Paul Pogba image 6

Paul Pogba France flag

2017-18 Performances

View full 2017-18 profile

6.1 Season Average Rating
Appearances
37
Goals
6
Assists
16
Yellow cards
5
Red cards
1
Status
Not open for further replies.
I thought he was very good today. He kept it simple, did the basics well and his quality shone through in key moments.

If he always played like that he would be a far more effective player.
 
POF said:
I thought he was very good today. He kept it simple, did the basics well and his quality shone through in key moments.

If he always played like that he would be a far more effective player.
Click to expand...

Very true. Hopefully with a more balanced midfield and less burden on him next season it will help.
 
Greck said:
Yes. He did create the opportunity with that run so you could argue it's a case of making his own good luck. The motm was more a best of a bad bunch award but there wasn't a more deserving player on the field today. If you're France you need to be asking yourself why a team with mbappe, dembele and griezman couldn't provide a performance more deserving. Well on their way to squandering a golden generation
Click to expand...
Wouldnt say they're squandering a golden generation. They're all very young with pretty much only Lloris who would be on a clearly lower level 4 years from now (you would think). Griezmann is basically their most experienced outfield player and he's not even old. Theyll do well once they change Deschamps imo.
 
roonster09 said:
Wow, Pogba after playing key role in 2 goals is questioned and Kante who barely creates a chance will be considered as a good game because he won few tackles, that itself says how expectations are so different for 2 players.
Click to expand...

Or is it that one is better at what they do than the other?
 
This is part of the problem with how he's judged.
Today, he kept it simple and did the basics well but Neville still criticised him for playing it safe.
Not saying he doesn't have issues but a lot of the criticism he gets isn't constant.
When he tries to take risks, we are told he should play it safe. He needs to find consistency in his game and get the basic right but I don't think he's being helped for both club and country. One match he's playing in a two, the other he's playing in a three. One match, he's deep, the other he's further forward. Think the arrival of Fred and us sticking sticking to a three will help him a lot. He's not a jack of all trade.
 
Robertd0803 said:
Very true. Hopefully with a more balanced midfield and less burden on him next season it will help.
Click to expand...

Hopefully but adding more defensive stability around him is likely to have the opposite effect. Hopefully Fred is a far better offensive player than I realise.
 
Adisa said:
Best player on the pitch but didn't say much. It wasn't one of his top performances.
Click to expand...

Several comments said he kept it simple, which if true, is exactly what I want from him. Keep the ball, moveit around simply, keep everything ticking and when the chance arises, use your creativity for a pass or a shot. If he did that, I'm very happy.
 
Adisa said:
This is part of the problem with how he's judged.
Today, he kept it simple and did the basics well but Neville still criticised him for playing it safe.
Not saying he doesn't have issues but a lot of the criticism he gets isn't constant.
When he tries to take risks, we are told he should play it safe. He needs to find consistency in his game and get the basic right but I don't think he's being helped for both club and country. One match he's playing in a two, the other he's playing in a three. One match, he's deep, the other he's further forward. Think the arrival of Fred and us sticking sticking to a three will help him a lot. He's not a jack of all trade.
Click to expand...

If his team is successful the criticism will stop. The problem is, if he demands a role with less defensive responsibility he cannot afford to keep it simple. He then needs to be a key creative element of the team.

That is the player he wants to be and thinks he is but he is a far better player in a deeper role. That is the main issue with Pogba.

He was really good today. His challenge is to continue to perform like that on a regular basis.
 
roonster09 said:
Not sure who said this, I watched his enough games to make a good judgement. He was considered as among the best players in the league, whenever I watched him (even in big games) he was very good.

Also not sure why we have to take everything Juve fans as gospel considering how extreme ManUtd fans opinion on players are (like Lukaku and Pogba).
Click to expand...

Why wouldn't I? It matches up to how he appeared every time I saw him play for France or the odd Juve game and also his time here. Also I imagine Juve fans watched more games than we did so would have a much better Judgement of Pogba. Its not like they are attacking him, they were giving an honest assessment and a bit of a reality check. United fans like to act as though they all studied him with a fine toothed comb since he left United but the reality is they didn't and ended up believing he was something he wasn't. Many rely on his accolades "serie a team of the year, fifa 11" etc rather than an actual assessment of this games/performances from that period.
 
kouroux said:
I think only Kanté was at the same level if not slightly better (Pogba got the MOTM award thanks to the winning goal) and Varane was ok too. The rest were bad
Click to expand...

