Pogba & Fernandes in the same midfield

[SlimDizzle075]

People need to chill on Pogba. he not only didnt have a pre-season. he had Covid during the off season. depending on how that effected his respiratory system it may take a bit to get him to match fitness. He will be back where he was at the end of last season in no-time. Pogba and Bruno had no problems playing together last season.

 

[SlimDizzle075]

He looked totally spent when taken off. His eyes just looked blank. He's definitely suffering fatigue at that stage. I totally blame Ole for playing him when he's obviously not fit enough.

unfortunately with NO pre-season, a LOT of matches on the schedule and a lack of depth to our squad, Ole is having to use match minutes to play his squad into fitness. which is why he has pulled him at the hour in both games. I totally blame supporters for being naive about this and not having some patience.

 

[Hammondo]

People need to chill on Pogba. he not only didnt have a pre-season. he had Covid during the off season. depending on how that effected his respiratory system it may take a bit to get him to match fitness. He will be back where he was at the end of last season in no-time. Pogba and Bruno had no problems playing together last season.

That's not good enough.

 

[Murray3007]

never going to work long term, add in we have one of the slowest DMC in the country in matic, can you imagine what leeds might do to this midfield and defence

 

[OrcaFat]

I hope so but i m afraid he would never be a Thiago/Pirlo.

Pirlo was a generational talent in my opinion. A great player but also a great man. If Pogba gets anywhere near him on either count I’ll be surprised, and I realise that would be asking too much; but still, Pogba could improve a lot and turn out to be pretty decent for us.

 

[Mr PG]

Our best midfield in big games will eventually be Fred, Bruno and VDB.

Matic works against bus parking teams amd Pogba is good but against the top teams leaves is defensively exposed. If we want the best out of Pogba we need to massively upgrade our defense and play Pogba upfront.

 

[ClaytonBlackmoorLeftPeg]

Our best midfield in big games will eventually be Fred, Bruno and VDB.

Matic works against bus parking teams amd Pogba is good but against the top teams leaves is defensively exposed. If we want the best out of Pogba we need to massively upgrade our defense and play Pogba upfront.

I don’t believe our best midfield will involve Fred.

 

[Mainoldo]

You see this formation since Pogba has come on. That’s how it works. Now stop playing Pogba number 6.

 

[AneRu]

To hell with width and let's get VDB, Pogba and Bruno on the pitch together with Matic sitting behind them.

I think this is how we are going to play it especially if we don't get Sancho. I'd rather have a midfield four of Matic, Fred, Pogba and Bruno with VDB rotating in and out for Pogba or Bruno. If we use this midfield with Pogba on the left inside channel and Bruno on the right then have Rashford and Martial as the two strikers.

The problem with this would be our fullback options but I think it would be worth it because Pogba and Bruno pushed up will ooze with creativity. Fred provides the energy that enables us to suffocate teams off the ball with Matic sweeping up. If we need more in attack we could bring in VDB for Fred.

 

[kidbob]

I think this is how we are going to play it especially if we don't get Sancho. I'd rather have a midfield four of Matic, Fred, Pogba and Bruno with VDB rotating in and out for Pogba or Bruno. If we use this midfield with Pogba on the left inside channel and Bruno on the right then have Rashford and Martial as the two strikers.

The problem with this would be our fullback options but I think it would be worth it because Pogba and Bruno pushed up will ooze with creativity. Fred provides the energy that enables us to suffocate teams off the ball with Matic sweeping up. If we need more in attack we could bring in VDB for Fred.

Yeah I see your point. On the fullbacks I think this approach could really work if we can get Telles in. He'll at least provide attacking threat and it allows us to put Shaw beside Maguire and have more pace back there. With no Sancho but getting Telles I'd actually like to see:

DDG
Bailly Maguire Shaw
AWB Telles
VDB Pogba
Bruno
Martial Rashford

Bailly and Shaw cover for Maguire's lack of pace and allows us to push higher up the pitch, Maguire has the ability to push into midfield with the ball. Telles can bomb forward, Rashford gets to play closer to goal but most of all VDB, Bruno and Pogba get to play together in the one team. Could be a disaster but I don't think we are losing anything we currently have in trying this.

