Should we consider selling Pogba?

hungrywing

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Not in La Liga....game requires far more intelligence in movement than Pogba has shown with United. Pogba would also be destroyed by Madrid' media. By game 3, they'd be booing him by half time, with Marca writing articles about him.
Absolute poppycock. He'd be amazing for them. With his forty-million Instagram followers he'll transform their club - or any club he joins - just you watch.

(goddamit you're doing it wrong.)
 

clarkydaz

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Genuine question - have we ever played him in a 3 man midfield without the added defensive responsibility? Be it Jose or Ole, they both tried to shoe horn him in a 4231 midfield and failed miserably.
Yes we have. Jose even scoffed in press conferences where do you think he played on Saturday? Ole played him further up when he first came and went on his winning run. When ole got the job he turned defensive
 

Number32

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Genuine question - have we ever played him in a 3 man midfield without the added defensive responsibility? Be it Jose or Ole, they both tried to shoe horn him in a 4231 midfield and failed miserably.

Imo, it has nothing to do with slower leagues. We are basically asking him to set the tempo which he will never do. He is always at his best when played closer to opposition goal.
Did Mourinho said we bought Matic to unleash Pogba?
The problem is he was inconsistent on that midfield 3 role when playing in club level, contrary in france national team he is phenomenal though.

I watched him alot when he was playing midfield 3 at Juve, and it was overrated by some fans who only watched highlights. Pirlo and Marchisio were really underated, because they were the reason Pogba shone. The serie-A team is very tactical with lesser physical charge, they were preparing the game to stop Pirlo and Marchisio, they didn't knew yet Pogba has world class skills to hurt them. But, in big games when he was isolated, he couldn't do anything to change the game. Lucky for him, Serie-A are not as tough as the '90s and 2000's. And Juve have more than enough talents to win, there is no pressure to blame anyone, he's just enjoying his football.
 

CG1010

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Genuine question - have we ever played him in a 3 man midfield without the added defensive responsibility? Be it Jose or Ole, they both tried to shoe horn him in a 4231 midfield and failed miserably.

Imo, it has nothing to do with slower leagues. We are basically asking him to set the tempo which he will never do. He is always at his best when played closer to opposition goal.
Of course we did in the 2018-19 season. And he performed reasonably well. His problem has been moodiness and unwilling to fight for the team during bad times. He only got pushed to deeper when Bruno arrived and he is certainly better than Pogba in an attacking role.
 

Craig Ward

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Exactly. As an aficionado of classic football, I've read up on Ancelotti's early Milan formation dilemna, particularly fitting in two world class playmakers: Kaka (Pogba) and Rui Costa (Bruno).

His solution was 4-3-2-1, also known as the Tree formation. This is how we can maximize the potentially legendary Pogba + Bruno synergy. When implemented correctly, those two can create double digit number of chances between them every match!

We already have a good high energy LCM for the supporting midfield 3 behind them, Fred. What we need now is a right sided box-to-box CM, ideally Camavinga, and a central deep playmaker for the Pirlo role. I'm thinking Aouar, or developing Mejbri for this position.

Because our asking price is 120-150 million and continental clubs are broke. There isn't a single team in the world where Pogba wouldn't be a key midfielder, except United apparently.
I do like the idea of that formation. But fear we are too top heavy and light in quality in midfield for it to work.

With some signings, sure. You'd have a dilemma for 1 spot between Rashford, Martial and Greenwood. Not to mention Cavani...

But regardless - i'm done with the notion of changing formation or signing players to "unleash" Pogba. Why should we? He's proven one thing in his time here - he isn;t consistent enough. He;s been a failure of a signing and he's flirted with moves away for about 2 seasons.

He's all hype no substance.

Your bolded part - you really think he's a good enough central midfielder to be compared with kroos/Modric/busquets/de bruyne/thiago/kimmich (i could list much more)

He's nowhere near good enough. He's not even reliable enough to start for us in midfield - bruno and fred are better midfielders and im sure once donny gets going he'll be above pogba too.

pogba is a marketing dream, he will get a move. but a top tier footballer he is not
 

Khalif_20

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I do like the idea of that formation. But fear we are too top heavy and light in quality in midfield for it to work.

With some signings, sure. You'd have a dilemma for 1 spot between Rashford, Martial and Greenwood. Not to mention Cavani...

