Jeppers7
Pogfamily Mafia
- Joined
- Feb 25, 2014
- Messages
- 7,435
I think I’d go along with those figures too. I’d also add that a lot of those ‘average games by top player standards’ have been bread and butter performances for many top players across the game. He’s won MOTM in a number of those games, for example, given he’s won that award more than the 14/15 really good games you speak of. A good performance with no goal or assist in a routine 2-0 home win doesn’t stick in the memory. Nobody may have been spectacular, and he was still the best player on the pitch. These are the games that have sneakily been filed under ‘poor performance’ in retrospect, and it’s just false. They were not considered poor performances 10 minutes after the game. They were not games that will stick in the memory for years though, and have been taken away from him at a later date.
I can pluck a random game being United vs Leicester in August 2017 where he was voted MOTM, and we won 2-0. I doubt that makes anyone’s list of ‘great performances’ for him, but it’s a forgotten game like this which is swept into the ‘he hasn’t played well’ category.
I remember texting a friend from OT during that game, asking if the commentators had mentioned Pogba because he was immense. He said not really. Watched the France Argentina game a couple of days ago on FIFA TV. They had Ian Darke commentating on it. The ball Pogba played to Mbappe....60 yards on a sixpence after being fouled...he didn’t mention it. Not even on replay. There’s a definite agenda in the media in England and everyone has bought into it. The reality is left behind with a great pass, excellent performance swept aside unless it was memorable like the city game, where actually his overall performance wasn’t the best it has been or even close.
As an aside, I remember watching Ronaldo and Rooney when they first came to United. I was always convinced Ronaldo was by day the better player. I used to watch Ronaldo's good games be forgotten about, and Rooneys poor games get forgotten about. It was as if Rooney never had a bad game. He had loads. But if Rooney played a good pass...you’d hear about it for the entire week. Where Ronaldos great run or skill or cross wouldn’t be mentioned.
I’m sure there’s something to link this, confirmation bias.