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Paul Pogba France flag

2018-19 Performances


View full 2018-19 profile

5.8 Season Average Rating
Appearances
47
Goals
16
Assists
14
Yellow cards
7
Red cards
1
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If he stays fit I can see him reaching 20 goals and 20 assists. When was the last time one of our players reached those numbers?

I don't think our players ever reached those numbers since treble year when Cole or Yorke had 20 plus goals and assists.
 
I think comparing Scholes and Pogba is really not fair to either because both are very different from each other even though both are/were technically ‘midfielders’. Scholes was playing in a team where creative burdern to a large extent was shared with wingers (Becks/Giggsy) and the strikers. His job was to make sure he provides the pass before the final pass, i.e move the ball to an area where the attacker is in space and can open up defences. Further, he was supposed to control the tempo of the game by deciding when to move the ball fast and when to slow it down. Assists and goals were the cherry on top of the cake but not his main job.

Pogba on the other hand in Juventus and in United is more of a final third player. He is the main man responsible for providing the final pass and also scoring goals. He has skills that Scholes didnt have that help him move up the pitch and provide the final pass (i.e his dribbling, vision, and passing). At the same time, he doesn’t yet have the skills/ experience to control the game or simplify the game.
 
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This seems to be the standard comment after any great pass ever player by anyone. From my recollection, Scholes didn’t create anywhere near as many chances as Pogba or have the kind of assist ratio he has. Pogba is the most creative passer we have had at the club in my lifetime, unless we are considering Becks’ crossing. No central player has opened up teams as often as him, Rooney and Scholes were more cross-field specialists.
Yeah, Pogba is the most creative passer we have had in our club during my lifetime. Nowhere as good as dictating the game as Scholes, but a better passer when it comes to the final ball.

Scholes had some ridiculous assists though, with my favorite being his pass to Rooney vs Milan

https://www.trollfootball.me/videos/view/0-scholes-pass-to-rooney-in-2007-ucl-semi-final-vs-ac

He did that to fecking Nesta, one of the greatest defenders of all time.
 
Yeah, Pogba is the most creative passer we have had in our club during my lifetime. Nowhere as good as dictating the game as Scholes, but a better passer when it comes to the final ball.

Scholes had some ridiculous assists though, with my favorite being his pass to Rooney vs Milan

https://www.trollfootball.me/videos/view/0-scholes-pass-to-rooney-in-2007-ucl-semi-final-vs-ac

He did that to fecking Nesta, one of the greatest defenders of all time.

Well that’s fair. And the Milan assist was great, it has been spoken about for years since then. I do think that is bread and butter for Pogba though.

He certainly, from memory, was the superior tempo-setter. I think that’s not even a fair comparison to make anyway, as he had a significant portion of his career where that was his sole job in the team. People want that from Pogba now, I’m addition to being a part-time Zidane. I think the World Cup showed he’s able to do it from deeper if needed, and I imagine when he’s 32 and dropped deeper, he will be doing it in slippers and cigars too like Scholes.

It may not seem like it but I certainly accept Scholes’ brilliance. It just irks me that I think football as a whole doesn’t accept Pogba’s. That’s why I initially reacted to the statement that Scholes would have been proud of Pogba’s assist against Leicester. Pogba does that better and more often than Scholes! Give him his own credit.

Similarly to Pogba today, Scholes was a quite unique midfielder in his time in terms of style. His ‘type’ of midfielder overlapped a bit, so he had bits of Xavi and bits of Lampard. Maybe it led to him not getting some of the praise Lampard and Gerrard did at times.
 
I think comparing Scholes and Pogba is really not fair to either because both are very different from each other even though both are/were technically ‘midfielders’. Scholes was playing in a team where creative burdern to a large extent was shared with wingers (Becks/Giggsy) and the strikers. His job was to make sure he provides the pass before the final pass, i.e move the ball to an area where the attacker is in space and can open up defences. Further, he was supposed to control the tempo of the game by deciding when to move the ball fast and when to slow it down. Assists and goals were the cherry on top of the cake but not his main job.