But regardless - i'm done with the notion of changing formation or signing players to "unleash" Pogba. Why should we? He's proven one thing in his time here - he isn;t consistent enough. He;s been a failure of a signing and he's flirted with moves away for about 2 seasons.

He's all hype no substance.

Your bolded part - you really think he's a good enough central midfielder to be compared with kroos/Modric/busquets/de bruyne/thiago/kimmich (i could list much more)

He's nowhere near good enough. He's not even reliable enough to start for us in midfield - bruno and fred are better midfielders and im sure once donny gets going he'll be above pogba too.

pogba is a marketing dream, he will get a move. but a top tier footballer he is not
Paul is clearly a superior player than all of those you mentioned, KDB being the only potential contender.

I believe KDB - Bruno is a more fair comparison, they're very similar. High risk high reward, working hard, hoofing long. Sometimes precise, sometimes sloppy.

They're craftsmen, while Paul is an artist - the Zidane, Platini, Özil, Iniesta type.
 

Craig Ward

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Paul is clearly a superior player than all of those you mentioned, KDB being the only potential contender.

I believe KDB - Bruno is a more fair comparison, they're very similar. High risk high reward, working hard, hoofing long. Sometimes precise, sometimes sloppy.

They're craftsmen, while Paul is an artist - the Zidane, Platini, Özil, Iniesta type.
Is this a wind up of some sort?

Pogba as a central midfield player is inferior to those mentioned. He's not even worthy of being compared to Zidane, Platini, Iniesta - frankly insulting to world class players in they're day. Ozil he can be compared too - talented but goes missing too often and inconsistent.

This fascination with pogba being an elite player baffles me - he's such a poor central midfielder considering how hyped up he is. He's got talent yes - but he has never used it to the best he could have and is so wasteful it's beyond a joke.

He's outworked and outplayed against his opposite number every game, without fail.

I'm glad his hype will seal his move away from our club to be honest - sooner we are done with the Pogba pantomime the better
 

poleglass red

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Genuine question - have we ever played him in a 3 man midfield without the added defensive responsibility? Be it Jose or Ole, they both tried to shoe horn him in a 4231 midfield and failed miserably.

Imo, it has nothing to do with slower leagues. We are basically asking him to set the tempo which he will never do. He is always at his best when played closer to opposition goal.
yup, that spell where we had Matic and Herrera covering the defensive aspect with Pogba the attacking part. We did okay with it, the problem with it was though, we only had 1 creative passer from mid, and as we know Pogba can go missing in games, so when he did we had nothing. We bascially had Matic as defensive midfielder with Herrera as the defensive midfielder to our defensive mid, as he covered the runners from mid that Matic couldn't.I felt with those 2 as I do now with Fred and McT that it's 2 players doing the job of 1 position. I feel one top quality mobile defensive mid could let us play with 2 more creative players in mid ie Pogba or VDB with Fernandes
 

Reddevil1978

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Would Suarez your arm off for 60 million right now.

Great player when he can be bothered to put the effort in, and he can be a game changer, unfortunately he doesn't work hard enough game to game.

Hate his attitude when he gets disposed because he overplays the ball. Much better when he plays it simple.

He's the type of player you add to an already great winning team ie Luxury player.

Just my opinion by they way.
 

Dr Foo

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In the current state he is a good player to bring off the bench to inject spark, which won't satisfy him of course. He needs to buckle down mentally and do the hard yards when playing deeper in a midfield 2 (keep things simple to ally with his ball playing ability), otherwise it may be better off for us to sell him. He did reasonably well as the attacking midfield point in Ole's first stint, but with Bruno's the superior option now. Another way is if we play a midfield diamond more regularly which may accommodate him. But ultimately something needs to be screwed right in his head, as he has shown he can be motivated for the hard work with France
 

The-Natural

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Nothing that hasn't been said already but he doesn't cut it when played deep in a 2 man midfield and offensively I think we are covered nicely now with Bruno and VdB. An incredibly talented lad no doubt and evidently brilliant to be able to bring on in a game but there's not a chance he'll be satisfied with that role. The constant off the field noise grew tiresome many moons ago as well.

=Get as good a price as possible. Time for all parties to move on in my opinion.
 