Edit: I should say that I want us to smother teams with that formation, especially the lesser ones. The idea is that VDB, Pogba and Bruno will all be close to goal when we have possession. Kind of how City find themselves camped in the other teams half when they are at their most effective. The main thing here would be interchangeable movement from the front 5 players and drilling winning the ball back up top ala Liverpool.

 

[AneRu]

Yeah I see your point. On the fullbacks I think this approach could really work if we can get Telles in. He'll at least provide attacking threat and it allows us to put Shaw beside Maguire and have more pace back there. With no Sancho but getting Telles I'd actually like to see:

DDG
Bailly Maguire Shaw
AWB Telles
VDB Pogba
Bruno
Martial Rashford

Bailly and Shaw cover for Maguire's lack of pace and allows us to push higher up the pitch, Maguire has the ability to push into midfield with the ball. Telles can bomb forward, Rashford gets to play closer to goal but most of all VDB, Bruno and Pogba get to play together in the one team. Could be a disaster but I don't think we are losing anything we currently have in trying this.

Edit: I should say that I want us to smother teams with that formation, especially the lesser ones. The idea is that VDB, Pogba and Bruno will all be close to goal when we have possession. Kind of how City find themselves camped in the other teams half when they are at their most effective. The main thing here would be interchangeable movement from the front 5 players and drilling winning the ball back up top ala Liverpool.

I'd like to see that too, I think any formation that allows us to push both Pogba and Bruno up the pitch should be considered. This along with having two strikers will help a lot, I know people say that our strikers dont attack crosses well enough but if Pogba is pushed up he will score a few especially from Telles' crosses.

One thing though, I am not comfortable with playing without a recognized DM even if we are playing 3 at the back but Shaw and Bailly are two proactive defenders so it could work.

 

[Andycoleno9]

It would work much better if we put them in 4141 formation with Matic shielding defence. Yeah it is too open formation but we would be much more dangerous. Our best wins under LVG were in 4141 formation

 

[MattofManchester]

This comparison has probably been made too many times, but Pep took two natural No. 10s in Silva and De Bruyne and sat them deeper in midfield.
Changing Silva into a deeper role would be akin to us changing Mata to sit in central midfield(ignoring his mobility issues). On top of that, to shield them, he adapted Fernandinho from a more box to Box into a Defensive midfield role.
Meanwhile, the defender issues have been well documented.
I didn't say anyone talking about how it couldn't be done then.
And yet all we hear is how Bruno and Pogba can't function together.

It will probably be said that Pep is a better coach, or has a better coaching system, but we have two midfielders more accustomed to playing deeper roles in midfield already.
Which is why it's strange we don't prioritize DM.
With a new, more solid DM, we could probably get a lot more out of this partnership than what we have so far.

 

[JJ12]

Somebody with pace playing DM in the mould of Kante/Partety/Ndidi would really help

 

[FootyGirl88]

I hate 4231 with a passion its such an unbalanced formation.

 

[Mr PG]

Ole is still dealing with nonsensical buys from previous managers that don’t suit our style of play with Fred and Matic being prime examples. Now we need proper defensive midfielder but Fred will never ne that.. as good a player as he is and he would be brilliant in that City team... albeit coming from the bench.

 

[cyril C]

Our best midfield in big games will eventually be Fred, Bruno and VDB.

Matic works against bus parking teams amd Pogba is good but against the top teams leaves is defensively exposed. If we want the best out of Pogba we need to massively upgrade our defense and play Pogba upfront.

You do realise that in big games, we always park the bus and opt for counter-attack. You should also realise that no-one can get the best out of Pogba, except his agent. We just try to get the get deal out of Pogba, period.

