That's the ticket. My memories getting hazy in my old age!
I do remember Beckham talking about the finish though. He said he didn't want to take it to a 1 vs 1 as he's not very good at finishing like that so he did what he knows best
6
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 51
- Goals
- 9
- Assists
- 6
- Yellow cards
- 10
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That's the ticket. My memories getting hazy in my old age!
I do remember Beckham talking about the finish though. He said he didn't want to take it to a 1 vs 1 as he's not very good at finishing like that so he did what he knows best
Give away the ball very sloppily, especially in the first half. Felt his second half was a bit better. His pass to Ibra was class, and that's what he can produce at any given moment, even if he's having an average game.
Agree with this.
His ability to use his body protect the ball is excellent.
Bit wasteful in first half, but better in second half. Some real quality moments too. Hope he's still got 90 mins in the tank for Sunday.
Bit wasteful in first half, but better in second half. Some real quality moments too. Hope he's still got 90 mins in the tank for Sunday.
I'd rather have someone who tries to do something elaborate than a safe passer in the likes of Cleverley any day of the week.. When the team is settled he's going to be pivotal.
The thing for me tonight was that while he was hogging the ball too much in the first half when he needed to release it quicker, I am liking the extra grit and aggression in his game, it's like Jose has told him he's too much of a physical beast to not be going box to box in many games and Pogba seems to have taken that challenge on with gusto. The second half he was better and he never loses his confidence to try things which led to our second goal.
I definitely think he needs to improve in several areas of his game / stop trying the fancy flicks etc. That said, he can come up with moments of brilliance like that pass for Ibra.
Has he justified his price tag? Nope, but the money was just ridiculous. I hope he will settle more and start putting in more consistent displays in the second half of the season. He's judged way too harshly on here. It seems an average game equates to him being utter shite. Forget the price tag people and judge him on his displays. They haven't been consistent but an average display becomes a highly exaggerated 'awful' displays on here.
Has he justified his price tag? Nope, but the money was just ridiculous. I hope he will settle more and start putting in more consistent displays in the second half of the season. He's judged way too harshly on here. It seems an average game equates to him being utter shite. Forget the price tag people and judge him on his displays. They haven't been consistent but an average display becomes a highly exaggerated 'awful' displays on here.
such awful advice. The very best players do the basic/simple things extremely well, such as pass quickly and move to a better position and they know when to do the hollywood stuff. Otherwise you end up playing playground stuff
Glad we signed him. The amount of space he opens up in midfield is incredible.
The Hollywood stuff is great. It's like those stories of Fergie saying at half time "I'm bored, do something insteresting... I want a 60 yard pass".
I'd rather a player that tries to entertain like that even if his poor games where it doesn't come off he's a bit shit. When it does come off it's a joy to watch. He's growing in stature.
That pass by Veron was the business. That was still THE signing for me. Bigger than RVP, bigger than Di Maria, bigger than Pogba.
He can do things our other midfielders cant do. I really think he will get even better once he starts doing the simple things well. There are times when he looks at the opposition and just tries to take the piss cos he thinks he can take them all one, when theres sometimes a lay off or a pass that will put somebody into a great position. If he can get that balance right of when to do the extravagant stuff vs when do keep it simple, he will be the WC midfielder we know he can be.
Interesting - I've heard this said before. Can you elaborate on this please. How good was Veron before we signed him? I was a bit young back in 2001.
Overall, Veron was second only to Zidane as play maker before his stint with us and Serie A was the no 1 league in the world at the time. Luring one of the biggest stars, arguably at his prime from a bigger league is a bigger statement.
We bought Pogba as players with potential to reach the top, but not there yet. Juventus despite being a better team than us in the last few years, is in a disadvantage as Serie A has long lost their standing as best league.
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Yeah, this criticism is ridiculous imo. Why would we sign Pogba and tell him to keep it simple? Being the player to create something going forward that allows Herrera to sit a bit deeper and anchor the midfield comes with risks.
As I said earlier, his pass completion rate in midfield and in the final third are really high so he is doing the simple things consistently well.
It just seems to me people are saying he should only try the hollywood stuff when it works. Which makes no sense.
He might have been the first big World Class signing we made whilst in his prime. Biggest shame is Fergie hadnt yet made the 451 yet which I think he would have thrived in (especially for European games).
No player is beyond criticism but a lot of Pogba's is nonsensical, I always want my creative players to try things to change games and obviously it wont work every time. He was very good.
I actually love his confidence and guts on the ball. Sometimes it doesn't pay off and he loses possession, but that confidence is what I want to see from players at United.
Just forgot this in my last post, I am annoyed with Pogba being so bad at heading. He's good with sealing away aerial ball midfield, but a heading duel, I don't rate him at all.
I think he said a little over a year ago that he wanted to improve on his heading.
Like I said, if we are playing a team that is sitting back and under conditions where it is impossible to string nice little passes together then why not. No matter how good you are you don't get those shots to fly close by every time. There is no formula or time for long shots except making sure your head is right above the ball and you strike it well and a few of those fly in, luckily. His long shots break our attacking play at times and someday his long shot is going to get us a crucial victory out of nowhere in a game we are struggling. I would say that one goal will fairly cancel out about 30 attempts in vain. Even though he positions himself in midfield, he is a flair player. Outrageous, brilliant and sometimes frustrating skills is his thing and we also do have ten other safer, simple passing, momentum building players who complement Pogba's style.
