Should we consider selling Pogba?

Godfather

Full Member
Joined
Feb 18, 2007
Messages
29,803
Location
Austria
Sure let's sell our best players whilst holding on to a bench that wouldn't look out of place in the Championship
 

Godfather

Full Member
Joined
Feb 18, 2007
Messages
29,803
Location
Austria
He's the least of our worries, so no.
This.
Strange timing for that thread by the way. Completely dominated the midfield in the second half and created lots of openings. Had a very good game.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

ivaldo

Mediocre Horse Whisperer, s'up wid chew?
Joined
Nov 15, 2012
Messages
28,699
Strange time to post this off the back of a good game where we largely dominated Sevilla's midfield, to the point where they reverted to long balls midway through the second half.
 

CG1010

Full Member
Joined
Dec 7, 2012
Messages
3,687
Obviously we should not sell Pogba, but we shouldn't give him a big raise. He isn't good enough to get 400-500k per week.
 

Volumiza

The alright "V", B-Boy cypher cat
Joined
Jul 13, 2018
Messages
13,510
Location
Somewhere in the middle
I’m no Pogba fan really, he’s a good player but not as great as some think. If he ends up signing a new contract we should be happy though, he is quality.

I think it helps when he’s not the star of the show and he can become less essential. It probably goes against what some want (him being the central focus of everything), but that seems to allow him to just get on with his game and I much prefer what we’re seeing now, good and steady no nonsense performances each week, some of his passing is awesome.
 

Nou_Camp99

what would Souness do?
Joined
Apr 1, 2013
Messages
10,274
No. One of if not our best player, with no one capable right now of paying anywhere near what he's worth anyway.
He's very far from being our best player. Bruno has done more in 5 months than he's done in 4 years. He is still technically one of our better players though I will give you that. However he's not got much competition in fairness. Other than Bruno, Martial, Greenwood and Rashford (pre back injury) there's not a great deal of quality at the club at all.
 

red woppit

Full Member
Joined
Sep 21, 2017
Messages
2,229
Location
Buchebi
Supports
Northampton Town
I'm not sure any club would splash the cash on him right now, we would want around £100 million for him I would think. His performance last night was a bit of a curate's egg, some good ball winning, some terrific passes, some great skills in beating an opponent, littered with trying to take on too many and losing the ball, some misplaced passes as well. Overall I thought he played quite well, but if an offer for £100 million came in, I would take it. It will be interesting to see what United do if he doesn't sign a new contract.
 

Nou_Camp99

what would Souness do?
Joined
Apr 1, 2013
Messages
10,274
Pogba was sensational last night.
So feck no.
Sensational? Hahahahahaha

He was awful first half. Yes he played pretty well for 25 to 30 mins in second half but if you think that was sensational then you clearly never saw Scholes play.
 

Eddy_JukeZ

Full Member
Joined
Aug 21, 2012
Messages
16,977
I don't think so.

We probably wouldn't get good value for him and I wouldn't trust our board to adequately replace him.
 

TrustInJanuzaj

'Liverpool are a proper club'
Joined
Mar 26, 2015
Messages
10,663
I love him as a player and I’ll be gutted to see him go, however, he’s clearly not going to fit into that deeper midfield role and Fernandes is more effective than him higher up the pitch. That leaves us in a situation where a lesser player could bring better balance to the team defensively and as long as they are decent on the ball we won’t lose as much as I initially thought. Pogba just doesn’t really fit this team at the moment, perhaps Ole can find a resolution!
 

Fracture90

Full Member
Joined
Sep 15, 2016
Messages
10,360
Location
Serbia
You can't help but feel that we need more from him in the center of mid. Of late, there were no penetrating runs, no dashes in the box, not enough quality long range shooting[/B] and hardly any key passes. Unfortunately, he also has that Fred like quality of losing the ball in pivotal areas. Overall, it doesn't seem like he is ever dominating a game like players in his position and quality should.
There you can very well attribute to his game being more mature, his better risk/reward assessment.
 

Zen86

Full Member
Joined
Jul 1, 2007
Messages
13,871
Location
Sunny Manc
My eyes are perfectly fine. Glad you're not making any decisions at the club with your brilliant "there are better options for us out there" logic.
I’d rather glad you and your hissy fits aren’t making decisions either ;)
 

Fracture90

Full Member
Joined
Sep 15, 2016
Messages
10,360
Location
Serbia
When you have an asset like Pogba, you should be looking for a way to utilize his skills in a best way possible, instead of looking to offload him. Players of his quality and ability are hard to replace.

