One weakness Pogba has is his lack of mobility. He’s a sluggish player whenever I watch him. Top speed is overrated in football, as full sprints are rare. Reaction time and acceleration over the first 5 steps is much more important. Pogba would probably own Xavi/Iniesta/Modric in a 100m sprint, but that’s irrelevant. Those three are so much more agile and quicker off the mark.
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Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 22
- Goals
- 1
- Assists
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- Yellow cards
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I am sure we will get one of five games where he is the star of the show but I’m sure we will get three in five where he stinks the place out.
Yeah, exactly. It would be factually correct to say he’s our best central midfielder and selling him would weaken us dramatically.
Of course, that doesn’t mean you can’t also argue that he’s been a disappointment so far and replacing him with a more well rounded and consistent top class CM would improve us. Even if this replacement isn’t quite as talented at certain elements of the game.
I wonder how Paul would play with an actual midfield... considering he was in sensational form with Herrera and Matic alongside.
Naw let's drop him deep, play McTominay and Pereira next to him then cry about how poor he is.
If Paul leaves next summer without having had the chance to play in a proper midfield three, it's criminal of Ole and Ed.
Naw let's drop him deep, play McTominay and Pereira next to him then cry about how poor he is.
If Paul leaves next summer without having had the chance to play in a proper midfield three, it's criminal of Ole and Ed.
Has he not been here 4 years, playing in many midfield 3s
Is it true he liked a post about Madrid on his Insta?
Very cute
Sensational form?
During his time at United, Pogba has played as the most advanced midfielder, a sitting midfielder, and as the leftmost of a three man midfield. With the exception of a brief period immediately after Ole replaced Jose, his performances have been much of a muchness - a few good moments and as many bad ones. He has often, in the course of a single match, looked like both a great player and a liability. The only consistent thing has been his inconsistency. Now he looks like a player who has already mentally left the building.
There will be very few neutral observers who would conclude that Pogba has been a good signing for us.
While he certainly has many detractors, I'm actually astonished that he receives as much support on here as he does. He appears to be giving less than 100% to the cause, publicly states that he wants to leave, and is turning in increasingly indifferent performances. Despite that, there are still people who would rather blame everyone else for this, and are somehow convinced he is indispensable and we'd struggle terribly without him. Personally I think we may well have notched 8 points rather than 5 so far this season if it hadn't been for Pogba.
What is the impact of having a marquee player in the team who isn't fully committed, yet somehow appears immune to being either dropped or substituted? If one player is seen to be getting a bit of a free pass, maybe other players will start to think that they don't need to pull their weight either.
I had hoped he'd either have left by now, or shown that he was determined to perform at his best while he was still here. Sadly it seems as if I'm going to be disappointed on both fronts. I just hope now that Ole has the courage to leave Pogba out of the side if his level of performance doesn't merit a place. Perhaps if Pogba realised that his place in the team depended on what he contributed to the team rather than his reputation, he might pull his socks up (especially if his place in the French side started to look in jeopardy).
People still mindlessly defending this guys form, potential or role in the team are absolutely deluded. One of our worst performers in the first 4 games after starting well.
More inconsistent than nani. We'd be better team if we'd sold him and replaced him. We could have 3 good players in his place.
More inconsistent than nani. We'd be better team if we'd sold him and replaced him. We could have 3 good players in his place.
4th best in chances created playing deep.
Just let him go.
If we'd sold him and bought a couple of good midfielders then we'd have been better off, even if they're individually not as talented as he is. That was the argument in summer but many couldn't see it because he's technically our best midfielder. The issue is that tactically he's a nightmare, especially in the PL and with the overall makeup of our squad.
I don't have the energy to discuss Pogba anymore because it's the same arguments over and over, which will never go away whilst he's here imo. He'll have good games and shocking games, that's just how it will be. If we wanted to see the best of him then we needed to change the dynamics of the team completely, which we failed to do and instead try to shoehorn him into a system.
