[Hugh Jass]

He's not hands down our best player at all. This needs to stop guys. It's getting absolutely ridiculous.

He's definitely one of our better players for sure. That's undeniable. The best though? Nah not for me. Bruno has had a much bigger impact on us getting 3rd place. Anyone who can't see that may as well just start supporting Paul Pogba FC and not MUFC.

Call it fair guys. He's still a good player. He's not our best.

Agreed.

 

[Mainoldo]

He's not hands down our best player at all. This needs to stop guys. It's getting absolutely ridiculous.

He's definitely one of our better players for sure. That's undeniable. The best though? Nah not for me. Bruno has had a much bigger impact on us getting 3rd place. Anyone who can't see that may as well just start supporting Paul Pogba FC and not MUFC.

Call it fair guys. He's still a good player. He's not our best.

Bruno’s not better than Pogba, he’s far to erratic. But my god did we need him in this side.

When I say best I’m talking about quality. He’s till our best player and quality wise Martial is touching the potential we are expecting. Bruno is a great performer but he’s not of the level of a Pogba and Martial. That’s pretty clear. It’s not an FC thing either. If you are advocating supporting the club there’s no need to come with an opinion of player X being better than player Y then?

 

[Nou_Camp99]

Bruno’s not better than Pogba, he’s far to erratic. But my god did we need him in this side.

When I say best I’m talking about quality. He’s till our best player and quality wise Martial is touching the potential we are expecting. Bruno is a great performer but he’s not of the level of a Pogba and Martial. That’s pretty clear. It’s not an FC thing either. If you are advocating supporting the club there’s no need to come with an opinion of player X being better than player Y then?

Bruno turns up every week. Even when he's not on his A game like the last few games where he's been poor he still puts in a real shift. Works his balls off.

This is one area where Pogba could learn from Bruno. When Pogba isn't at it he doesn't put a shift in and he loses his man and makes silly mistakes near our box (like our last 2 home games).

Like I said..... He's still a good player but I think this world class tag is starting to fade now and rightly so. He's not world class. He's just a good player and there's not a lot wrong with that either.

 

[sp_107]

Thought he was much better today. Controlled midfield, plenty of tackles and blocks and aerially did very well defensively.

Still not convinced Matic is the best partner for him as they're both big and a bit slow to get going.

Lovely ball for the Fernandes offside goal and made a chance for us in the 1st half with some great quick feet.

People still moaning about him today are just being stupid tbh.

true but I think we can see a better Pogba if we play him a bit advanced. I don’t think he can be a better 8 unless we have a 6 someone like Kante next to him

 

[Valencia Shin Crosses]

For people who don’t seem to actually watch the games and just check to see what their favorite pundit has been saying, this is what’s happened for practically the last couple weeks with our team:

Matic is asked to play a sweeper type role, but he’s basically been dead on his feet so is normally way behind Pogba after an attack is initiated. Pogba is then double marked as teams recognize that he has a tendency to dally a bit on the ball, and if he’s left with space he will rip apart teams with his forward passing. Bruno meanwhile has practically been playing as a support striker as his work rate in defense and support has dropped levels since wearing down. Therefore the formation recently has been practically a 4-2-4 with no one really helping Pogba link passes or offering an outlet around the double mark as much as there was a month ago when the restart first came. As a result his influence drops from an overqualified 6 that keeps the play ticking over to a 1 man midfield that is expected to both cover tons of ground and play pinpoint forward passes through a press without a partner to help.

And this is why you get the Pogba that starts to linger on the ball, or plays loose passes. Either Matic or Bruno needed to play closer to him, but instead he was left on an island the middle of the park much of the time.

 

[Mainoldo]

Bruno turns up every week. Even when he's not on his A game like the last few games where he's been poor he still puts in a real shift. Works his balls off.

This is one area where Pogba could learn from Bruno. When Pogba isn't at it he doesn't put a shift in and he loses his man and makes silly mistakes near our box (like our last 2 home games).

Like I said..... He's still a good player but I think this world class tag is starting to fade now and rightly so. He's not world class. He's just a good player and there's not a lot wrong with that either.