 

[pocco]

This comparison has probably been made too many times, but Pep took two natural No. 10s in Silva and De Bruyne and sat them deeper in midfield.
Changing Silva into a deeper role would be akin to us changing Mata to sit in central midfield(ignoring his mobility issues). On top of that, to shield them, he adapted Fernandinho from a more box to Box into a Defensive midfield role.
Meanwhile, the defender issues have been well documented.
I didn't say anyone talking about how it couldn't be done then.
And yet all we hear is how Bruno and Pogba can't function together.

It will probably be said that Pep is a better coach, or has a better coaching system, but we have two midfielders more accustomed to playing deeper roles in midfield already.
Which is why it's strange we don't prioritize DM.
With a new, more solid DM, we could probably get a lot more out of this partnership than what we have so far.

De Bruyne and Silva worked their absolute backsides off out of possession. Pogba doesn't bring that to the table.

 

[pocco]

Ole is still dealing with nonsensical buys from previous managers that don’t suit our style of play with Fred and Matic being prime examples. Now we need proper defensive midfielder but Fred will never ne that.. as good a player as he is and he would be brilliant in that City team... albeit coming from the bench.

Fred was bought to replace Herrera i think, basically playing where Pogba is now/ as an 8, with Pogba further forwards. Signing Bruno drastically changes the dynamic if Pogba is also part of the same midfield. It will never work if we want to be challenging for major honours.

 

[calodo2003]

Just too much duplication between those players to effectively work.

 

[He'sRaldo]

They don't step on each others' toes either in or out of possession, so they can definitely play together.

The issue is the organization needs to be such that the 2 AM's don't do too much defending, and with wingbacks like Shaw and especially AWB I don't see why that can't be the case. Instead of tasking the wingbacks to get forward and provide assists while the CM's cover for them, it's better to utilize each players' strengths by making the wingbacks cover for when Bruno and Pogba are forward providing assists.

Added to that, the time spent out of possession should be as minimal as possible, because even though they have good workrate, Bruno and Pogba will naturally want to be on the ball rather than chasing it the entire match. Which means our pressing needs to be very well structured to reclaim the ball as soon as it's lost and not have our mids constantly dropping back 30 yards to defend.

 

[ayushreddevil9]

I will celebrate the day when we have a manager who wants to play a 433.

I am sick and tired of this double pivot shit.

 

[Bebestation]

I'd love to see AWB and Shaw as inverted fullbacks that aren't allowed to go past the half way line unless there is significant space for them to attack. They can play like proper tacklers guarding a channel each on either side of Matic. Those 3 will guard with width just in front of our Back 2.

5 on our defensive half allows us to have 5 players on the opposition attacking half.

Bruno & Pogba as CAM/CM, VDB as a False 9 and 2 of Martial/Rashford/Greenwood getting in a partnership.

 

[El Zoido]

Doesn’t work and leaves us massively vulnerable in defence.

 

[Regulus Arcturus Black]

It’s typical of a crap coach. Just shoe horning players in and hoping it works.
Ole has no actual system so he can’t pinpoint the type of midfield he should use, so we get this instead.

 

[Bebestation]

Ole Is a poor manager addicted to the 4231.

I said it before but Bruno worked best when Fred & Mctomminay played that role.

Pogba is nothing but a CM who should be playing higher up the pitch and what he did for France is not important because clubs play differently.

 

[led_scholes]

Again we have created an unbalanced team.

We had 5 cms and one of them, Matic, was average bar 2-3 games. Yet we decide to renew his contract and spent money on covering Bruno and Pogba instead of other positions.

 

[bonothom]

Pogba in any United midfield. I really wish they would get rid.

 

[El Jefe]

They're not even in the same midfield. It looked like we were playing 2 up front to me and has done for a while now. Bruno is disconnected from the midfield, he is not a midfielder in this lineup, if anything he plays the role Griezmann did for Atletico and France.

I never thought they would work together but the way Ole is playing them is just laughably bad. It exposes all the weaknesses of the team.