as much as Pogba.

Other than than, he tried but as we know not great off the ball or defensively.



Yes we're essentially 4-2-4 when Bruno is so far ahead.
:lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:

Wasn’t even a foul mate.
 

E-mal

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[QUOTE="criticalanalysis, post: 27706704, member: 95602"

Yes we're essentially 4-2-4 when Bruno is so far ahead.
[/QUOTE]
Bruno is part of the midfield problem we have, he essentially plays higher than our centre forward, isolated the other two sitting midfielders, hence we are outnumbered.
He needs to be told to play deeper and get on the ball more.
 

The United

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Exactly this, no midfield can look good in a 424 formation. The gaps were too large and options were limited to having to play the ball over the top.
No midfield of 2 would not look good or it is just Pogba in it who does not work or suit to that?

I mean seriously. SAF used to play like that for decades.

Like I said, the forward line not being able to use the ball properly did not help at all.
 

pratyush_utd

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First half he was meh but was good second half. Overall bit underwhelming performance.
 

laughtersassassin

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Fred is the common denominator that has underperformed for the last 2 games.

Pogba was the better of the two by far today in the end.
 

villain

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I love the guy but why is he giving his kit to a Wolves fan who probably booed him for 90 minutes?
The away fans were probably ushered out first, and he maybe didn't get an opportunity to do so?
It's still a nice gesture either way.
 

chris123

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I must be mad but I think he proved today he is very capable of playing in the double pivot in this system.... just not next to Fred. McTominay-Pogba was solid in the Europa league final, ideally you would put a holding midfielder next to him, but I think he can do it.
 

The United

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It wasn't your normal double pivot in a 4-2-3-1. It was

Sancho - Bruno - Greenwood - James
------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------
------------------- Fred -------- Pogba ------------
Shaw -------- Maguire -- Varane ----- AWB
In a way, we probably knew before and in the game that they would have their midfield pressing high.

To counter that and use it as advantage, we would bypass that by playing the forward line high with Pogba's passing from deep to break their line. In theory, it is a good one.

But, in reality, the forward line was meh, Fred being shit, Pogba seemed disinterested in first half made us look worse than it was. They fixed it in the 2nd half by playing Pogba a bit further ahead, Bruno a bit deeper and changing both wide forwards. It got a bit better.
 
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Classical Mechanic

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To be fair to Pogba Ole said that we intended to take the game to Wolves initially which was an absolute disaster with Pogba and Fred in midfield as we were completely exposed by Traore on the counter. It wasa tactical error. As always when he plays in midfield you get the good attacking stuff and the weak defensive stuff
 

JPRouve

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I love the guy but why is he giving his kit to a Wolves fan who probably booed him for 90 minutes?
Because that's how you steal fans from other clubs. ;)
 

harms

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No midfield of 2 would not look good or it is just Pogba in it who does not work or suit to that?

I mean seriously. SAF used to play like that for decades.
No. Fergie never played with such suicidal tactics, it was something straight from the 1950's. You'd need at least Bryan Robson for that midfield to stand any fighting chance.
 

JPRouve

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No. Fergie never played with such suicidal tactics, it was something straight from the 1950's. You'd need at least Bryan Robson for that midfield to stand any fighting chance.
It was exactly my thought a 424 from the 50s. It's absolutely reckless.
 

The United

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No. Fergie never played with such suicidal tactics, it was something straight from the 1950's. You'd need at least Bryan Robson for that midfield to stand any fighting chance.
Read my reply to your post.
 

Schmeichel's Cartwheel

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No midfield of 2 would not look good or it is just Pogba in it who does not work or suit to that?

I mean seriously. SAF used to play like that for decades.

Like I said, the forward line not being able to use the ball properly did not help at all.
What are you talking about? No he didn’t. Fergie played 442 & later 433. That was a suicidal 424.
 

berbatrick

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Does anybody do all-touches videos on twitter or youtube? Think his will look spectacular today, despite an average overall performance - apart from the creative passes, he also played around the press well a few times.
 

The United

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What are you talking about? No he didn’t. Fergie played 442 & later 433. That was a suicidal 424.
I am talking about playing with only 2 midfielders. Some of you are being too obsessed with the midfield of 3. It is like if any team plays with 2, it is automatically outdated or lost control of midfield etc.

SAF even played with only 2 against Barca for many games. I mean..

And, we don't have enough combative midfielders right now for theirs pressing so high. So, it makes perfect sense to drop the midfield 2 a bit further behind to spread the ball from deep. Like I said, the execution was shite which the front 6 including Pogba was responsible for in the first half. Now, I am not saying it is the only way to play. I am looking from the possible tactical view that the team set up for this game.
 
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Poborsky's hair

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Fred is the common denominator that has underperformed for the last 2 games.

Pogba was the better of the two by far today in the end.
They were equally poor in the first half and equally decent in the second, everyone good at their things, it's just the intensity which caught them by surprise from the beginning of the game, Fred has made some mistakes so was seen much more as a culprit but Pogba got bypassed like grandpa Matic absolutely out of the game. The game like this cannot be played with 1 midfielder.


