The post I replied to was about league goals, that's the reason he mentioned 8 goals for Pogba when he scored 10 goals in all competitions last season and also season before that.
Baby elephant is growing quickly in the room
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The post I replied to was about league goals, that's the reason he mentioned 8 goals for Pogba when he scored 10 goals in all competitions last season and also season before that.
OK but doing it that way only chops off a couple of goals for Pogba. He goes from 10 to 8. Not much difference. Do the same for Gerrard and it completely changes his tally. It makes his goalscoring return look modest which it definitely wasn't.
This thread really amazes me. I don't think I had any support when I expressed my view that he wouldn't be the dominant midfielder all the transfer muppets were convinced he'd be. Amazing.
Two players fifty million each would be a better deal.
Pogba + 50mil player would be a better deal.
Actually, we should be expecting him to be the Vidal/Khedira type of player, just better. Mata's not going to be the one tracking back in our 4-3-3 so it's Pogba's job by default. We should be judging him on his creative passes, his dribbling skills and long shots but also on his energy/his tracking back. His best game was against Leicester and he was up and down all day, doing everything.
What's happened to Schneiderlin? One of the most highly rated central midfielders in the Premier League last year, now warming the bench while you attempt to shoehorn Pogba into a two-man midfield. What's wrong with Herrera - Schneiderlin - Pogba in Mourinho's head?
We tried it against Feyenoord. It was not great. There was a distinct lack of creativity.
Modern football fans have no patience amymore. Compared to the dross of the last 3 seasons, we are actually playing some pretty neat stuff of late. Far far better in the final third, and Pogba is playing his part in that.
We aren't going to win the title this season. That much should be obvious. There is a hell of a lot more to be excited about than of late though.
We aren't going to win the title this season. That much should be obvious. There is a hell of a lot more to be excited about than of late though.
Vidal can control and run games though.
I don't know about that. He hasn't shown to be that kind of player at Juve. That was one part of his game I wanted him to improve at with United, but even if he were to improve in that part of the game, I still wouldn't expect him to cover as much distance as someone like Vidal.
I personally would like him to add a little more energy and a little more willingness to run the game with his passing. Those improvements combined with his attacking ability will make him the best midfielder in his prime.
Its not about patience. Its the £90m fee. Im happy to be patient with Martial, Shaw etc.
Pogba is already an established international and into the mid pause of his career. Im not worried about the slow start, its his tactical nativity and fanciful Hollywood shots on goal... I'd expect a £90m to have those skills hones wherever he plays.
fans saying to ignore the fee are being very disingenuous. Of course the fee is relevant! He should be comfortably the best 'something' in our team already and he's not firing on any attributes yet. It concerns me.
He's a 23 year old who has had 9 games in the PL 3 as sub in his first stint with us. He isn't and cannot possibly be the complete player regardless of the fee we paid for him. In my eyes he is proven quality and has and is already one of the best in his position, judging by his time at Juve. Expectations of course will be high, but the kid will prove to be a dominant force for us, I have no doubt. If he were at the peak of his career like RVP in our title winning season or indeed Zlatan, you'd expect pretty much an instant impact, but Pogba deserves more time. All in my humble opinion of course.
Pogba has one of the best shots from outside. I don't see why he should stop attempting those. His track record since he was with United's u18s prove you should believe in his shooting ability. He'll score goals. It's only a matter of time.
You need to get over the 90m fee. This start of his will be irrelevant when you can judge his worth in a few months, let alone in the next few years.
I've never seen a player with more excuses made for him. Somehow missing great chances is even being used to complement him. Somehow it is wrong to expect that a player bought for close to a world record fee, would play like one of the world's best players. As for positional excuses well where do we start. He's not going to dominate games for us because he is not that type of player. He is more about flashes of brilliance to create and score chances. Don't expect him to always finish them though because he is a midfielder after all. He is not solid defensively and we shouldn't have been expecting that, we need the right partners to do the legwork for him. At the same time he is a physical beast though so obviously that's why he's regarded so highly. People will do anything to just deny that he has been in pretty poor form.
Pogue has been spot on in this thread. If what we've seen so far is 'very good' from a £90 million player then we are truly fecked. There's also nothing wrong with using price to set expectations. To use the Big Mac analogy from earlier, you either have good reason to pay more for a 'special big mac' or you are a complete idiot for paying it. If it turns out you are a complete idiot for paying it then that's something to be rightfully worried about. Presumably for us to pay so much for him we expect him to have an impact that justifies the investment. Thankfully he's got plenty of time to settle in and improve. The Leicester game showed what he can do so we just need to see him put some consistency together.
Pogue has been spot on in this thread. If what we've seen so far is 'very good' from a £90 million player then we are truly fecked. There's also nothing wrong with using price to set expectations. To use the Big Mac analogy from earlier, you either have good reason to pay more for a 'special big mac' or you are a complete idiot for paying it. If it turns out you are a complete idiot for paying it then that's something to be rightfully worried about. Presumably for us to pay so much for him we expect him to have an impact that justifies the investment. Thankfully he's got plenty of time to settle in and improve. The Leicester game showed what he can do so we just need to see him put some consistency together.