He didn’t turn up today. So how can you say he turns up every week?

I’m not being funny but your telling posters to back the team then your criticising a player for not working his socks off.

Anyway we both know where this is going. I haven’t got time for negative Pogba fake agenda’s.

 

[Nou_Camp99]

He didn’t turn up today. So how can you say he turns up every week?

I’m not being funny but your telling posters to back the team then your criticising a player for not working his socks off.

Anyway we both know where this is going. I haven’t got time for negative Pogba fake agenda’s.

Turned up with effort mate. Did you read what I said? When he doesn't play well on the ball (like today I agree with you) he runs his ballacks off.

Bruno has had a bigger impact on this club in 5 months than Pogba has had on us in 4 years. It's just a fact you don't want to admit.

Pogba is still good player. Let's just not pretend he is something he isn't. When was his last world class game in a United shirt? Probably during Ole's caretaker run I'd say. It's that long ago.

 

[Adam-Utd]

true but I think we can see a better Pogba if we play him a bit advanced. I don’t think he can be a better 8 unless we have a 6 someone like Kante next to him

Yeah I do think he’s playing a bit reserved at the moment probably because his fitness isn’t as high as it could be, and Matic doesn’t have the speed to cover quickly if we do get countered.

He’s always best closer to goal that’s for sure.

 

[berbatrick]

And he lost the ball a number of times as well. When he was our only creator (pre-Bruno) and played with two of Fred, McT and Matic around him, the risk associated with losing the ball was not as great as it is now with only Matic. And if we get Sancho coming in as well, taking high risk actions in the build up is not as needed(many other factors influences the need for this as well)... If he could better choose the times to take the risks and when to play it safe, then him as one of two midfielders could work. Should be noted that our fullbacks inability to do something productive on the ball and our struggles to have a functioning way of progressing the ball impacts PP high risk play in a negative way. I.e. sometimes he is put in bad situations by his teammates...

I remember one bad dribble and one bad crossfield pass. Given the output at the other end (3 chances), I think it's fair. Neither I nor anybody here counts how mnay times Bruno gives it away, nd since he wasn't on his game today, Pogba had to take the riskier passes.

 

[el3mel]

Lmfao I’d love to see what you’d say about Pepe then. Or Coutinho. Or Griezmann this year. Or Dembele. Or god forbid we buy Sancho and he has just a decent game. As if every great footballer only puts in world class performances day in and day out. Christ Bruno was definitely worse today but since he’s worshipped for being great since being brought in he gets a pass.
So sick of these narratives.

How dare fans expect their team's top players to be consistent ? Way too much of expectations.

 

[RUCK4444]

For people who don’t seem to actually watch the games and just check to see what their favorite pundit has been saying, this is what’s happened for practically the last couple weeks with our team:

Matic is asked to play a sweeper type role, but he’s basically been dead on his feet so is normally way behind Pogba after an attack is initiated. Pogba is then double marked as teams recognize that he has a tendency to dally a bit on the ball, and if he’s left with space he will rip apart teams with his forward passing. Bruno meanwhile has practically been playing as a support striker as his work rate in defense and support has dropped levels since wearing down. Therefore the formation recently has been practically a 4-2-4 with no one really helping Pogba link passes or offering an outlet around the double mark as much as there was a month ago when the restart first came. As a result his influence drops from an overqualified 6 that keeps the play ticking over to a 1 man midfield that is expected to both cover tons of ground and play pinpoint forward passes through a press without a partner to help.

And this is why you get the Pogba that starts to linger on the ball, or plays loose passes. Either Matic or Bruno needed to play closer to him, but instead he was left on an island the middle of the park much of the time.

Agree, the distance between him and Bruno in particular has gotten much worse since the team has tired.

I would rest Bruno for a good while now. The pace of this league has hit him this last couple of games, it's to be expected.

In the Europa I would think about pushing Pogba further up as the no 10 with Scott and Fred behind him.

Pogba has been out for much of the league so he should have enough in the tank and likewise Scott and Fred haven't played much since the restart. Pogba comes alive on the edge of the opponents box. I think this midfield would give us an energy boost in the Europa.

