The Game Dissected: key to unlocking Paul Pogba’s potential is role, not position
In his weekly column, Tom Clarke explains that the Manchester United midfielder excels in many different areas but needs a manager to curb his enthusiasm
With Chelsea on Saturday and Juventus next Tuesday it will be a daunting return to domestic football for Manchester United.
While debate will continue about the future of José Mourinho another big name still dividing opinion is Paul Pogba. Having put in a man-of-the-match performance in
the 3-2 comeback win against Newcastle, Pogba will need to be at his best again if United’s revival is to be confirmed in those two big games.
In this week’s Game Dissected we analyse the £89 million star who delights and frustrates in equal measure.
Trying to win it on his own
After starring for France as they won the World Cup in the summer (more on his international performances later), the pressure was on for Pogba to return to United and finally justify his price tag and potential.
Midfielders are often judged on their passing and Pogba fares pretty well so far this season. As the graphic below shows, he is second only to Chelsea’s pass master Jorginho when it comes to passes made in the opposition half and, of those six midfielders who have made the most passes, he has a good accuracy rating too.
The players listed in the graphic above are the names you would expect: the playmakers and linking midfielders who see a lot of possession, starting attacks from the back and also helping their forwards to recycle the ball.
The graphic below shows two other categories for midfielders this season: shots on goal and duels (50-50 challenges to win the ball).
Pogba has had the most shots of any midfielder and also had the most duels for the ball (winning 45 per cent of those 121 duels).
What is interesting here is not so much the statistics but the categories themselves. Let us consider the idea of a modern-day, three-man midfield.
You might have your defensive midfielder, the likes of Mo Diame or Wilfred Ndidi who sit deep, fight for the ball and feature in the duels category. You would have your linking midfielder who sees a lot of the ball, like James Milner, Granit Xhaka or Jorginho, prominent in the passing category. And then an attacking midfielder like Christian Eriksen and Gylfi Sigurdsson who will push on, join in with attacks and try to score goals.
Three different statistics reflect three different types of player and yet Pogba features prominently in all three categories. Indeed no other player even features in two categories.
That is fairly remarkable and tells us that Pogba’s effort for the United cause cannot be questioned. It is interesting to note that Pogba is also the only player from a “big-six” side to feature in the duels category, hinting at the fact that United haven’t always dominated games like their rivals. Pogba is making passes, he’s taking shots and he’s happy to battle the opposition for the ball.
But is he trying too much? In a team struggling for consistency both in terms of results and tactics, is the star in the middle — perhaps frustrated by misfiring forwards and error-prone defenders — trying to save United on his own?
The graphic below is interesting in this regard. On the left we see that only two midfielders have had more touches of the ball than Pogba. On the right we see that only Huddersfield’s Philip Billing has lost the ball more than Pogba.
Now, players who lose the ball can either lack ability or be guilty of trying passes, flicks or tricks which don’t come off. Only last week we discussed
how Declan Rice’s conservative passing for West Ham might mean he isn’t suited to being a midfielder. Play ten-yard passes from side to side and you’ll be top of the passing accuracy charts.
But Pogba isn’t that type of player and he knows United need more from him. They need him to open up the opposition. The only problem is that sometimes this season they have needed him to score
and scrap to win back the ball too.
Pogba is trying to be United’s Roy of the Rovers and it is affecting his ability to show us the player he can be. I am focusing on this season’s statistics alone but it is interesting that in the last Premier League campaign Pogba again featured fairly prominently in many categories from assists (10) to duels (373).
Another interesting statistic from last season is that when it comes to losing possession the midfielder who topped the charts was Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne, losing the ball 810 times. But with 16 assists (the most in the league and six more than Pogba) and surrounded by a stunning team who won the title with 100 points, giving the ball away is easily excused. When Pogba — the £89-million, flashy, 25-year-old with the many haircuts — attempts a 30-yard pass that is intercepted he has nowhere to hide.
Now I’m not saying Pogba is purely a victim of circumstance, I have been frustrated and confused watching him play over the past few seasons. But I do think some of the criticism levelled at him is unfair and think, as the statistics suggest, that his struggles come from lacking a clear role in a team who has lost their identity.
And this idea — about a role and identity — leads us to that win against Newcastle.
The beating heart of Manchester United’s comeback
At 2-0 down at home to Newcastle there was only one thing for Manchester United to do: attack, attack, attack. The chant that has come to embody the frustrations of United fans, and was referenced by Pogba in
comments that got him in trouble with Mourinho, was the perfect tactic.
But for the modern manager it’s not that simple. Quite often just throwing on attacking players and sacrificing defenders doesn’t work as the opposition can just mark a big mass of forwards, clear long balls that are lumped into the box and even score on the counterattack.
So Mourinho needed more attacking threat but still needed to retain a balance and ensure he had players who could help those attackers flourish. Enter Pogba.