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Ughhh
Those aren't excuses. Well not all of them. Some people are rightly pointing out what kind of player Pogba is and your expectations because of that fee doesn't change that fact.
No it is not wrong to expect a certain level of performance for that fee, but he should be judged over a longer period of time when talking about that fee. The fee is clouding some of your judgement. Anybody can be worth that money or not be worth that money if you only judge them based on what? 8 performances in a season. Ignore the fee and judge his performances. A World record fee that is deemed worth it should not guarantee the player start off amazing. What it should guarantee is the player performing great over multiple seasons.
I get the feeling that some of you think the world record fee is absolutely based on a player's ability alone. That is kind of strange considering you guys should know what goes into a fee. Age, length of contract left, how financially comfortable and strong the selling club is, marketability, accolades, and reputation all factor into the fee.
I think it's unfair to say "player x cost 40m so he's a flop if he's not better than player y who cost 20m". There are loads of factors which affect price, many of which have no correlation with quality.
That said, it's equally wrong to imply there is NO correlation between price and what we should expect in terms of quality.
The fact we were willing to pay such a stupendous fee means we should expect him to be a stand-out performer. Consistently dominating games and standing out as one of the best players on the pitch, for either team. He's done this once, maybe twice already. Which isn't bad but it's not great either. And we absolutely shouldn't consider performances like Sunday's as being as good as we should expect. He can and should play a lot better. Hopefully he will, but the constant efforts from people to say we expect too much from him or that his form is the fault of the manager or other players is frustrating and a little bit worrying, because - if they're right - then we've signed an extremely limited player.
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It's October and the witch hunt is or in full force after 2 losses and an unlucky draw of the back of hammering the champions.
People need to have a good look at themselves.
People need to have a good look at themselves.
I do think it's fair to question the outlay though - we are sixth in the table despite having broken the world transfer record, assembling the most expensive squad in the history of football in the process, we finished fifth last year with an inferior squad and inferior manager. If we lose again on Monday the sharks will smell blood in the water.
What's the point of this? Do you not think Pogab is better than the current performances he's putting in? If you think no one should be complaining then you are downplaying his ability
I think if the people here that are defending Pogba went up to him and told him privately that you've been playing very well he'd tell them to feck off. He knows (and we know) he is capable of much more
We're in October and he's already being questioned? Fecking despair sometimes, I really do.
We're in October for crying out loud.
I just want to point out that at Bayern München we have made the experience that both of our last two high profile transfers in central midfield (Javi Martinez and Arturo Vidal) took up to half a year before they showed consistently strong perfomances.
Patience is a virtue.
Patience is a virtue.
Pogba is not playing great but if we had scored half of the chances he created on he would be leading the league in assists.
Much more to come from him surely, but he hasn't been poor in my book
Much more to come from him surely, but he hasn't been poor in my book
Dare I say he might be one of those players who plays well when the team are winning but struggles when the team are losing....
Unfortunately some people around these board can't help themselves but bring out pitch forks and start witch hunts as soon as possible. People acting as if consistent performances are expected from the get go. Most players take a while to get settled and start performing consistently even world class ones.
Your example isn't the only one. You have the likes of Ozil whom people started calling flop after his first few months because he wasn't quite settled yet, Modric went to Madrid and was mostly a bench option at the beginning until he found his feet and settled in, and plenty more.
People want to pretend the likes of Neymar, Suarez and other top players just casually stroll in their new teams line up and set the word on fire. They took settling in time. I remember(predictably on these very boards) people calling Neymar overrated and an incoming flop in his first season.
7 games in and you have threads like these. This is downright pathetic.
I agree that we're playing way better football. There's still something lacking (urgency, accuracy, spirit, technique etc.), but I can actually enjoy watching now.
It's too early to be playing the 'i told you so' card. Come back in 3-4 years when he's in his peak and not just a young lad in a new team.
EDIT: Your post gets more ridiculous every time i read it.
Suarez and Sterling being two recent big money signings that came in for some stick on here during their early days at their current clubs.
Go away with your common sense stuff.
Think he's been pretty good personally and would expect him to improve as the season goes on. Lot of knee-jerk reactions on here.
EDIT: You all said Pogba was going to be a dominant midfielder now you are saying he's not that kind of player. Keep moving the goalposts, eventually he'll be whatever you say he is.
EDIT EDIT: Pogba is a 'young lad in a new team'
. I've heard it all now.I think he's been pretty good in some games. But he's just not the dominating midfielder that I wanted.
EDIT: You all said Pogba was going to be a dominant midfielder now you are saying he's not that kind of player. Keep moving the goalposts, eventually he'll be whatever you say he is.
EDIT EDIT: Pogba is a 'young lad in a new team'
Maybe you shouldn't have wasted all summer arguing with the numpties. Keep telling everyone how wise you are though, it's really endearing
He never was that midfielder so is it not harsh to expect him to be that for a new club and a new league at the moment ?
He hasn't been terrible but hasn't been great either. Needs to find consistency which he will eventually. Too early to criticise him, he's the least of our problems anyway.
I prefer to think of him as more of a Seedorf. Then again, Seedorf had Davids, Karembeu and Gattuso alongside him.
Probably is harsh yes
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