 

[Jeppers7]

Turned up with effort mate. Did you read what I said? When he doesn't play well on the ball (like today I agree with you) he runs his ballacks off.

Bruno has had a bigger impact on this club in 5 months than Pogba has had on us in 4 years. It's just a fact you don't want to admit.

Pogba is still good player. Let's just not pretend he is something he isn't. When was his last world class game in a United shirt? Probably during Ole's caretaker run I'd say. It's that long ago.

Bruno was shocking against Southampton, Palace, West Ham and today. His performance levels have plummeted. It’s probably down to fatigue because he isn’t running his ballacks off either. The same can be said for most of the players but then this in response to your constant criticism of Pogba. Bruno in the last four games has not performed his role in any.

 

[Valencia Shin Crosses]

How dare fans expect their team's top players to be consistent ? Way too much of expectations.

I have no issues with expecting a certain baseline from players, it just seems that there’s a discrepancy between that and expecting a “90 million pound performance” whatever the hell that means. And Pogba seems to be held to this standard that is impossible to achieve at this point, whether that is because of the dancing, haircuts, position, price tags, hate from pundits, or a combination of all of it. Not to mention I don’t think he’s been inconsistent at all since the restart. He’s had a few bad moments but overall has probably been our “steadiest” player in terms of performances behind obviously Martial since coming back.

 

[DRJosh]

Pogba offers quality in spades but he is also a type of player that needs to feed off the quality around him. As an individual, he isn't consistent by any stretch of the imagination but all it takes is a single quality pass for him to unlock a watertight defence. He will always have that repertoire of skills in his locker which is reason enough to keep playing him unless he has a major dip in form (which has happened). I suspect with a better defence and as the chemistry develops with our front 3 (Mason, Martial, Rashford), Pogba's contribution will start to become even more evident.

 

[mu4c_20le]

Pogba on an off day

 

[RonW]

He needs to stop losing the ball in dangerous positions. It could have been easily a goal for Leicester City if they scored in the 82nd minute when I think it was Pogba who lost the ball again just like he has done in similar games this month. That said, he played really well otherwise.

 

[Grande]

I have no issues with expecting a certain baseline from players, it just seems that there’s a discrepancy between that and expecting a “90 million pound performance” whatever the hell that means. And Pogba seems to be held to this standard that is impossible to achieve at this point, whether that is because of the dancing, haircuts, position, price tags, hate from pundits, or a combination of all of it. Not to mention I don’t think he’s been inconsistent at all since the restart. He’s had a few bad moments but overall has probably been our “steadiest” player in terms of performances behind obviously Martial since coming back.

i agree with the money referances, it’s stupid. What I don’t agree with is the consistency part. We are generally a defensively solid team these days, but Pogba has gifted the opposition one or two of their best attcking chances almost every game since the restart.

Whereas you could see most of our players dropping drastically in form towards the latter games, indicating fatigue (a gamble that did pay off!), and Rashford and Bruno played worse than Pogba in general the last few games even if he had been gone for most of a year with injuries, it was striking how some of the disaster bits about him were the same as always, and not the kind you’d expect from someone who had rested mentally for most of the year: yes, his pressing, counterattacking and homeward rund went down, as with his colleauges, but in addition he presents those kind of stupidly immature decisions that you expect from a teenager, dribling against two in front of the penalty area, misjudging simple airballs because of slow mental reaction, risky passes sideways across the field in front of our own back four, and of course, showing De Gea how to get yout hands up quickky really means.Adding tohis body language in adversity looking like that of an expressive four year old jumping about with flailing arms even if the ball is within recuperation range if he could just get over it, it seems that our most gifted player is challenged in ways that rest and tactics can’t do much to change.

It’s wildly frustrating, because to me he is that good that even on a bad day, gifting a goal and a half and wasting 50% possesion, he is capable of being a bigger plus than perfectly fine players like Fred amd McTominay. It’s just maddeningly annoying to watch. When it’s not pure beauty.