Mourinho moved his all-action midfielder into a deeper role for the second half and gave him the responsibility of transferring the ball effectively from defence to those attackers. How do I know? Mourinho said so: “He [Pogba] was playing with Matic in front of [Chris] Smalling because we need some technical quality to bring the ball from the back.”
So United had a clear identity and Pogba had clear role and we see that role clearly in the opening seconds of the second half. The image below shows Pogba, alongside Nemanja Matic, beckoning Smalling to run forward into space.
Pogba was certainly doing his job of creating chances for his team-mates. He had a long-range shot which was parried and Matic should have scored the rebound and he also crossed for Marcus Rashford to head just wide. But with their attacking efforts United were leaving themselves open. As the image below shows Pogba was forced into picking up his first booking of the season for this trip on DeAndre Yedlin to stop a Newcastle counterattack.
With Alexis Sánchez coming on for Rashford and Juan Mata scoring a free kick in the 70th minute United had hope. Up stepped Pogba who played a key role in both United’s equaliser and the winner.
The image above shows the start of the move which led to Anthony Martial making it 2-2. Seeing Sánchez on the ball Pogba moves into space to receive a pass and immediately flicks the ball to the onrushing Mata who sends the ball wide to the left.
The image above shows the ball then on the other side of the pitch with Martial laying the ball off for Luke Shaw to cross. Note where the three players from the first image are now — Sánchez and Mata have continued their forward runs into the box but not Pogba. He has moved across the pitch and is in space on the edge of the box.
Why? Because United have four players in the box already — if Newcastle clear they need someone to win it back and keep possession and momentum. Indeed Pogba is actually looking back towards his own goal, assessing the state of the pitch as a whole and whether or not there is a threat on the counter.
Shaw’s cross is cleared but, as the image above shows, who is in the perfect place to win a header straight back to Martial? Pogba.
So United can attack again and, as the image above shows, with Shaw now deeper, Pogba can help Martial, attacking the space and offering a short passing option. Newcastle’s Mo Diame spots Pogba’s run and moves to track him.
Diame gets close to Pogba but not close enough. As the image above shows Martial makes his pass, gets the ball back thanks to a clever backheel by Pogba, takes another touch before scoring from the area vacated by Diame tracking Pogba.
The statistics log Pogba’s involvement in Martial’s goal as an assist but his role is far more important than that. He moved across the pitch, finding space, giving his team-mates options and moving Newcastle players out of position. It showed intelligence and awareness and he did it again for United’s 90th-minute winner.
As the image above shows a Newcastle throw-in is easily intercepted by Shaw, who has an easy option of heading the ball to Pogba on the left wing.
Again, as the image above shows, the United midfielder attacks the space and brings United’s forwards into play, this time playing the ball to Sánchez.
Sánchez plays the ball wide to Romelu Lukaku and, as the image above shows, Pogba again shows good positional awareness. With United’s striker and target man in Lukaku being out on the right Pogba makes a run into the box. Sánchez and Mata make runs to join him while Ashley Young makes a charge to overlap Lukaku.
The key theme of all of these images is that Pogba is either on the ball or close to the team-mate that is. He is always providing an option, facilitating United’s movement of the ball and helping to keep the attack alive.
As the image above shows Pogba is close enough for Lukaku to play a short pass to him just inside the box. Pogba has drawn Newcastle’s centre back Federico Fernández out of a central area which is now dominated by four United players. Pogba holds on to the ball just long enough to also get the attention of Newcastle left back Javier Manquillo who attempts to close down the United man.
But Pogba is still able to lay the ball off for Young — now forward and in an attacking position — who crosses for Sanchez to head home. Not even an assist for Pogba but he was the heartbeat of United’s winning goal.
So is he United’s star man? I think he might be but he needs a clearly defined role to shine and against Newcastle he got it. As the graphic below shows he covered all areas of the pitch to keep United’s hopes alive and of the statistics listed Pogba was best of United’s players but for recoveries (Matic made 11).
It is interesting to think back to France’s World Cup-winning side and Pogba’s role in it. It was remarkably similar to his role in that United team against Newcastle.
France had N’Golo Kanté, the ultimate holding midfielder, charging around and winning the ball back and in front of him were Pogba and Blaise Matuidi who were given the task of getting the ball to Kylian Mbappé and Antoine Griezmann in positions where they could hurt the opposition. Pogba was an effective part of a well-drilled and dominant machine who could beat both stubborn and attacking opponents.
Indeed it is interesting that in France’s 2-2 draw with Iceland last week Pogba played in a deeper role without Kanté and struggled, being taken off midway through the second half with France 2-0 down.
Also when he was struggling to make an impact in his first season at United many fans were saying “he needs to play on the left of a midfield three” — the position where he had impressed for Juventus. But the position is not the key. What is important is giving a player with so much talent, who can be guilty of trying to do it all, a clear role in a clearly defined system. Do that and Mourinho and United might still be able to turn their season around.
