I actually think this vindicates him a bit. For a moment, I was in the camp that believed the coaching in training was the problem. What's become clear, and what I initially believed, we have one of the worst midfields in the league. It was the same with Ole. His decision to keep Pogba, he was absent for large portions of his reign, was probably part of why we didn't buy a proper midfielder under Ole. He had the opportunity to.
However, there were always signs it was a midfield issue. When Pogba played, we were able to play better in games more consistently, at least offensively. The problem was always that Pogba never wanted to stay in midfield and didn't have the defensive discipline to hold or tackle. We were slow in moving the ball due to the midfield lacking the first touch to collect balls or passing ability to move them forward, something which even Pogba couldn't do due to his slow turn and lack of awareness on the ball. Most teams, in fact every team in the league, at least has one player that can collect the ball from the defence or tackle. United, the biggest team in England, have managed to go almost a decade with the same problem. It's not the attackers, its not Maguire, its not De Gea or Shaw, its not Bruno...it has always been the central midfield. It started with us easily losing games to members of the big 6 and has progressed to us losing midfield battles both home and away against relegation fodder. The signs are even there from midfielders that have left us, when Herrera plays, PSG don't control games, Schneiderlin is nowhere, Schweinstieger went to the MLS after being with us. It's really annoying. We've spent years blaming the manager when personnel in the most important position on the pitch matter more.
We're the same team that won with Ince and Keane, Scholes and Keane, Scholes and Carrick, for years. Even in the last few years under Fergie, and even with the rotation policy he had in midfield at the time , there could never be an argument that our midfielders at the time were worse than anyone outside the top 4 at the time.