ETH trained this guy before. For years. And he thought: "This is a great player, I want him at United, he is going to win me trophies!"
How is this possible? Can anyone explain this to me?
I'll try!
Footballer are not robots. It's not like someone has skill 92/100 at dribblings and 87/100 at speed but what to do with his level 82/100 crossings. There are so many huge factors, the biggest of them being confidence.
His confidence level must be around 0 right now, his off-pitch issues are factoring in as well, that's for sure.
I'm in no way defending his play and even less his antics, but it's way too easy just to agree now that he's shite and always was and always will be.
Look at Rashford, same desaster show week in week out. That guy is capable of being a game changer. He has the tools but he can't activate them right now.
Next example: Bruno off form is not only terrible and frustrating to watch, but can turn a whole squad into a circus since he's the driver. It was the same with Pogba.
What I want to say, is that this whole situation right now is not because all our players are terrible footballers. We play like a pub team I agree, but it won't get the job done to sign 11 new faces.
We have a lot of talent in that squad, believe it or not, and I truly believe that complementary players like Mount, Amrabat or even Antony, could flourish in a functional team, in a good environment. Suddenly 8 out of 10 crosses will find a man in the middle instead of 2, coming from the same player with the same skillset.
Antony was fine at Ajax and could've been fine here, perhaps still can be. If we somehow turn this ship around, some of the players will look like reborn, simply because they have fun down there, they begin to believe in their abilities and their team.
It's the managers job to make this work, and if he's not able to, someone else has to.