 

[criticalanalysis]

For people who don’t seem to actually watch the games and just check to see what their favorite pundit has been saying, this is what’s happened for practically the last couple weeks with our team:

Matic is asked to play a sweeper type role, but he’s basically been dead on his feet so is normally way behind Pogba after an attack is initiated. Pogba is then double marked as teams recognize that he has a tendency to dally a bit on the ball, and if he’s left with space he will rip apart teams with his forward passing. Bruno meanwhile has practically been playing as a support striker as his work rate in defense and support has dropped levels since wearing down. Therefore the formation recently has been practically a 4-2-4 with no one really helping Pogba link passes or offering an outlet around the double mark as much as there was a month ago when the restart first came. As a result his influence drops from an overqualified 6 that keeps the play ticking over to a 1 man midfield that is expected to both cover tons of ground and play pinpoint forward passes through a press without a partner to help.

And this is why you get the Pogba that starts to linger on the ball, or plays loose passes. Either Matic or Bruno needed to play closer to him, but instead he was left on an island the middle of the park much of the time.

Agree. I said the exact thing earlier:

I've said it previously that it's a travesty how our most gifted player on the ball, probably had the fewest touches for all the good positions he was in.

Say what you want about him but in that midfield three, you could argue that he was the only one that was trying to play to a 'system'. I put that word in commas but quite frankly the tactics is awfully basic. You could possible take a screenshot of any minute of the first 70 and he was alway perfectly positioned in the circle centre, whilst your Matics and Brunos was more closer to both penalty boxes.

That's not a slight or criticism of the individual performances but we need to address this shocking 4-2-3-1 formation, which actually plays more like 4-2-4.

I thought Pogba was okay bordering on poor and by his standards definitely poor but you can tell he was trying, doing a lot of defensive work and trying to remain disciplined. However, it's simply not his game to be one of two deepest midfielders in a team that pannicks when playing out from the back when 2-3 opposition start pressing. It's embarrassing stuff.

We're getting 'by' with our athleticism and fresh mentality but over the course of a season, Ole needs to prove his coaching ability. More rotation, more passing patterns, stop letting the players just 'play it out', 'being brave and putting a Utd performance' etc. He needs to give specific instructions and provide them with a platform to play football without relying on just out running the opposition or just giving it to the best players.

The one thing people need to be aware of when saying things like 'Bruno still gets results despite playing poorly because of his output with those high-risk/high-reward passes' is that our team is practically built for your Rashfords and Bruno to take all the risks.

Everyone around them including Pogba is trying to hold shape, link up play, defend and move the ball around. It's not a bad thing Rashford/Bruno are high risk creators, it's just a problem when they decide to overdo it or rather the system allows it i.e I hold Ole accountable for this. We have many fantastic players on the ball to take away the burden of creativity and final balls yet there's need to be a balance. For example, regardless of Bruno's insane work rate, he needs to sit deeper and be more willing to set the tempo instead of playing hot potato with the ball. Yes we may point to his pass that lead the penalty but how many balls in good positions did he fudge today and games before that? Your Martials, Greenwoods and Pogbas are at times just work horses feeding off crumbs.

It's a good problem to have but a systemic failing that needs to be addressed.

 

[LoneStar]

Thought he was good today, other than that misplaced pass which almost lead to a goal. He really needs to iron that out of his game.

We need to come up with a system where he should be allowed to bomb forward and be more creative though. I feel like it’s a waste of his talent to sit deep all game. Him and Bruno playing more near the penalty box would help us break teams down more. His ‘instincts’ are more towards attack than defending.

 

[Reditus]

Scanned through a couple of posts, but I don’t agree with some. I actually thought he was very good today. He was in a more conservative role and I thought he played it very well. Pogba Matic and Lindolof were the pick of the bunch today in my opinion

 

[Kostov]

He battled hard and had some good moments, lost the ball in a dangerous position again, and failed to stop that counter after which he jogged behind the attacker while they broke 3 against 2. Luckily they failed to score. I don't agree he had a great game, he was good and some bad moments which could have cost us.