Look at this situation where he plays as in a double DM pivot the same way we're looking at Greenwood playing on the right wing. Can he do the job playing in a double DM pivot? Yes he can, we've seen it with France, but it is not his natural position and outside of those Cup competitions he shouldn't be playing in that position for a prolonged period of time.

Same goes for Greenwood on the right wing. Can he chip in and do a job there? Yes. Can you see him playing in that position for an extended period of time knowing it's not his best position? Same goes for Martial on the left. He can do a decent job there, but in the longer run #9 is much more suitable for him.

We should be looking for a mobile, defensive minded DM that is used to playing as a solo DMF, but can pick a decent pass and run with the ball, someone like Casemiro for example. That would enable us to deploy Pogba in what historically has been his best position, playing on the left in a MF trio.

Ole's idea of molding MCT in a player of the similar ilk to what i mentioned is quite frankly, mind boggling. Other than the hassle, he isn't displaying any of the qualities necessary to play in that position successfully and he'll be 24 in a few months from now.

Think his red-glasses are affecting his judgement a bit too much and his persistence with some academy players in certain positions is more due to him wanting them to succeed there rather than then having the required quality to play there.
 

The Red Thinker

Full Member
Joined
Jul 28, 2010
Messages
4,149
Location
Knowhere
Ridiculous thread. You're better than that Pocco.

Clearly he is an integral piece to the puzzle. What we need is an elite Matic 2.0 player. Someone who can play between the lines and allow Pogba to move forward more. That's plain as day to me.
 

pocco

loco
Joined
Mar 17, 2010
Messages
22,095
Location
Keep a clean shit tomorrow, United is my final bus
Pogba worked his socks off when we had that run in after Mou was sacked.
Over a year ago? Standards are in the gutter these days.

We play that in every game.
We do have 3 midfielders on the pitch, you are right. But I want a discussion on the balance and the roles of players, in particular Pogba. I'm scratching beneath the surface because, from what I can see, our midfield hasn't got the right balance. In particular, I feel that Pogba isn't suited to the role he's playing and that is evident by the tendency of teams to target our right hand side now.

When you have an asset like Pogba, you should be looking for a way to utilize his skills in a best way possible, instead of looking to offload him. Players of his quality and ability are hard to replace.

Look at this situation where he plays as in a double DM pivot the same way we're looking at Greenwood playing on the right wing. Can he do the job playing in a double DM pivot? Yes he can, we've seen it with France, but it is not his natural position and outside of those Cup competitions he shouldn't be playing in that position for a prolonged period of time.

Same goes for Greenwood on the right wing. Can he chip in and do a job there? Yes. Can you see him playing in that position for an extended period of time knowing it's not his best position? Same goes for Martial on the left. He can do a decent job there, but in the longer run #9 is much more suitable for him.

We should be looking for a mobile, defensive minded DM that is used to playing as a solo DMF, but can pick a decent pass and run with the ball, someone like Casemiro for example. That would enable us to deploy Pogba in what historically has been his best position, playing on the left in a MF trio.

Ole's idea of molding MCT in a player of the similar ilk to what i mentioned is quite frankly, mind boggling. Other than the hassle, he isn't displaying any of the qualities necessary to play in that position successfully and he'll be 24 in a few months from now.

Think his red-glasses are affecting his judgement a bit too much and his persistence with some academy players in certain positions is more due to him wanting them to succeed there rather than then having the required quality to play there.
Thanks for understanding what I'm saying as opposed to the some of the other replies. I admit that if we changed the system and brought in a DM that could cover huge areas, then we may just get away with Pogba & Bruno in midfield. Finding that player will be hard, though.

If you were to build our midfield from scratch with Bruno at the top, you'd never choose Pogba in that midfield behind him. Ideally you want somebody that can do the nitty gritty stuff alongside a DM, but can also play football to a high level. Somebody like Modric, for example. Pogba just doesn't have the workrate or defensive nous to be tasked with covering gaps around him, he should be the player in Bruno's position but Bruno has completely smashed it there and produced more than Pogba ever has for us in that position.


Pogba is the epitome of a square peg in a round hole for us right now.
 

izak

Full Member
Joined
Mar 17, 2016
Messages
1,353
Supports
Glory Glory Red Devils
Why can't we play a 4 1 2 3 formation?
Playing either one of Matic or Fred as the 1 while Pogba plays from the left of our midfield and Bruno plays from the right.. this would allow us to have a three man wide flat midfield when defending but would still have both Pogba and Bruno as Attacking midfielders when we are playing on the front foot!!
 