Difficult then to be exceptional ? He isn't a Messi or Maradonna type player.
 
Same posters saying the same things after every game. Zzzzzzzz


Poor performance from France, created the penalty created the winning goal. Will be credited with the winning goal and played better than anyone else in Blue.

That's it basically.
 
roonster09 said:
Yeah, think Jose wanted him to be more allround player but it's a failed experiment. It's better to go back to what's already know, that he is not the one to run the midfield, instead he is the one who can provide the spark.
Click to expand...
Couldn't agree more. Just use him the way his previous managers have. There's no real choice
 
Hephaestus said:
The praise for Kante doesn't disprove it at all. The stereotype of black players is that they get by on athletic ability but lack technique and intelligence so someone like Kante gets praise because he works hard and gets by on his strength, stamina and work rate. He's clearly very good from a technical standpoint and his positioning is excellent but the praise almost always comes as a result of work-rate or physical ability.

Someone like Pogba doesn't get by on that, he's above average for midfielders from a physical standpoint but he relies more on his technical ability, his range of passing, his dribbling etc. Hence why the likes of Souness repeatedly complain about the flashiness, say he lacks intelligence while praising his strength or aggression and suggesting he should just stick to that.
Click to expand...
Yeah true, good points. As you say, the thrust of the Kante praise is that he "covers every blade of grass" I.e. runs around a lot, good stamina.
 
POF said:
I thought he was very good today. He kept it simple, did the basics well and his quality shone through in key moments.

If he always played like that he would be a far more effective player.
Click to expand...

Precisely this.

Keeping it simple is old fashioned these days, where we just want to see those fancy tricks and passes. Pogba kept it simple today and was pretty effective too. So overall a decent game all round from him.
 
Stacks said:
Why wouldn't I? It matches up to how he appeared every time I saw him play for France or the odd Juve game and also his time here. Also I imagine Juve fans watched more games than we did so would have a much better Judgement of Pogba. Its not like they are attacking him, they were giving an honest assessment and a bit of a reality check. United fans like to act as though they all studied him with a fine toothed comb since he left United but the reality is they didn't and ended up believing he was something he wasn't. Many rely on his accolades "serie a team of the year, fifa 11" etc rather than an actual assessment of this games/performances from that period.
Click to expand...

I just gave you example of how same players we all watch and how differently we rate them, for example check Pogba, Smalling and Lukaku thread. I haven't watched his all games but I watched him enough to make a good enough judgement. He was never the player who controlled games, he was always the one who provided the spark in midfield.

Also please don't talk for all, some of us do actually watch few other major leagues. Not every single game, but good enough games to make good judgement on our own.
 
His goal is the only reason he's getting MoTM, Kante was much better and important to the team. The guy was everywhere and put out some good counter-attacking passes. France are notoriously slow-starters, and this really should have been a draw. I think Pogba had a decent game, but outside of his goal it was nothing more than just decent.
 
Sayros said:
His goal is the only reason he's getting MoTM, Kante was much better and important to the team. The guy was everywhere and put out some good counter-attacking passes. France are notoriously slow-starters, and this really should have been a draw. I think Pogba had a decent game, but outside of his goal it was nothing more than just decent.
Click to expand...
Much better in what? As if Iceland was all over France and . Kante for all his good is as I described played in one way tempo. Against packed defensive team, he would accelerate play against the will of the team trying to be more patient.

One day we have Lampard saying Pogba needed to up his gam eby goal scoring. The next we have his goal only ... narrative. Take Pogba contribution out, then France wouldn't have won this game with how the team performed and how Kante play (he perform well, but not exactly offering the type of quality they really need aka match winner)
 
Good performance.

Not exceptional, not terrible which is range of opinions you get on match thread which sums up the divisive nature of opinion about him.

I thought he was good first half. Much quieter second but his ball still lead to penalty and obviously big part of the own goal.

Thing that worried me is after he scored he switched off from the game. About 3 times after that he was so casual on the ball he just gave if away so easily. Reminds me of what Mourinho said about Joe Cole years ago, when he scored the game finished for him.
 
FootballHQ said:
Good performance.

