Essay incoming
I think the problems for Pogba have been largely based around how opinion/perception is formed. The facts and figures are there. He’s had far more good games than he’s had poor ones. In the last few years, David Silva has probably had almost as many poor/below par games as he’s had good ones. I think two things count most when it comes to these things - performances in big games and overall success of your team.
Pogba has a huge reputation and price tag, and when the big games have come around, he has been expected to be the star of the show. Quite often, he has not been. That said, if I was to really list all the big games one by one, he’s had plenty of good performances, but the second point is - they haven’t really mattered due to ultimate failure, and there’s only so much praise you can get if your team is underachieving. Conversely, some people actually believe Jordan Henderson has been the best player in the PL this year - which he hasn’t, by a distance.
I think when judging players, below par games are forgotten more easily when they are part of great, winning teams. On the flip side, good performances are forgotten very quickly when you are part of a poor side or one falling short of expectation. It’s just the way of the game. Ballon D’ors tend to come from World Cup or CL winning teams etc.
Your statement about Scholes (although I doubt you were speaking literally) is of course inaccurate if we were to forensically analyse each game. But the ‘12 year period’ you speak of is basically 12 years of success for United. Every player who played a part in that is remembered for what they were good at/contributed rather than their weaknesses and bad games. I see players like Park Ji Sung spoken about as a folk hero from the past, Louis Saha implied to have been one of the very top bracket players. The reality is, for me, if United were 4th or 5th, Park would be far from good enough for most. I’ve seen him compared to Lingard as a miles better version, but in reality, he wasn’t really.
Back to Pogba, I won’t say he hasn’t had bad games at all. I’m saying that he’s had plenty of good ones. A random game I will pluck from nowhere could be Palace away in 2016 I think, where he turned the game for us after we went 1-0 down. Equalised and then set up a late winner for Zlatan. I think the following week he set up an equaliser for Martial and scored a late winner himself. These are just random unmemorable games. Airbrushed from memory. Put them in the context of a title winning season, however, and the narrative is very different. They came in December that year, and I think we went through a run of many games where every goal we scored was either scored or created by Pogba or Zlatan. But the further into history that goes, the less relevant that spell, for example, gets - because we finished 6th. Fast forward 3 years, it can be forgotten altogether and people can say ‘other than a spell when Ole took over’. It isn’t true. And that spell isn’t the only spell, it was one of many examples I could have used. And it was longer than the games I listed to, it was just an example, but a spell you would quickly recall if we had won the league.
This is why players tend to want to play for the best teams and win trophies in order to get the recognition even on an individual level. The rest gets forgotten in time. Ultimately, it’s easier to make a case that they were not ‘good enough’. I can assure you that if we had won one title and only qualified for the CL once or twice in the 12 years you speak of, you will likely have a different assessment of how that period went for Scholes. It’s similar when I get into debates about Giggs. We’re going back over a lot of years. Why would people remember bad games when the team was winning everything? It’s very hard to compete with, unless being compared to a player who also played a part in several trophies.
I would like to make it clear that I don’t dispute that Pogba has had his share of below par games for us. The reality is, if anyone can be bothered to go through these things game by game over years - most top players have many, and I think in real terms, Pogba hasn’t had more, necessarily, than others who are held in higher regard. Pogba would be described as ‘good games and bad games’, for example, while Zidane’s career will be summarised differently. It’s very nuanced I think. Zidane wasn’t the most celebrated version of himself in at least half of the games he played in reality. He is one of the most decorated players of his time though, and crucially, has had some massive individual moments at the right time.
If Pogba had played exactly as he has for last 3 years and we had won major honours, perhaps we had Cristiano Ronaldo in his prime and Rooney and Rio etc too and a great team - he would likely be considered to have made a major impact and been a successful signing. It would be an easy argument to make. I could pull up a number of videos on YouTube that show all the good things he’s done, and coupled with our success, anyone arguing that he hasn’t been brilliant would look silly. A random game at Southampton where he didn’t do much but Ronaldo won it for us, on the way to a league and cup double, would simply not exist anymore. Just like those games don’t exist for Silva, De Bruyne, Firmino, Zidane, Scholes and Giggs. Unless you are a striker who presents his case by numbers, ‘consistency’ is largely an illusion in football. Pogba hasn’t been as bad as is made out. De Bruyne (although better, I must stress), hasn’t been as good as made out. It just matters more when he is. Being part of a great team helps great players, and helps their reputations. That isn’t me saying ‘yea, it’s not Pogba’s fault, it’s everyone else’s’, it’s simply me saying that it’s nobody’s and everybody’s fault at the same time. They all need to help each other. Pogba must accept his share of the blame by virtue of being part of the team. But it’s all linked. Valencia would have been considered the best RB in the league in 16/17 if we had won it. He, personally, was brilliant. We finished 2nd in 2018 but other than the keeper, had nobody in the team of the season. We were not considered to have had a good season, due to our expectations. Liverpool finished 4th, and they were praised more highly, collectively and individually. For them, they had had a good year. Sheffield United will have more players considered to have had a good season than us, even if we finish 4th and them 5th or 6th.
In summary, as he is not a striker, I think it is almost possible to be considered a unanimous success in a United team finishing outside the top 4 regularly, and he would certainly be considered successful if the team was winning titles. Same player both times of course.
