I agree. The criticism he is receiving is over the top IMO.
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Exactly what happened in the second half against City. He arguably played worse than he did in the first 45.
It's such a strange argument to bring up after yesterday, given that he did, as you point out, spend a full half in exactly that system and contributed sod all.
Just a poor performance at the end of the day, and he needs to up his game pronto. The knives will be out soon enough if the world's most expensive player doesn't contribute when the going gets tough. Not much room for a period of adjustment when you're brought in for those prices.
Going just by his involvements on the ball, he looked pretty good... but he didn't get involved enough, looked dead exhausted by the end (as did several of our players), and is too all-action and not concerned enough with balance in midfield and positioning.
With more maturity he'll probably grow to handle that role better.
Completely invisible in the first half and one of the main reasons City were overrunning us in midfield for 40 mins. I expected alot more to be honest.
Making him play deep is not a good idea, but I'm wondering if Mourinho wants him to learn how to play more disciplined role to make him a more complete midfielder. I came up with this idea because he's doing this with Herrera too.
We are not using him correctly and he is NOT a DM! He needs to play closer to the striker with Freedom
Pogba needs to be given the freedom to do what he wants. He's box to box and great coming from deeper positions with the ball when the ball turns over. The team needs to be balanced around that though, and I don't think Felliani and Rooney allow that at the moment.
Still don't think he was that bad yesterday if I'm honest.
Still don't think he was that bad yesterday if I'm honest.
He won't be given the freedom, and it might make him end up like Mikel.
I agree, Freedom should always be playing closer to the striker too.
To be fair I just think he, like a lot of those players, were flat out after the first 60 minutes. If he had started in a three I think we would have controlled the midfield and therefore tempo of the game so it wouldn't have been so frenetic.
Actually he didn't. He was all over the place in the first half. Second half he was way better although not as good as we all want him to be.
This thing about him being better in a three man midfield is complete bullshit and it's exactly the type of argument that convinced me not to believe the Pogba hype. The reality is any central midfielder will be 'better' in a three man midfield simply because they'll have more support in there.
We need Pogba to be a physically dominant force in our central midfield. And as I've said all along I've never ever seen him do that in a big game.
And as for all this talk about him being a number 10. More bullshit. He is not a number 10. He rightly has number 6 on his back because we need (and have needed) a dominant presence in central midfield.
By the time Roy Keane was Pogba's age he was bossing games like yesterday, controlling the midfield, going box to box, scoring goals and breaking up attacks. And lest we forget that was with Nicky Butt beside him. Pogba is no Roy Keane that's for sure. He needs to improve big time in big games. I hope does, I really do. Otherwise we'll be reading the same excuses ad nauseum on here.
We need Pogba to be a physically dominant force in our central midfield. And as I've said all along I've never ever seen him do that in a big game.
And as for all this talk about him being a number 10. More bullshit. He is not a number 10. He rightly has number 6 on his back because we need (and have needed) a dominant presence in central midfield.
By the time Roy Keane was Pogba's age he was bossing games like yesterday, controlling the midfield, going box to box, scoring goals and breaking up attacks. And lest we forget that was with Nicky Butt beside him. Pogba is no Roy Keane that's for sure. He needs to improve big time in big games. I hope does, I really do. Otherwise we'll be reading the same excuses ad nauseum on here.
I actually missed the first half (thank God) but he was piss poor in the second half, I can assure you.
Pogba played in a champions league final. Roy Keane wasn't as good at Pogbas ages as Pogba is now.
Different players anyway.
As I said, comparative to the first half he was better though still not as good as he should/can be.
Pogba was a bit frustrating yesterday. He'd breeze past 2 or 3 players and get into a decent position, then play a shite pass or fall over. He can do so much more, Mourinho didn't use him well imo
He's not a DM, or at least not when we're up against a team like City.
Guy was pretty much invisible whole game expect some very few good moments.
Gotta step it up soon.
Gotta step it up soon.
So did Anderson.
Null point.
Roy Keane was instrumental in the famous 3-2 victory over City at Maine Road in 1993.
It was Keanes 1st Manchester derby.
He was 22.
Having signed for a then British record fee of £3.75m
Utd went 2-0 down in the first half.