 

[TrustInJanuzaj]

I still would like to see Pogba getting higher up the pitch at times as that is where he is at his best. I don’t have an issue with him starting deep but he still needs that licence to get into the box and rotate with Bruno on occasion. I think Ole needs to tactically figure out a way of getting him more involved in those areas of the pitch. That could involve inverting the fullbacks lightly and telling Pogba to push wide on occasion, but at the moment he’s been steady but not spectacular.

 

[Jonno]

I still would like to see Pogba getting higher up the pitch at times as that is where he is at his best. I don’t have an issue with him starting deep but he still needs that licence to get into the box and rotate with Bruno on occasion. I think Ole needs to tactically figure out a way of getting him more involved in those areas of the pitch. That could involve inverting the fullbacks lightly and telling Pogba to push wife on occasion, but at the moment he’s been steady but not spectacular.

Pushing his wife could help motivate him, I like your thinking.

 

[TrustInJanuzaj]

Pushing his wife could help motivate him, I like your thinking.

Hahah maybe that’s the key...

 

[Gungne]

Bruno’s not better than Pogba, he’s far to erratic. But my god did we need him in this side.

Pogba was good the first few matches, but lately he has started to slow down the ball, missing passes, stopping counter attacks and so on. Too many touches, too many misplaced passings.... halfway trough the match he seems to have lost his confident. How many times did he loose the ball against Leicester? Almost all his crossing was behind the recieving player. Extremely frustrating..

Pogba is world class sometimes, but most times not. We need a player that plays at high level every game, and not a player that are world class one of ten games.

 

[Mainoldo]

Pogba was good the first few matches, but lately he has started to slow down the ball, missing passes, stopping counter attacks and so on. Too many touches, too many misplaced passings.... halfway trough the match he seems to have lost his confident. How many times did he loose the ball against Leicester? Almost all his crossing was behind the recieving player. Extremely frustrating..

Pogba is world class sometimes, but most times not. We need a player that plays at high level every game, and not a player that are world class one of ten games.

It’s hard because defending Pogba everything feels like an excuse. But he’s playing exactly the same role as Matic and both their plans seem identical. So maybe he’s been advised to take that many touches as it slows down the play. Also he just isn’t a 6. His best moments always take place further up the field. That ball for Bruno for example. We need to change our tactics to play two 8’s next season. The only way we are going to get the Best out of him and Bruno.

 

[DWelbz19]

He's been either man-marked or boxed in for almost every game we've played this month. Matic has been much more cumbersome on the ball, Fernandes has been much less threatening on the ball so it's been much easier to prevent Pogba from picking up the ball and initiating plays from deep. On top of that we've run ourselves into the ground and Pogba is just one of those players, like Yaya Toure, that has a much lower base fitness level than you'd expect for a centre mid. We should hold him individually responsible for his failings but we can't overlook the tactical and team conditioning issues that are entirely outside his control.

Ole alluded to the exceptional circumstances that he felt necessitated going at this full throttle and running the team into the ground. After finishing third it's hard to argue. Individuals made personal sacrifices for the team, and they should be applauded for that rather than held accountable for its negative side effects.

Tactically it's easy to see that teams have packed the middle and cut off space for him. Every big team faces that to some degree but it's been particularly effective against us because our fullbacks are so clueless on the ball, particularly since Shaw's injury and AWB suffering more than most from fatigue. Rashford has had to initiate so many of our plays because we funnel the ball out wide so early. No doubt Pogba's failings feed into that but every midfielder struggles under those conditions.

For me, the jury's still out on whether Bruno's an elite #10. Assuming his inconsistency is mostly fitness related, then most of those issues should disappear next season. Teams can't pack the midfield when Bruno's so threatening in the hole, and if they want to double up on Pogba than a fit Matic is clearly capable of exploiting that with his passing. Ideally we'd have someone like Rice and Grealish stepping in at either end to do the same, but even without that we're in a good position to beat most teams most weeks, with Pogba playing a central role.

Good post — I’m inclined to agree with all of it, though I’m unsure if AWB is just naturally not very good on the ball point blank. Fatigue is just exacerbating it.