Not exceptional, not terrible which is range of opinions you get on match thread which sums up the divisive nature of opinion about him.

I thought he was good first half. Much quieter second but his ball still lead to penalty and obviously big part of the own goal.

Thing that worried me is after he scored he switched off from the game. About 3 times after that he was so casual on the ball he just gave if away so easily. Reminds me of what Mourinho said about Joe Cole years ago, when he scored the game finished for him.
Click to expand...
While it's fair point, but it can be used to describe France mentality, tatic after Pogba scored. They're into game management mode. They know they had a bad day and no point pushing for another goal and risk letting the Aussie back into game. They then had no exact purpose going forward, not saying Pogba was instructed to lose the ball, just that it's harder to attack with the team was in pragmatic mode. Any good attack is bonus, not a must do. Not fecking up the result is job well done by then.
 
ti vu said:
Much better in what? As if Iceland was all over France and . Kante for all his good is as I described played in one way tempo. Against packed defensive team, he would accelerate play against the will of the team trying to be more patient.

One day we have Lampard saying Pogba needed to up his gam eby goal scoring. The next we have his goal only ... narrative. Take Pogba contribution out, then France wouldn't have won this game with how the team performed and how Kante play (he perform well, but not exactly offering the type of quality they really need aka match winner)
Click to expand...

Well, for one, we didn't play Iceland. Second, as I said, I thought Pogba was decent. I don't care if he scores goals or not, and I don't have an unreasonable criticism of him. However, if Tolisso didn't get a yellow, I think it would have been Pogba who would have been substituted for Matuidi. Kante just had a bigger impact on the midfield than Pogba did, he is more important to France at the moment than Pogba, his goal notwithstanding.
 
Sayros said:
Well, for one, we didn't play Iceland. Second, as I said, I thought Pogba was decent. I don't care if he scores goals or not, and I don't have an unreasonable criticism of him. However, if Tolisso didn't get a yellow, I think it would have been Pogba who would have been substituted for Matuidi. Kante just had a bigger impact on the midfield than Pogba did, he is more important to France at the moment than Pogba, his goal notwithstanding.
Click to expand...
Brain fart, when typing it out... :nervous:

You have to consider context of the game. I meant France is the superior team who needs to break down the Aussies. The Aussies are happy with the draw. The impact that shifted the balance toward France's need, both time was Pogba's. Kante is industrious, eye catching in this type of game, more consistent during the game and plays well at individual level, but that's that. That influence didn't fulfill the need of the team thus doesn't warrant the much better praise. His work can be replaced but wouldn't be missed as the team need something else which Kante is not the go to guy for that need. It's the same thing I said last EURO with all the Kante love in during the group stage for him to be dropped later during the KO phase.

I disagree on Pogba would be the one would get subbed for "if not" reason. As far as matches I followed France NT, Deschamps has great trust in Pogba. Rarely him getting subbed, and especially not when the team need some isolated moment of individual brilliance in attack.
 
Last edited:
VanHaal'sRedArmy said:
Click to expand...

What's wrong with this performance? He played good. Was at the heart of all the good moves the team put together and finished one off himself with a bit of luck from a deflection but he made that chance for himself. All too much fuss about nothing really. I felt Mbappe and Dembele were the weak links today and have to play better next time.
 
Thought he was good, very industrious performance. The buildup and the goal were nice even if it were a bit flukey, Aus had fallen apart by then. He still is stuck in an immature space of "I WANNA BE THE LIGHTS OUT SUPER STAR and solid fundamentals is what I need to do to achieve the platform for superstar.." I think he has to get out of his own head a little bit and realize life is short and play football as hard as you can and do the best you can. Nobody cares how you look doing it in the end.
 
ti vu said:
Brain fart, when typing it out... :nervous:

You have to consider context of the game. I meant France is the superior team who needs to break down the Aussies. The Aussies are happy with the draw. The impact that shifted the balance toward France's need, both time was Pogba's. Kante is industrious, eye catching in this type of game, more consistent during the game and plays well at individual level, but that's that. That influence didn't fulfill the need of the team thus doesn't warrant the much better praise. His work can be replaced but wouldn't be missed as the team need something else which Kante is not the go to guy for that need. It's the same thing I said last EURO with all the Kante love in during the group stage for him to be dropped later during the KO phase.