One thing that can be done which would alleviate his issues, would be if somebody sorts out his decision making. He wants too much time on the ball in the wrong areas. Whether he's trying to be to individualistic, makes bad decisions or is being told to do this, is anybody's guess. But the coaches have to sort it one way or another.
I don't have the energy to discuss Pogba anymore because it's the same arguments over and over, which will never go away whilst he's here imo. He'll have good games and shocking games, that's just how it will be. If we wanted to see the best of him then we needed to change the dynamics of the team completely, which we failed to do and instead try to shoehorn him into a system.
One thing that can be done which would alleviate his issues, would be if somebody sorts out his decision making. He wants too much time on the ball in the wrong areas. Whether he's trying to be to individualistic, makes bad decisions or is being told to do this, is anybody's guess. But the coaches have to sort it one way or another.
Am I the only one who thinks he'd be best as a number 10?
He’d be shite there as well.
Agreed with all of it. There problem is that he has 1 good game and 3 bad ones.
I've said it before, the discussion around Pogba reminds me of Ozil's case. Both regarded as world-class until they went to relatively poor teams, and despite still doing the same things, their reputations fell through the floor.
I think for creators like Pogba and Ozil, they are very dependent on their teammates to look good. Also, due to their continental playstyle, they tend to not be as good as others defensively, which in England usually gets you a ton of stick. In that sense, it might be best if he left England for a league where it's not required to always look busy defensively, and where guile is more valued. He'll probably be appreciated more there.
If he is to leave, we can definitely replace his work on the pitch but it will require a lot of good moves from the management because right now, his productivity is covering up a lot of our flaws, even if his playstyle does cause some problems.
I think for creators like Pogba and Ozil, they are very dependent on their teammates to look good. Also, due to their continental playstyle, they tend to not be as good as others defensively, which in England usually gets you a ton of stick. In that sense, it might be best if he left England for a league where it's not required to always look busy defensively, and where guile is more valued. He'll probably be appreciated more there.
If he is to leave, we can definitely replace his work on the pitch but it will require a lot of good moves from the management because right now, his productivity is covering up a lot of our flaws, even if his playstyle does cause some problems.
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Or we could just buy 2 midfielders to play alongside him. We just lost Herrera and Fellaini. That's freed up wages. If we wanted to free up more wages we shouldn't have given Jones a new contract.
Needs to go back to the advanced #8 in a 433.
Needs to go back to the drawing board and sort his attitude out.
Play him as the most advanced in a three consistently and then we can see how much of a tactical nightmare he is or isn't.
Guendouzi that was mentioned earlier had a really good game against Spurs and yet he was playing a three with Xhaka and Toureira. De Bruyne can play centre back in that City team and he would still have more of the ball in the opposition half than Pogba. Erikssen played on the left with Winks and Sissoko, both hard working powerful players behind him with Son and Kane in front of him. Liverpool play with three fine tuned workman like midfielders to provide for the most prolific front three in the Premier League.
The list goes on yet we expect him to produce the quality of the above in a two with Lingard and Mata in front of him.
He absolutely deserves criticism and has very bad tendancies and moments in games but we've given him a fundamentally flaw platform to succeed as @In Rainbows has argued throughout this thread.
In fact I would go further and say that Ole has set up and poorly coached the team that doesn't give many a good platform to perform. We want to press high but our defenders sit deep. We want to dominate the ball but we have no set patterns or clear instructions on how to play out from the back. We want width from our full backs but expect them to do constant overlaps in the opposition's half but also tbe the first available pass option for the centre back, who take no responsibility (Lindelof) and our keeper who is rooted to his line. We want our two midfielders to control the game against teams that flood the centre of the park EVERY game against us. We want our forwards to score goals and create chances with Mr No Producitivity Lingard and Turtle Speed Mata behind them.
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Here we go again
Who cares. He's not leaving this window, period. Woodward would doom our season right then and there.
Honestly, they can take him. The circus goes away.