To supplement this generally — there was an article that Ducker wrote recently which basically said the reason why Ole went so unchanged is because he really can’t trust the players he has on the bench. And I don’t blame him, really.

 

[Nou_Camp99]

He played okay yesterday and was one of our better players on the day. Want to see so much more from him next season though. I think his last truly top class performance for us was during Ole's caretaker bounce run. That's far too long ago for somebody with his ability.

It's 4 years now. Next season there can be no more excuses or hiding places. He's got to deliver and a lot more often than the last 4 years. We all know the ability is there. He needs to sort his head out and put all the off the field distractions and possible transfer stuff to bed now and crack on.

I can't be fairer than that.

 

[JPRouve]

It’s hard because defending Pogba everything feels like an excuse. But he’s playing exactly the same role as Matic and both their plans seem identical. So maybe he’s been advised to take that many touches as it slows down the play. Also he just isn’t a 6. His best moments always take place further up the field. That ball for Bruno for example. We need to change our tactics to play two 8’s next season. The only way we are going to get the Best out of him and Bruno.

The amount of touches is often due to a lack of good immediate options, yesterday it was the same story for everyone. Our players need to improve their movement during the recycling phase. At the moment the four wide players stretch the field and stay wide or make forward runs, Fernandes tend to stay very close to Martial and the CBs don't step forward and make themselves available for one-twos, also Matic and Pogba don't actually play together but next to each other, they need to move and create easy pass angles for quick passes even if it's just between them.

We need more cross field runs from Rashford and Greenwood, Fernandes sometimes needs to create a numerical advantage by dropping when Pogba and Matic are on the ball and become the third CM, one of our fullback, preferably Shaw needs to act as a wider central midfielder more often. Because at the moment what generally happens is that Matic and Pogba have a midfielder on them and at least one attacker chasing them from behind.

 

[Mainoldo]

The amount of touches is often due to a lack of good immediate options, yesterday it was the same story for everyone. Our players need to improve their movement during the recycling phase. At the moment the four wide players stretch the field and stay wide or make forward runs, Fernandes tend to stay very close to Martial and the CBs don't step forward and make themselves available for one-twos, also Matic and Pogba don't actually play together but next to each other, they need to move and create easy pass angles for quick passes even if it's just between them.

We need more cross field runs from Rashford and Greenwood, Fernandes sometimes needs to create a numerical advantage by dropping when Pogba and Matic are on the ball and become the third CM, one of our fullback, preferably Shaw needs to act as a wider central midfielder more often. Because at the moment what generally happens is that Matic and Pogba have a midfielder on them and at least one attacker chasing them from behind.

That makes sense. Like me I don’t know what you think of the formation but I really think it hinders us. I understand the lack of pace by our defenders but even with Bailly in there they are way too deep.

 

[Fosu-Mens]

I remember one bad dribble and one bad crossfield pass. Given the output at the other end (3 chances), I think it's fair. Neither I nor anybody here counts how mnay times Bruno gives it away, nd since he wasn't on his game today, Pogba had to take the riskier passes.

Bruno and PP are of the same ilk. They play high risk football. I just think that having midfielders that takes high risks in their own half is problematic, especially when considering some of our defenders and who the other midfielder is.

 

[norm87cro]

He battled hard and has some good moments, lost the ball in a dangerous position again, and failed to stop that counted after which he jogged behind the attacker while they broke 3 against 2. Luckily they failed to score. I don't agree he had a great game, he was good and some bad moments which could have cost us.

This. I totally agree

 

[JPRouve]

That makes sense. Like me I don’t know what you think of the formation but I really think it hinders us. I understand the lack of pace by our defenders but even with Bailly in there they are way too deep.

I don't have an issue with our defensive line depth, it suits our defenders and allow us to not concede many occasions. I have an issue with both transitions though and I think that the problem is about coaching more than tactics, our midfielders and attackers seem to not understand the concepts of cutting passing angles and containment, they seem to only know two concepts tackling and getting to the theoritical spot in the defensive setup, good defenders also know how to get to that spot efficiently which means slowing down the opposition while retreating. An other thing when you have a deep defensive line is that your forwards need to backcheck, I like hockey concepts in football because both games are tactically compatible, in this case backchecking means that the attackers and attacking midfielders apply backside pressure instead of the popular forward pressure.