Pogba on the other hand in Juventus and in United is more of a final third player. He is the main man responsible for providing the final pass and also scoring goals. He has skills that Scholes didnt have that help him move up the pitch and provide the final pass (i.e his dribbling, vision, and passing). At the same time, he doesn’t yet have the skills/ experience to control the game or simplify the game.

Yea I agree. Player comparison is never an exact science. As you said, all players differ, and I also think relative success of their teams forms much of the judgement too.

And for the record, I think David Silva largely performs similar roles to Scholes and is an undoubtedly better player in the PL too.
 
Is there a chance he could be rested Saturday ? There’s a few big games coming up.
Personally I don’t think we can afford to rest him, it would be better to play him and if we’re comfortable take him off.
 
Some of his best passes in his first season after his comeback



Underrated season...very unlucky
 
Is there a chance he could be rested Saturday ? There’s a few big games coming up.
Personally I don’t think we can afford to rest him, it would be better to play him and if we’re comfortable take him off.

Fulham's defence is shit and is there for taking, hope we can score 3 goals so we can sub Pogba, Rashford and Martial early to prepare for PSG games.
 
Some of his best passes in his first season after his comeback



Underrated season...very unlucky


I mean, how can you watch such a player and be saying ‘even Scholes (or anyone else) would have been proud of that pass’? He’s very special.

I blame Graeme Souness for this.
 
Some of his best passes in his first season after his comeback



Underrated season...very unlucky

It's incredible the general consensus in media after this year was "waste of money" and "inconsistent". The guy was superb and was let down by the abysmal finishing of our attackers.
 
If he doesn’t make the team of the season I’ll be furious, although not surprised. I think Bernardo Silva is the only other midfielder who should definitely be in there. I imagine they will pick Declan Rice or something over Pogba though.
 
Pogba to me is already clear of some many of these legends. the guy has so much to his football, and creates so much. amazing player
 
Scholes started as a striker in the academy, then shadow striker briefly for the first XI, then AM and finally CM before retiring.

Paul is an inside left AM; has always been. He's been given more duties as a CM for France and Mou United but never really excelled in those roles.

Even comparing both their AM periods, they played very differently with Scholes focusing on distribution, ghosting into the box and long range poppers while Pogba plays almost like a forward at times.

I think PP is absolutely top class as an inside left and could be one of the greats there. I also don't think he can transition well into a deeper position as he ages; PP bears no CM/DM hallmarks of tempo setting, distribution or defensive shielding.

A few more seasons like this one from PP plus major trophies will see him crystalize as one of the MU greats and if we can win two or more CLs with him, PP could take over Scholes in the United Greats.
 
Scholes started as a striker in the academy, then shadow striker briefly for the first XI, then AM and finally CM before retiring.

Paul is an inside left AM; has always been. He's been given more duties as a CM for France and Mou United but never really excelled in those roles.

Even comparing both their AM periods, they played very differently with Scholes focusing on distribution, ghosting into the box and long range poppers while Pogba plays almost like a forward at times.

I think PP is absolutely top class as an inside left and could be one of the greats there. I also don't think he can transition well into a deeper position as he ages; PP bears no CM/DM hallmarks of tempo setting, distribution or defensive shielding.

A few more seasons like this one from PP plus major trophies will see him crystalize as one of the MU greats and if we can win two or more CLs with him, PP could take over Scholes in the United Greats.
I doubt the French would agree here.
 
If he doesn’t make the team of the season I’ll be furious, although not surprised. I think Bernardo Silva is the only other midfielder who should definitely be in there. I imagine they will pick Declan Rice or something over Pogba though.

If you look at any of the team of the season threads made halfway through the season, Pogba was barely mentioned. He's been great this half so far, but not enough to bump others off the list.

So far for me:

--------Kane or Aguero

Sterling Hazard Salah

----Fernandinho B.Silva

Robertson Laporte Van Dijk TAA

--------------Allison
 
I doubt the French would agree here.

No arguing France and PP won the WC.

But not off the back of an incredible CM performance by PP. He did his best work forward playing, the CM part did the job but 10 years from now no one will be remembering the WC for PP's CM performance.
 