Still the two should start in games with less pressing teams but then I would prefer Pogba as a LAM for sure, it's just that VDB is not good enough deep either and provides zero passing ability t go forward what Pogba does and McT is out, Matic, still lucky to be in our club. This situation is not good and Pogba willget a lot of stick but he's played out of position because we have no other choice. I'd even go with a diamond. Sancho had a very slow start too, should earn his spot and Pogba should play a bit further there instead of him.
 

laughtersassassin

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They were equally poor in the first half and equally decent in the second, everyone good at their things, it's just the intensity which caught them by surprise from the beginning of the game, Fred has made some mistakes so was seen much more as a culprit but Pogba got bypassed like grandpa Matic absolutely out of the game. The game like this cannot be played with 1 midfielder.


Still the two should start in games with less pressing teams but then I would prefer Pogba as a LAM for sure, it's just that VDB is not good enough deep either and provides zero passing ability t go forward what Pogba does and McT is out, Matic, still lucky to be in our club. This situation is not good and Pogba willget a lot of stick but he's played out of position because we have no other choice. I'd even go with a diamond. Sancho had a very slow start either, should earn his spot and Pogba should play a bit further there instead of him.
Pogba was much better in the second. Made some of our only chances.

Fred is also played cause we have no other choice. Man is shocking.

If we talk about consistency for Pogba so much it should be highlighted that he is more consistent than Fred. Fred is the definition of erratic.

Like in my book Fred has had one good half this season. The second half versus Leeds. Other than that he has been between average and absolutely terrible.

Anyway in both today's game and against Sotuhampton if we are struggling that bad in midfield then Bruno should probably be told to come help out as if we don't have the ball him being so far forward is useless anyway.
 

MadMike

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Poor, very casual first half. Much better second half. Played some lovely forward balls after the first 55 mins.
 

JPRouve

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I am talking about playing with only 2 midfielders. Some of you are being too obsessed with the midfield of 3. It is like if any team plays with 2, it is automatically outdated or lost control of midfield etc.

SAF even played with only 2 against Barca for many games. I mean..
There is a difference between a 442/4411 and a 424, SAF used the former for almost the entirety of two decades and generally with players like Beckham, Park or the older version of Giggs. Beckham and Giggs would routinely play as wide CMs more than winger while Park was doing what only he can do. When he didn't had the appropriate wide players he would play a diamond or a 433.
 

jamesjimmybyrondean

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It's annoying to see him play in the double pivot. It's very obvious his best position is left midfield. But we can't play him there all the time because we have to give Rashford and Sancho game time
 

harms

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I am talking about playing with only 2 midfielders. Some of you are being too obsessed with the midfield of 3. It is like if any team plays with 2, it is automatically outdated or lost control of midfield etc.

SAF even played with only 2 against Barca for many games. I mean..
2 midfielders on their own, like today, and 2 midfielders in SAF's 4-man midfield in 4-4-2 are not the same roles. Fergie never left them for dead like that.
 

Valencia's Left Foot

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Pogba really struggles against the press. He needs more time to do his magic.
 

roonster09

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He lacks the defensive positional sense to play in midfield 2, that and also ability to always move to receive passes.

Many a times Fred was competing for 50-50s against 2-3 Wolves player.

Later in second half he grew into the game and did well. It was mixed game with few very good passes, loose possession losses.
 

The United

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There is a difference between a 442/4411 and a 424, SAF used the former for almost the entirety of two decades and generally with players like Beckham, Park or the older version of Giggs. Beckham and Giggs would routinely play as wide CMs more than winger while Park was doing what only he can do. When he didn't had the appropriate wide players he would play a diamond or a 433.
Again, SAF still played with 2 pure CMs in the middle. Does not matter if it is 1950 or 2100. It should have been enough with the quality we have to not be this messy like we saw in the first half. And, we put James to do the 'park role' as well. He was not staying up front all the time to cover their left wing.

Yes, there were tactical issues all over and executing them badly. But, my point is that the individual two midfielders could have done much better in first half.

Saying it was because of the 2 man midfield would let their individual shit performances get away too easily.
 
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The United

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2 midfielders on their own, like today, and 2 midfielders in SAF's 4-man midfield in 4-4-2 are not the same roles. Fergie never left them for dead like that.
Ole didn't leave them dead like that either. Pogba was disinterested in the first half. Fred was being bad in first half as usual.

Those individual performances ( and others of course) played bigger part in our absolutely shite display in the first half than the supposed 2 midfield formation. And, like I said, we do NOT have combative midfielder to counter their aggressive one. So, we thought we played the way we thought we could.

Didn't happen.
 

Devil may care

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Terrible on and off the ball in the first half, better on the ball in the second but he's not suited to a midfield 2, I don't care who he partners.
 

JPRouve

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Again. SAF still plays with 2 pure CMs in the middle. Does not matter if it is 1950 or 2100. It should have been enough with the quality we have to not be this messy.

Yes, there were tactical issue all over and executing badly. But, my point is that the individual two midfielders could have done much better in first half. The formation just didn't make them play as bad as they did in the first half.
First we were bad in both half, we simply scored a goal in the second half on a strange chance while Wolves missed big chances. And the point about 1950s is the use of a literal 424, notably by the Brazil national team, it wasn't a 442, that formation is almost defunct in today's game, Zdenek Zeman used to use it.

The tactical difference is fairly simple, a 442 uses wide midfielders while a 424 uses wide forwards. These sets of players primarily play in a different third of the pitch which has for main consequence that the CMs have to cover the entire width of the pitch, that's something that you rarely saw under SAF.
 
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