Now when you play with a deep defensive line and often regain possession in your own third, you need at least one player that is very good at moving it into the middle third. I like to call these players washing machines, the likes of Fabinho, Fernandinho, Busquets, Carrick, Pirlo, Modric, Scholes or Verratti, you give them a dirty ball and they give it back cleanly. I don't remember Pogba ever being good at that, at Juventus that role was either played by Pirlo or Marchisio with Vidal and Pogba ready to receive the ball in the middle third, Kanté does that for France today and Cabaye used to do it before that.

Also I mentioned it more than once but one of the reasons Pogba isn't good as a 10 is because he isn't consistently good with his back to goal whether it is in his own third or in the opposing third. He thrives when he has the game in front of him that's why I don't consider him as The engine of a midfield.

 

[Mainoldo]

I don't have an issue with our defensive line depth, it suits our defenders and allow us to not concede many occasions. I have an issue with both transitions though and I think that the problem is about coaching more than tactics, our midfielders and attackers seem to not understand the concepts of cutting passing angles and containment, they seem to only know two concepts tackling and getting to the theoritical spot in the defensive setup, good defenders also know how to get to that spot efficiently which means slowing down the opposition while retreating. An other thing when you have a deep defensive line is that your forwards need to backcheck, I like hockey concepts in football because both games are tactically compatible, in this case backchecking means that the attackers and attacking midfielders apply backside pressure instead of the popular forward pressure.

Now when you play with a deep defensive line and often regain possession in your own third, you need at least one player that is very good at moving it into the middle third. I like to call these players washing machines, the likes of Fabinho, Fernandinho, Busquets, Carrick, Pirlo, Modric, Scholes or Verratti, you give them a dirty ball and they give it back cleanly. I don't remember Pogba ever being good at that, at Juventus that role was either played by Pirlo or Marchisio with Vidal and Pogba ready to receive the ball in the middle third, Kanté does that for France today and Cabaye used to do it before that.

Also I mentioned it more than once but one of the reasons Pogba isn't good as a 10 is because he isn't consistently good with his back to goal whether it is in his own third or in the opposing third. He thrives when he has the game in front of him that's why I don't consider him as The engine of a midfield.

I’ll look out for that next season when we play as I very much doubt it will change. I think the DM is very important to our play and by the sounds of it so do you. Let’s hope we are surprised and actually get a new one.

 

[Scorpy]

Hopefully he decides to commit to us now that we are back in the Champions League.

 

[ClaytonBlackmoorLeftPeg]

Not sure what to think of Pogba since the restart.

He’s been out for a long time, so should be given some time to get back up to speed.

Bruno has taken away the need for him to try and do everything himself, which is a blessing, as it was too often forced.

We may now see a far less spectacular, but more consistent Pogba.

I’m not going to judge him on the second part of this season, hopefully he now stays and forms a good partnership with Bruno.

Pogba, Bruno, Martial, Rashford, Greenwood and Sancho is something so special going forwards, just need to ensure we have the right defensive partnerships.

 

[Borys]

I feel like we aren't using him to his maximum effectiveness by playing him that deep. It's not a role that he excels at either, because he struggles with high press. His passing ability is up there with the best, but he needs more time on the ball, and could benefit from being in more advanced positions as well.

Moving him up the pitch will only make things worse as he will have even less time on the ball.

 

[Clermontois]

He's not hands down our best player at all. This needs to stop guys. It's getting absolutely ridiculous.

He's definitely one of our better players for sure. That's undeniable. The best though? Nah not for me. Bruno has had a much bigger impact on us getting 3rd place. Anyone who can't see that may as well just start supporting Paul Pogba FC and not MUFC.

Call it fair guys. He's still a good player. He's not our best.

Comedy gold. The parts in bold especially are excellent stand up material mate. Keep it going.