Pav1878

Full Member
Joined
Apr 23, 2014
Messages
1,121
Thought Pogba was brilliant yesterday, both going forwards and defending.

Shame it didn't end with a win but very good performance.

Whether we need to add another midfielder next to him and Bruno is a different matter though.
 

pocco

loco
Joined
Mar 17, 2010
Messages
22,095
Location
Keep a clean shit tomorrow, United is my final bus
Ridiculous thread. You're better than that Pocco.

Clearly he is an integral piece to the puzzle. What we need is an elite Matic 2.0 player. Someone who can play between the lines and allow Pogba to move forward more. That's plain as day to me.
Thanks, I guess !:lol: In hindsight I should have took a different angle instead of such an inflammatory title, but the discussion I want is still the same.

But I really believe this will be widely recognised soon, which it clearly isn't now. The way we are playing with our wide players not defending, two midfielders absolutely have to cover the wide areas. Teams have spotted this and are exploiting it, we should be able to see it too. Bruno won't be one to defend because he plays so high up, so it will ultimately be down to Pogba and another to assist our fullbacks. I don't think there is a single midfielder that we can sign to replace Matic, that can cover the width of the pitch and allow Pogba the freedom he wants. Especially now teams use fullbacks to provide width and outnumber isolated fullbacks.
 

Fracture90

Full Member
Joined
Sep 15, 2016
Messages
10,360
Location
Serbia
Thanks for understanding what I'm saying as opposed to the some of the other replies. I admit that if we changed the system and brought in a DM that could cover huge areas, then we may just get away with Pogba & Bruno in midfield. Finding that player will be hard, though.

If you were to build our midfield from scratch with Bruno at the top, you'd never choose Pogba in that midfield behind him. Ideally you want somebody that can do the nitty gritty stuff alongside a DM, but can also play football to a high level. Somebody like Modric, for example. Pogba just doesn't have the workrate or defensive nous to be tasked with covering gaps around him, he should be the player in Bruno's position but Bruno has completely smashed it there and produced more than Pogba ever has for us in that position.


Pogba is the epitome of a square peg in a round hole for us right now.
Good thing is, that solution is there, the question is whether Old and his team can identify the right way to to about it.

In a MF 3, we'll have a dedicated defensive specialist whom will also be helped by Pogba and Bruno's defensive contribution. Don't think Pogba was ever going to be a workhorse type of MF player, he simply isn't built for that.
 
Joined
Nov 11, 2015
Messages
2,596
Location
Whalley Range
Too many fans have no clue about the nuances of the game and only understand players who leg it around all game and 'put a shift in'.

Typical mentality of many fans of english football. And why technically gift players often get criminally undervalued in english football.

There's a lot of subtly going on in Pogba's game and he's bloody brilliant.
 

NinjaFletch

Full Member
Joined
Sep 30, 2009
Messages
19,818
I really don't see why anyone has any faith we're ever going to get more out of Pogba than we have so far. He's been here ages now and we're still having the same discussions.

Personally, if a club came in with big money for him I'd be happy to see him go.

That said, the timing of this thread is weird as he played well last night.
 
Last edited:

Eleven-Eighteen

Full Member
Joined
Apr 10, 2015
Messages
845
I think his best position is on the left in a mid of more advanced role, let's say a pushed up number 8.
Also, he's very good at going into the box and shooting from range, something he can't really do as a DM.
How many shots has he taken in the last couple months? Feels like every time there's an opening for a shot he instead holds and tries to pass
 

Escobar

Shameless Musketeer
Joined
Jun 8, 2004
Messages
30,063
Location
La-La-Land
Has he ever dominated a game for us? Just once? I struggle to remember ever thining "yeah, Pogba totally ran that game".
He’s not that type of player though. However, he can be a top top player in his own regards, question is how can he do that more consistently
 

Pretzels81

Not Salty…
Newbie
Joined
Jun 23, 2020
Messages
1,766
Even Zidane surely has realized by now that Pogba is done.

In fact, Deschamps should start working on a France NT rebuild; players like Lloris, Umtiti, Varane, Pogba, Giroud, Griezmann are yesterday's news.
 

romufc

Full Member
Joined
Apr 30, 2019
Messages
12,553
Too many fans have no clue about the nuances of the game and only understand players who leg it around all game and 'put a shift in'.