I disagree on Pogba would be the one would get subbed for "if not" reason. As far as matches I followed France NT, Deschamps has great trust in Pogba. Rarely him getting subbed, and especially not when the team need some isolated moment of individual brilliance in attack.
Click to expand...

I completely disagree with you that Kante's work could be replaced. The fact is, France has very poor tactics, Deschamps's formation and the spaces they leave in the middle are going to be exposed at some point, Kante is just really doing a massive job in covering those flaws as much as possible. Pogba has other very useful qualities as he's one of the few players outside of Giroud who can be physical when the ball is in the air, and he's decent at playing under pressure which is another weakness of France. I just think you're speaking of this game solely where Pogba was very fortunate with an own goal that worked out, and a great piece of vision and passing for the first. However, this team will need Kante more than Pogba because all I'm talking about is the midfield balance, and you're focusing on the end product of Pogba's game against Australia. Ideally, it would be great to have both playing on top form as I'd rather have Pogba than Matuidi, but against teams that can expose this midfield (which there will be quite a few), Pogba will really need to show that he can cover the spaces DD's poor tactics leave France with.

What's clear is that unless this team really steps it up, especially the coaching and tactics (doubtful), it's going to be a big disillusion for my French team soon.

Sorry for the late response.
 
Sayros said:
I completely disagree with you that Kante's work could be replaced. The fact is, France has very poor tactics, Deschamps's formation and the spaces they leave in the middle are going to be exposed at some point, Kante is just really doing a massive job in covering those flaws as much as possible. Pogba has other very useful qualities as he's one of the few players outside of Giroud who can be physical when the ball is in the air, and he's decent at playing under pressure which is another weakness of France. I just think you're speaking of this game solely where Pogba was very fortunate with an own goal that worked out, and a great piece of vision and passing for the first. However, this team will need Kante more than Pogba because all I'm talking about is the midfield balance, and you're focusing on the end product of Pogba's game against Australia. Ideally, it would be great to have both playing on top form as I'd rather have Pogba than Matuidi, but against teams that can expose this midfield (which there will be quite a few), Pogba will really need to show that he can cover the spaces DD's poor tactics leave France with.

What's clear is that unless this team really steps it up, especially the coaching and tactics (doubtful), it's going to be a big disillusion for my French team soon.

Sorry for the late response.
Click to expand...
There is no space in the central to be exploited. The space being exploited all game was on the wing where the forwards were allowed to stay up front and the 2 full backs (Pavard can't play full back by the look of this game). Australia hardly play through the central. All they do is try to draw the forwards away from their full backs then spread the ball. Next they combined between their wide attacker and full back running at France fullback. Australia lack quality to deliver for their forwards.

While Kante was good to offer some cover for the full backs, and recover loose ball, it's nothing out of the world that Matuidi or NZonzi couldn't do. It is not like France was playing against Spain where Isco, Silva, Iniesta Inter changing positions and cut inside from wide area all game. France was not pressing trying to win the ball up front so again, no need for Kante ability to press and win the ball up front.

Kante with France has never struck a harmony of balance. Kante ain't Makelele. He is not happy to sit tight all game. As no 8 as I explained, he lack the creativity and play at hyper pace suited for a counter attacking team. Kante hasn't had a good partnership with anyone in the France NT. Even when Kante was at his best, it's not necessarily France flying as a team. On the other, Matuidi, Pogba, Lemar when playing well can get the team clicks.

Pogba beside the goal involved incidents, also made other chance that on another with the forward being sharp can convert into goal scoring chance. The final touch for the goal was fortunate but, you don't see that play very often all game. You think taking Pogba off would be the same or better. Tollisso was inconsistent all game. He didn't get into game before half hour mark. Before that he lost fair share of 50/50, couldn't shake off his marker. Even when he improved until he got subbed, it's not even decent. His choice of pass especially toward the 2 full backs who struggled, just made the situation worse, stifled the flow of the team. Matuidi helped Pogba to enforcing thing through the central more which one of which leading to the goal, however way you want to downplay it.

When tactic was this wrong: leaving 3 players up front doing nothing in defensive phase & full backs can't work offensively (one isolating the attackers, it's mountain of work to ask the midfield to take control of the flow of the game. Them to secure the central area then make some match winning moment is fine contribution.
 
Absolutely brilliant today, behind all good moves of France. One assist ... Could have had 3 assists.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.