Sparky_Hughes

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Exactly. As an aficionado of classic football, I've read up on Ancelotti's early Milan formation dilemna, particularly fitting in two world class playmakers: Kaka (Pogba) and Rui Costa (Bruno).

His solution was 4-3-2-1, also known as the Tree formation. This is how we can maximize the potentially legendary Pogba + Bruno synergy. When implemented correctly, those two can create double digit number of chances between them every match!

We already have a good high energy LCM for the supporting midfield 3 behind them, Fred. What we need now is a right sided box-to-box CM, ideally Camavinga, and a central deep playmaker for the Pirlo role. I'm thinking Aouar, or developing Mejbri for this position.

Because our asking price is 120-150 million and continental clubs are broke. There isn't a single team in the world where Pogba wouldn't be a key midfielder, except United apparently.
So your answer is to fork out ANOTHER huge wedge of cash on players to get the best out of him and change a formation that works for us when he isnt in it? Sod that, its Manchester United FC not Paul Pogba FC.

Bin him off to where ever we can and move on. It didnt work. Is he a world class amazing footballer? not on your nelly. Is he one of the most naturally skilled players around? Absolutely. It takes more than just skill and natural ability to be world class. Look at our own Gary Neville. At no point in his career was he the worlds best or most skillfull right back, but he was indispensable to us by working his ass off and being a team player. We could have got "better" right backs, but none would have been what he was for us, same with Pogba. Id take a less naturally skilled player with more tactical discipline and focus on being a team player over him every day of the week and twice on sunday
 

Traub

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We are stuck with him. Glazernomics would never let him leave for free, and no one will pay a massive transfer fee plus his wages.
 

EasyE

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Phenomenally immature football brain. Like, so bad. Time and time again. What is he, 26 years old? Same ball hogging? Same failed crap skills. How many pens does he give away per season? About 3/4? Out asap.
 

SER19

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The personification of Uniteds decline. A terrible player that's all market and absolutely nothing where it matters. Would gladly never see him play for United again
 

Traub

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Honestly that pen is no different when he did that mad handball. He doesn’t seem to have BMT.
 

Shane88

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His fans are football's equivalent to anti-vaxxers.

They deny all the fecking evidence in the world in front of their eyes.
 

UnitedFan93

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We're constantly changing formations to fit this joke in; it'll cost Ole his job in the end.
 

amolbhatia50k

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Just doesn't have the maturity on the pitch that top class players should have. It's in his doing the extra trick, holding on to the ball too long, picking the wrong pads and of course days like this and that poor tackle.
 

SER19

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Phenomenally immature football brain. Like, so bad. Time and time again. What is he, 26 years old? Same ball hogging? Same failed crap skills. How many pens does he give away per season? About 3/4? Out asap.
27 now. 28 in 4 months. But hey, he's finally chosen an arm accessory he likes
 

Paxi

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Get him the feck out. He's utter piss.
 

Jev

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He's just never gonna learn, is he? You'd struggle to find a more talented midfielder. You'd also struggle to find a less intelligent footballer.

The problem is getting a decent fee for him. Surely his brand can only take so many bad performances.
 

SouthPredators4

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Deserves all the blame for such a poor and half-hearted display. Just permanently bench him and allow VDB to bed in asap.
 

Cereal Killer

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Honestly can't think of many/ any other midfielders that are as overrated. He has been shambolic for a long long time.
 

SemiPro

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A luxury player but not the player we should be building our team around. Looks like he’s coasting and he’s never really bothered whether we win or lose. Sooner he gets his dream move to Madrid the better for him and United in my opinion.
 

Maluco

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How big a sample size is needed before we accept that he isn’t good enough?

Sure, he carries himself like a superstar and is great for marketing, but he is nearly 28 and it’s not even about consistency. He is awful or anonymous most of the time.

We need to sell because he’s not good enough, not because of any notion that we might “lose a top class player”. We never had one.
 

davidmichael

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I’ve long been a supporter of Pogba as at his best he’s brilliant but it’s the 1 in 10 games at best ratio of good games to piss poor thats pushed me the other way with him now, even before giving away that penalty which was schoolboy level defending.

We’ve got solid performers in McTominay and Fred whilst Van de Beek has come in as well as Matic and Fernandes yet we persist with Pogba just because of his name value and marketing ability, a perfect example of what’s been wrong on the pitch post Sir Alex.