We all remember Ronaldo's goal against Porto or Scholes's against Barcelona, don't we? Imagine what would have happened in those games had the player decided to be smarter and not shoot. We would have most probably lost the games or at least risked conceding a fluke goal and getting knocked out.
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He was alright. Tried to do too much sometimes but apart from that he had a decent game.
I think he has to be more secure in possession. At times, he makes far too many errors through bad touches, overplaying or errant passes. For him to be a truly great player he can't have games where he's all over the place. Sure, we need him to keep his creative streak, but the best players manage to be both brillaint and reliably consistent.
That comes with experience imo, he's still young and learning.
Absolutely. As long as Pogba works on it I have no issues. Sometimes he does get a bit extreme on his self indulgence and it can get annoying.
Bang on
What would have been a fair price tag with what he's given us so far? To me it's like €24m
He is a class player and will be an excellent player for us.
He will learn when to cut out some fancy stuff and use simple passes to use his ability effectively. Saying all those, I love his penetration runs thru the middle, holding the ball and dribbling around.
He will learn when to cut out some fancy stuff and use simple passes to use his ability effectively. Saying all those, I love his penetration runs thru the middle, holding the ball and dribbling around.
A bit stingy, that.
Factor in the massive buzz and lift it gave the supporters to see a genuinely Marquee signing.
Factor in the bitter, salty tears of opposition supporters.
Factor in the bitter salty tears of most pundits and opposing Managers, who bemoan how much money we have, just lying around, to buy whoever we want.
Factor in the almost instant change in the style of play, since he came. We're exciting again now and he is a massive part of that.
Factor in the fact that, statistically, he's one of the top performing midfielders in the PL.
Factor in that you're a massive WUM (in a good way) and your stated price in no way reflects reality.
Factor in that I've written the word factor lots of times.
All this considered, it probably takes your paltry 24 mil, up to around 60 mil, which is a fair price for one of the most sought after players in world football.
£24m for 5 months work. And I thought you weren't impressed.
Loved his performance yesterday.
Sure, it wasn't perfect, but I loved his arrogance and confidence on the ball. The Zorya players were trying to hack him off possession, but he was too strong and clever for them. There were multiple times when he took on two to three players at once and won.
Was good defensively, had great passes which almost turned to assists, sprayed the ball all around with precision, and was starting attacks regularly. Any other day one of those long shots would have gone in.
He's a brilliant midfielder, with a decade of football left in him at least. Great to have him in our team.
Sure, it wasn't perfect, but I loved his arrogance and confidence on the ball. The Zorya players were trying to hack him off possession, but he was too strong and clever for them. There were multiple times when he took on two to three players at once and won.
Was good defensively, had great passes which almost turned to assists, sprayed the ball all around with precision, and was starting attacks regularly. Any other day one of those long shots would have gone in.
He's a brilliant midfielder, with a decade of football left in him at least. Great to have him in our team.
Back in 90s up till then, United's foreign signings were not the high profile kinds. We had a strict wage structure and couldn't attract players like Kluivert, Batistuta etc while in their primes. Veron signed for us as a 26 year old who was earning big money at the time. It's hard to take a player from now and compare it to the transfer then because we've taken for granted that players the levels of the likes of Mata, Aguero, Pogba, Silva, Hazard etc would naturally play in England in their primes.
Veron was my dream signing before he signed for us. Shame how it turned out.
Love to have this kind of a player in our team again. This is what we’ve been screaming for, creativity, power, speed, dynamics etc. With that comes a lot of misplaced passes, loss of possession, shots into the row z, frustrating halves etc., but I’m more than willing to pay that price for a player like this. And to think that he’s still 23, excited to think how good (and more consistent) he’ll be at 26-28
That piece of play that ended with Rooney running the ball out was gorgeous. No other player in our squad has that ability. This is why he's cost so much - he has the potential to be the best in the world.
The shape he put on the pass that Ibra scored from was a thing of beauty. I watch football for moments like that.
i was saying this last night, he is so hard to dispossess - the ball sticks to his foot even when there's three men on him, it's like watching an octopus at times (cos everyone knows octopi make great footballers)
Exactly! That's my overall analysis of him when I factor in everything. If you list the current WC midfielders, what do they do, how do they play and when do they do certain things etc? They don't constantly try extravagant stuff at EVERY opportunity, they spend time making the team better by doing the basic things really really easily and to a high level, then here and there they will sprinkle it with extravagant excellence. He is 23 so for now we will need a mature head alongside him to do the other job (make the team play better). Why don't we just buy Juve's midfield?
Lovely pass for Ibras goal.
That's true, but mostly against minnows for now. Against better teams it is not exactly true. He has all the qualities to be very hard to dispossess even against the top top teams. He just needs to adjust his decison making and to know when to release the ball. His physical and technical attributes are top notch.
I'd be interested to hear the calculations and logical reasoning that led you to that number.
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