Pogba is not a left winger

noodlehair

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Not sure why this needa thread to point out but apparently this compltely obvious fact isn't completely obvious enough for our own manager. So, here are some reasons

a) Pogba is not a left winger
b) Oppositon teams when he plays there just attack freely down that side for the entire game, often creating multiple chances as a direct result and scoring multiple times. e.g. Liverpool, right now.
c) Pogba is not a winger, he doesn't know how to play as one. He doesn't score often enough to play in a front three. I mean, he just isn't a winger. It's like saying that a circle isn't a square. It's impossible to break it down anymore simply because it is as obvious as it can possibly be already.

Here's some other things.
a) Rashford is a left winger
b) Rashford has 20 goals this season, as a left winger, making him our top scorer from open play and one of the most prolific left sided attacking players in Europe.
c) No other team, in the world, would sacrifice their most dangerous attacking player, in order to play a midfielder out of position, score less goals, and let the oppositon team score more often.
d) Scoring less and conceding more is not an effective way to win games.

I'm sorry but Ole undermines all the good work he does with shite like this. You may as well stick Shaw in goal and then persist with it all season and act like there's no connection between that and conceding goals due to goalkeeping errors. This is basic fecking common sense level stuff. If you HAVE to play Pogba, play him in his position, or in a position that you don't have someone better to play in. You wouldn't play him instead of Maguir because he'd be a worse centreback than Maguire is, so don't fecking play him instead of Rashford, in Rashford's position. Or at the very fecking least don't then shove Rashford into Greenwood's position instead of just playing Greenwood, just to play Pogba.
 
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Renegade

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Left side of 4 3 3. His always been this and we’ve never utilised it consistently during his whole time here.

If he can’t be trusted as a CM, he simply needs to go.
He’ll have good games at LW here and there because his super talented but it’s not natural and simply a short term fix.
 

acnumber9

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We play Pogba on the left because our manager refuses to not pick Fred and McTominay every game and we need more than one player who can pass the ball.
 

Castia

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We need a quality DM and he needs to play in midfield along side him. Rashford on the left.
 

pascell

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He's a defensive liability, get a better DM next to him we'll still be overrun in midfield. It's Pogba or Bruno, no Pogba in DM, midfield 3 or LW, simple as that.
 

DWelbz19

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*has his first poor game since returning from injury*
 

marktan

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If we win Pogba = good

If we lose Pogba = bad

Sums up Caf's opinion on Pogba these last 3 years
 

Valencia's Left Foot

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Sell him. Not because I think he’s a bad player, but he’s just so damn hard to fit in a lineup. I would prefer to have CM who has a bit more versatility in regard to formation. He’s not good enough to dictate formations that don’t fit with the rest of the squad.
 

Red Devil 26

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In games where we have more of the ball and teams sit deeper, he's very good on the left IMO. In those situations he gives us that extra bit of creativity and ability in tight spaces to sustain attacks. However, when teams press us high up the pitch, our midfield isn't good enough to play through it and then you need that out ball out wide which he doesn't provide.

Ultimately think it's horses for courses atm.
 

Bebestation

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I like Pogba but the LW version of him is clearly what Grealish was for.
 

bosnian_red

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Hes class at LW. But he has struggled in big games since day 1 at United and was invisible today.
 

finneh

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We play Pogba on the left because our manager refuses to not pick Fred and McTominay every game and we need more than one player who can pass the ball.
We play Pogba on the left because he's a defensive liability in central midfield and it's far easier to bench a 19 year old Greenwood than a £15m per annum, £89m Pogba.
 

acnumber9

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We play Pogba on the left because he's a defensive liability in central midfield and it's far easier to bench a 19 year old Greenwood than a £15m per annum, £89m Pogba.
We don’t bench Pogba because we need his passing. Us winning games again correlated with his return. After a run of shit form that correlated with him being injured.
 

Addled

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He started brightly tonight. Looked willing to get involved both defensively and offensively. Then he seemed to lose interest. He drifted around the pitch winning and losing challenges. The ones he won were never quick enough to get anything from and the ones he lost seemed to be calamitous. For a big man he goes to ground very easily which is really unforgivable. Decision time has arrived. Its time to wave Paul goodbye, wish him well for his future and hope that he plays exactly the same way against us whenever we cross paths in the future. He is a fine player but does not commit himself to the cause.
So long and thanks for all the fish.
 

Random Task

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This thread is about as knee-jerk as it gets.

Pogba has been excellent on the left flank. This was his first under par performance in the role.
 