With respect to the bold in the second paragraph specifically, with all of this 'impact' that Fernandes has made why it is that we scored the exact amount of points as last season. To anyone who is not guided by the media it is easy to see the league was much easier this year even before covid19 happened and next year most likely will be a different ballgame. I said it before and it has already started where the honeymoon period for Fernandes has started to dissipate, teams have already started to figure him out and he will have to adapt to that. Nevertheless I am happy we now have a player who is better than Lingard and Parreira but in no way am I willing to overrate him against Paul. Anthony and especially Paul are two players who are on a completely different level to everyone else in this side and if we do not find a way to push Paul further up to pitch we will definitely see more attacking issues like the last few games.

He battled hard and had some good moments, lost the ball in a dangerous position again, and failed to stop that counter after which he jogged behind the attacker while they broke 3 against 2. Luckily they failed to score. I don't agree he had a great game, he was good and some bad moments which could have cost us.

The errors he made were few but it seems the only players the error tickers work for are firstly Paul and then Maguire which is a joke. In any case he was positioned behind the break from the get go and if he touched the oppo player he would have been carded for sure.

Pogba was good the first few matches, but lately he has started to slow down the ball, missing passes, stopping counter attacks and so on. Too many touches, too many misplaced passings.... halfway trough the match he seems to have lost his confident. How many times did he loose the ball against Leicester? Almost all his crossing was behind the recieving player. Extremely frustrating..

Pogba is world class sometimes, but most times not. We need a player that plays at high level every game, and not a player that are world class one of ten games.

More myths and hieroglyphs. The media has really done a number on some fans.

He played okay yesterday and was one of our better players on the day. Want to see so much more from him next season though. I think his last truly top class performance for us was during Ole's caretaker bounce run. That's far too long ago for somebody with his ability.

It's 4 years now. Next season there can be no more excuses or hiding places. He's got to deliver and a lot more often than the last 4 years. We all know the ability is there. He needs to sort his head out and put all the off the field distractions and possible transfer stuff to bed now and crack on.

I can't be fairer than that.

That happens to be the only time he played in the hole behind the strikers in his time with us, other than that he has been asked to play deep which is not his best role.

It is not certain he will be here next season, if he is then I believe it would have to be in a different less restrictive role.

That makes sense. Like me I don’t know what you think of the formation but I really think it hinders us. I understand the lack of pace by our defenders but even with Bailly in there they are way too deep.

Up in lights. Not sure if Ole will ever see that though or make changes. He is really set on this odd formation which only works against some teams when 4:3:3 or 3:5:2 are generally the best formations a team can utilize.

Bruno and PP are of the same ilk. They play high risk football. I just think that having midfielders that takes high risks in their own half is problematic, especially when considering some of our defenders and who the other midfielder is.

They are very different players and Paul's football has become a lot more safe due to where he is playing and it has taken away from our play in my opinion.

Just because a player loses a ball in his half once or twice it does not mean he is playing high risk, Matic lost the ball more would you say he is playing high risk football...no.

 

[Nou_Camp99]

@Clermontois Are you the president of the Paul Pogba fan club by any chance?

How's is it stand up comedy and how is he our best player? He's not won player of the year once in 4 years at the club. He's been beaten to it by the goalkeeper several times and then Luke Shaw. That says it all. Bruno has had a bigger impact on this club in 5 months than he's had in 4 years. And I can see how much it's rattled you Pogba fanboys.

Time to accept the truth....Pogba is just a good player, still one of our better players for sure, but he's not this untouchable world class talent you think he is. World class players don't struggle for 4 years like he has. Bruno didn't even need 4 weeks to show he was up to the task.

 

[Adam-Utd]

Moving him up the pitch will only make things worse as he will have even less time on the ball.

It will also allow him to play more risky, and teams defensively never press so hard when closer to their own goals.

Most the time Pogba loses it is when the opposition striker presses him from behind. He's happy to take on the midfielder 1v1 but they usually creep up behind him where he can't see.

Pogba is a very creative player and great at the 1-2 passes or little flicks/through balls. We need to find a way to get him and Bruno closer to the goal without losing midfield balance.