If you look at any of the team of the season threads made halfway through the season, Pogba was barely mentioned. He's been great this half so far, but not enough to bump others off the list.

So far for me:

--------Kane or Aguero

Sterling Hazard Salah

----Fernandinho B.Silva

Robertson Laporte Van Dijk TAA

--------------Allison
Hazards form has completely fallen away for a while now?
There's no way he should be anywhere near an EPL 11.
 
No arguing France and PP won the WC.

But not off the back of an incredible CM performance by PP. He did his best work forward playing, the CM part did the job but 10 years from now no one will be remembering the WC for PP's CM performance.

That’s football in general, people remember the goalscorers more. That’s very different from saying ‘France tried Pogba deeper and it didn’t work out.’

And for good measure, he scored in the final anyway, so yea, he’ll be remembered.
 
I mean, how can you watch such a player and be saying ‘even Scholes (or anyone else) would have been proud of that pass’? He’s very special.

I blame Graeme Souness for this.
Because Scholes was a complete and utter legend of the game and one the greatest passers we've seen?

Pogba is brilliant. His creative passing is up there with anybody but Messi and possibly KDB right now. But Scholes was a better passer in general. The short little passes (not just the Hollywood ones), Scholes was considerably better. I mean it's not really close in that regard
 
Because Scholes was a complete and utter legend of the game and one the greatest passers we've seen?

Pogba is brilliant. His creative passing is up there with anybody but Messi and possibly KDB right now. But Scholes was a better passer in general. The short little passes (not just the Hollywood ones), Scholes was considerably better. I mean it's not really close in that regard

I don’t think anyone sees Pogba pass it 5 yards and say ‘Scholes would be proud’. They say it after he makes passes like he did against Leicester, which he is simply better at than Scholes was.

Scholes was ‘better’ at passing the ball short though. Although there’s little wrong with Pogba’s short passing, it’s something he can occasionally be sloppy with, but it’s massively blown out of proportion on here. He regularly completes the large majority of his passes, and that is when they are looked at in their entirety too, short-passes, backheels, through passes etc. I’d imagine he’s mid-80s typically.

I don’t think ‘better passer in general’ is fair either. Scholes short-passing is better. Their respective roles also play a part in that tbh. I don’t think Jorginho is a ‘better passer’ than Pogba, although he probably completes more. Lindelöf probably has a higher accuracy.

And you kind of alluded to, but didn’t quite say, that Pogba is a better creative passer than Scholes was. That’s a part of passing too. Short passing deserves no extra weight IMO. The fact that Pogba is a sensational creative passer and a very good short passer doesn’t make him an inferior passer to a sensational short passer and a very good creative one.

His passes to Rashford against Leicester and Spurs shouldn’t be dismissed as ‘Hollywood’ either, they are very difficult and very important ones in the winning of the game. I agree that Scholes’ passing was key to us controlling the game, as he kept us in possession too, but both serve their purpose.
 
That’s football in general, people remember the goalscorers more. That’s very different from saying ‘France tried Pogba deeper and it didn’t work out.’

And for good measure, he scored in the final anyway, so yea, he’ll be remembered.

I don't know why you even bother to reply, there is zero substance here
 
I mean it's not really close in that regard

it really is. i don't know why people on this forum are so intent on trying to paint this insurmountable gap between them, especially when in many regards Pogba is superior to Scholes
 
Yea I agree. Player comparison is never an exact science. As you said, all players differ, and I also think relative success of their teams forms much of the judgement too.

And for the record, I think David Silva largely performs similar roles to Scholes and is an undoubtedly better player in the PL too.

You either don't watch Silva or didn't watch Scholes
 
You either don't watch Silva or didn't watch Scholes

I watched both. Both ‘set the tempo’ for their teams and are short-pass specialists. They move around the pitch differently, but operationally, they are similar as CMs, apart from the 33 year old Scholes who was a Jorginho.
 
Insane form. So glad he's showing what all we all knew was possible.

Funny how we haven't heard a peep from the haters recently.
 
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