Only if the board reinvests the money like Liverpool did after selling Coutinho...
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It’s genuinely astonishing how many people forget how often Pogba stank the place out with Matic and Hererra in the team.
This thread is like a nightmare groundhog day, with memories getting wiped each time a manager tweaks the line-up/formation in a vain attempt to try and get him performing consistently.
If Ole tries playing him further forward I fully expect people to be banging about how he was once creating the 4th highest amount of chances from deep and his talents are being wasted in an advanced position.
This thread is like a nightmare groundhog day, with memories getting wiped each time a manager tweaks the line-up/formation in a vain attempt to try and get him performing consistently.
If Ole tries playing him further forward I fully expect people to be banging about how he was once creating the 4th highest amount of chances from deep and his talents are being wasted in an advanced position.
Also, Ozil won a World Cup in 2014 when he was an Arsenal player. Likewise, Pogba won a World Cup in 2018 as a United player. Which shows that they are/were still top class, when they have the right system and better players alongside them.
With that said, Pogba should obviously still shoulder responsibility for his poor performances.
Sorry but it's such a pathetic excuse.
He should still be putting in top performances regardless of who is next to him.
Players like Fletcher and O'Shea can look good when they have world class players around them. Pogba is supposed to be the world class player yet he consistently puts in average and bad performances. His stand out quality is supposed to be his passing, yet he gives the ball away more than anybody.
Really tired of the excuses now. Would top players around him increase his performances? Yes. If he is genuinely world class, should he still be capable of top performances regardless of who is around him (and let's not pretend he's been surrounded by cloggers for three years)? Yes. Has he? No.
The buck stops with him.
He's wasted in a double pivot. If Ole is determined to continue with this formation, and the club have decided to stick with Ole no matter what, we may as well move him on and reinvest in a more mobile and defensively minded midfielder who can rotate possession without taking the risks Pogba does.
Would also need a better attacking midfielder to create chances too, but given what we would get that shouldn't be a problem. Knowing the way we are run though, we would probably sell him, sack Ole a month later and bring in a coach who changes formation again.
Would also need a better attacking midfielder to create chances too, but given what we would get that shouldn't be a problem. Knowing the way we are run though, we would probably sell him, sack Ole a month later and bring in a coach who changes formation again.
Ditto
The guy treats your club and fans with so much disrespect and contempt and most are prepared to put up with it and kiss his ass because he has potential at age 26.
Its almost like he hates the club, what won't us fans put up with to win a football match.
So much disrespect from him to the club. I wonder if the club fines him for such actions?
I would sell him in the winter, and bring in Maddison and another midfielder.
He was still better than those two though. Which is the point. He was factually our best midfielder.
Noo of course not, The club bends over backwards to him for some reason.
All the comments that he's our best MF....
Nyal Bell is arguably Stockport County's best MF, so we should sign him ??
Being the best MF of a poor lot at OT the past three or four years means nothing when our MF was as poor as it's been for 10 years.
Of all Woodard's stupid decisions the past five years, the most stupid was not selling Pogba to RM last month, because he's no longer not just an asset, he's become a liability - a big time liability.
Nyal Bell is arguably Stockport County's best MF, so we should sign him ??
Being the best MF of a poor lot at OT the past three or four years means nothing when our MF was as poor as it's been for 10 years.
Of all Woodard's stupid decisions the past five years, the most stupid was not selling Pogba to RM last month, because he's no longer not just an asset, he's become a liability - a big time liability.
Club and some, many fans too sadly.
Mental gimnastics at its finest. Wherever he play we always hear he works best in some other positions and apparently everybody knows that. In reality he's inconsistent, a highlight reel player and doesn't even care anymore.
8 goals and 5 assists in the nine premier league matches after Ole first came in. I was pretty impressed. He was garbage not long after. I'm sure the fact he no longer was playing to prove Jose wrong was also a factor but it did coincide with Herrera's injury.
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