Keane scored the winner.
Compare that to Pogba yesterday.
I know it was just one game & I'm not Pogbashing, that said, he was a non-entity yesterday.
He'll fall victim to his massive fee.
Good player, never going to justify his big money move from Juventus.
Good player, never going to justify his big money move from Juventus.
And how did Pogba play in that CL final? He was invisible, as he always is in the big games.
Pogba has never been consistently excellent in either the CL for Juve or international matches for France. But he's 23 and very very talented so his time to really shine will come, I'm sure of that.
So what's the argument about?
In a completely different era.
I don't see your point.Despite being 2-0 down we had so much the better team and individuals in 1993
Naill Quinn played for City and so did Curle,Vonk,Kernaghan,Flitcroft.Mcmahon among other non entities
We had Cantona,Kanchelskis,Bruce and Pallister at CD,Ince,Hughes,Sharpe and Giggs at sub.
That team would have put up a better performance yesterday. Pogba wouldn't have been a certain starter in that side
People playing the blame game as usual....this 4 games in
I agree with all of this. It's all about the balance of the team, and Rooney's position doesn't help Pogba. I thought we looked much better in the second half, not necessarily Pogba, but as a team. As some have already pointed out, he was, as several other players, very tired after chasing shadows the first half. It's tiring both physically and mentally.
Yeah, City team of 2016 was as bad as City team of 90s isn't it.
City were shite then though.
Got overran against City even David Silva physically shrugged him off on a few occasions.
He will need time to start dominating games and taking the game by the scruff of the neck like we brought him for.
Honeymoon period won't last forever though especially because of what he cost people expect instant impact stuff.
He will need time to start dominating games and taking the game by the scruff of the neck like we brought him for.
Honeymoon period won't last forever though especially because of what he cost people expect instant impact stuff.
He was doing great things in Italy and Juve.. I hope we haven't brought him back to ruin the lad, his confidence and turn him into what he was before he went to the cultured Italian League.. He deserves more respect now from the club and manager and to play in his best position even if it means dropping Rooney
He's tailor made for this league but he needs to play in his best position so he can dictate the tempo of a game.
He's tailor made for this league but he needs to play in his best position so he can dictate the tempo of a game.
He was pretty good recently in that cl quarter away vs Bayern, creating three goalscoring chances their oafs missed and scored a goal... That performance should have won them that quarterfinal.
He is a very skillful player and has a good shot.
But his passing, awareness, tackling etc are all nothing special.
I still think he can be a monster for us but he isn't world class.
But his passing, awareness, tackling etc are all nothing special.
I still think he can be a monster for us but he isn't world class.
His passing and ability to dispossess opponents very much is special
His passing is good but not great.
Maybe not in a united shirt so far but I think its his best attribute.
It really, really annoys me that people keep thinking that we're playing with DMs in a 4-2-3-1 rather than it is simply two central midfielders. Our midfielders were pushed deep in the first half today because of Citys dominance, but they fact that people keep saying that we're playing him as a DM is so effing silly.
Funny enough I didn't see that game, it was the night before we played Pool in the EL wasn't it? The highlights reel looks pretty good yeah but I honestly can't say I've seen him dominate a big game. Look at the Euros, for example. He completely went missing against a Portugal team that lost Ronaldo, that was a game needing someone to take it by the scruff of the neck. I just don't see Pogba doing that. And when one points that out all you get is a list of excuses....he's being played out of position, he's not match fit, he needs to play in a midfield three. He's the most expensive player in the world. I expect a hell of a lot more out of him that we got yesterday. I just don't think he has it in him.
I agree with what you're saying, but there seems to be a problem with how we utilise him, wouldn't you agree? For some it may indeed seem like that. I think the problem is that he's playing as one of two CMs, he's so good we should play three CMs so he can ravage up and down the pitch, like he did so well at Juventus. As long as we're hell bent on playing a 10 in front of him we're going to see more performances like this, the fact that the 10 is Rooney certainly doesn't help. I thought, or maybe more like hoped we had a clear plan as to how we could get the best out of him when we paid a world record fee. Seems I was very wrong in that assumption.
Why are people even comparing Roy keane to Pogba? If anything, Vidal is more similar to Keane.
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