Hugh Jass

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We have to play Rashford on the left. We simply have to. Play Pogba in MF. Even though he gets overrun. But Rashford has to play on the left.
 

Glorio

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Against packed defences who will sit deep - yes
Against teams that will come at us and leave spaces behind - play Rashford
 

Judas

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Totally left the game once he was moved into midfield. He's been great on LW and its where he can easily play the majority of his games for us. It's getting the best out of him.
 

jesperjaap

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We need a quality DM and he needs to play in midfield along side him. Rashford on the left.
Really dont get these kind of comments. He has had several partners in midfield in his time here. Matic, Herrera, Fellaini, Fred, McTominay......of course whether any of them are good enough is another story, but what has Pogba done consistantly whatsoever to have people talking of him playing there. I have more fingers then he has had great games playing there for us in five years. He can be sloppy in wrong areas of the field to such an extent he is a liability there
 

Holocene

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He's been great on the left recently. One poor game doesn't diminish that.
 

Borys

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I like him as a midfielder when there is no pressure on midfield and not really much to do defensively.

He doesn't work in a midfield two very well, but his passing ability gets him a place there.
 

NZT-One

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Just because a player starts at a certain position on the pitch, doesn't mean he has to play it the traditional role. Pogba in the last weeks started on the left to drift in to combine with Bruno, Shaw and Cavani. He wasn't hugging the touchline. He played in the middle of the park later in todays game and it was just as shit as before. Liverpool were prepared and set up to disrupt our usual play. And it worked a treat. The conclusion that Pogba just "needs a great partner" to then dominate midfields is simply false.
 

tjb

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Pogba>Rashford.
Rashford's inabilities on the right shouldn't change how we play.
Now people ant to act like Pogba, who was tracking back, trying to create was bad today, when our defeat was caused by missing Maguire ( exposing how por Lindelof actually is) and midfield( exposing mctominay again).

What seems to happen here is that people tend to blame our most responsible players. Lindelof is poor and has been poor, yet Maguire cops the blame.
 

dal

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As I’ve said somewhere else if we need to play him then play him on the RIGHT!

If not then put him on the bench.

Rashford is just better than him on the left, it’s not even an argument.

He is a player that is a great footballer whose obviously best in a 4-3-3 but it imbalances our team.

In all honesty i think I’d be happy with this if Cavani doesn’t play.

———————Pogba———————-
Rashford —Bruno——Greenwood

Actually think he’s be very good as a false nine particularly his hold up play.
 

Adam-Utd

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he can do a good job when we have possession but today with it being so stretched should have been rashford on the left
 

el3mel

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It's a big tactical headache to be honest. It seems the only possible way is to switch to 4-3-3 with Pogba and Bruno as both number 8 on left and right respectively, but at the same, Ole doesn't seem to trust only one of Scott and Fred to protect the defense on his own.

We need a good DMF in summer otherwise this headache will keep going on.
 

PieCrust

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His best position is and always has been on the left side in a 433. But we can't fit both Bruno and Pogba in that setup, so playing him out of position on the left wing is the only way as he also cannot play well in a double pivot.
 

Champagne Football

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Pogba plays well when the team is dominating opposition. When we are getting dominated, he goes into his shell.

I think he was piss poor tonight due to coming up against quality opposition. But in games where we dominate possession and chances, he's often our best player.

Pogba would have got murdered in central midfield had he been playing there from the start. Out on the left is exactly where he needed to be for this game.
 

cyberman

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He is when we are playing well. No need to rip everything up because of 1 game. Its just confirmation bias coming though
 

Berbasbullet

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It's a big tactical headache to be honest. It seems the only possible way is to switch to 4-3-3 with Pogba and Bruno as both number 8 on left and right respectively, but at the same, Ole doesn't seem to trust only one of Scott and Fred to protect the defense on his own.

We need a good DMF in summer otherwise this headache will keep going on.
I honestly don’t think there is a DM who could sit behind Pogba and Bruno and mop up and not get overrun.
 

el3mel

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I honestly don’t think there is a DM who could sit behind Pogba and Bruno and mop up and not get overrun.
Then we'll ultimately need to sacrifice one of them, and it'll be Pogba as Bruno is so important for Ole. Pogba isn't a winger no matter how much he tries. He can play some good games there but he'll never be a winger long term. He's an attacking midfielder through and through.

Pretty big headache for us to be able to play both in a balanced formation and in their positions while also not having to play with both Scott and Fred together.