Typical mentality of many fans of english football. And why technically gift players often get criminally undervalued in english football.

There's a lot of subtly going on in Pogba's game and he's bloody brilliant.
Its a joke what some of the comments on here are.

Pogba is brilliant, he was fantastic yesterday in the midfield, goes about his work without notice. Fans want him to do what? Score, assist, defend all at once?
 

Lentwood

Full Member
Joined
Jan 2, 2015
Messages
6,783
Location
West Didsbury, Manchester
It’s a difficult one. I go full circle on Pogba on a regular basis. Clearly has some real qualities but I’m not sure his good points outweigh his bad points at times...

In general, I don’t think our shape is great with Pogba and Fernandes together in a 3-man midfield. Part of me thinks a more functional player next to Fred/Matic with Sancho/Martial/Mason/Rashford in a front-three is the way to go

Ideally we would keep Pogba and rotate with Bruno in big games/play them together in games we are likely to dominate - but are we in a position of such luxury right now? Arguably not.
 

cyberman

Full Member
Joined
May 26, 2010
Messages
37,331
Sensational? Hahahahahaha

He was awful first half. Yes he played pretty well for 25 to 30 mins in second half but if you think that was sensational then you clearly never saw Scholes play.
I grew up watching him play so you can keep that to yourself.
He worked hard defensively, got around the press, kept the ball in tight situations while constantly feeding the ball forward to Bruno or setting the widemen away even after yhe front 4 lost their legs after our great spell.
Paul never slowed down.
Our front players didnt magically get the ball in dangerous positions from the grace of God you know.
But keep agenda posting away. Live life to the fullest hahahahahaha
 

Borys

Statistics Wizard
Joined
May 10, 2013
Messages
9,023
Location
Bielsko Biala, Poland
If he wants to go and we get a decent money, yes. On paper he looks like a perfect central midfielder with his attributes (passing, strength, height) but seems half arsed to be in that role.

He is not essential to our play and I don't think he'll ever be, every game seems the same: couple of misplaced passes, two great passes, dispossessed a couple of times in dangerous area, then a nice dribbling. He's dangerous on both ends of the pitch, some people remember only the good moves, while other will remember the bad ones.

That said, clearly he shouldn't be playing that deep so either we move him to the left and higher up, or we replace him with a better fit to midfield two.

I really don't see why anyone has any faith we're ever going to get more out of Pogba than we have so far. He's been here ages now and we're still having the same discussions.
That's it, we either accept what he is and adjust the team setup somehow, or we should let him go and replace with a better fit to whatever is Ole idea.
 
Last edited:

E-mal

Full Member
Joined
Jan 14, 2017
Messages
3,022
Idiotic thread again, I must reaffirm.

We don't have anybody in midfield that can play the ball forward apart from him. So you want Scott and Fred to continue their linear passes right?

I know your concerns but most of it is coaching and organization. We basically need Bruno to play slightly deeper and share the burden of build up play, attack and defense with Paul.
He could easily get Bruno's goals without the penalties and a more assured passer of the ball.
We were not dominated in midfield yesterday and should have won easily. We made Seville looked ordinary, they aren't a bad side you know.


So it had be stupid to sell him now.
 

TMDaines

Fun sponge.
Joined
Sep 1, 2014
Messages
13,906
People watched yesterday's game and came to the conclusion that we should sell Pogba?
I don't know what to say. :lol:

One of the finest midfielders in the world, whether holding or undertaking a more dynamic role. We should definitely sell him, have more money to piss up the wall, and get back to only having one good creative midfielder, because we couldn't possibly get our brains around having two.
 

romufc

Full Member
Joined
Apr 30, 2019
Messages
12,553
I grew up watching him play so you can keep that to yourself.
He worked hard defensively, got around the press, kept the ball in tight situations while constantly feeding the ball forward to Bruno or setting the widemen away even after yhe front 4 lost their legs after our great spell.
Paul never slowed down.
Our front players didnt magically get the ball in dangerous positions from the grace of God you know.
But keep agenda posting away. Live life to the fullest hahahahahaha
If you come to this forum after a defeat the blame is always pointed to the same people.

Ole, Pogba, Lindelof, Maguire.

Pogba was brilliant yesterday, I thought he did everything well controlled the midfield. Our midfield was not the problem yesterday.