[Devil81]

He's tried that turn on the edge of his area about 20 times over the last year and it hasn't come off. Honestly people praising this guy for being professional in the circumstances, he's playing better because he knows he's got to play better to put himself in the shop window.

The guys a fraud, he's been pathetic for years now and now that he's had his heart to heart with Ole and his agent has confirmed no deal will be signed he's stepping up the gears a little. Doesn't fool me, I agree if he's playing well he has to start because what's the point of paying his wages and having him sit out if it benefits the team, we may as well get something out of the last few months of his United career.

The professional aspect of it is total bollocks though, he's shat on us and is now parading his feathers in the hope of finding a new team.

 

[The Urban Goose]

He's tried that turn on the edge of his area about 20 times over the last year and it hasn't come off. Honestly people praising this guy for being professional in the circumstances, he's playing better because he knows he's got to play better to put himself in the shop window.

The guys a fraud, he's been pathetic for years now and now that he's had his heart to heart with Ole and his agent has confirmed no deal will be signed he's stepping up the gears a little. Doesn't fool me, I agree if he's playing well he has to start because what's the point of paying his wages and having him sit out if it benefits the team, we may as well get something out of the last few months of his United career.

The professional aspect of it is total bollocks though, he's shat on us and is now parading his feathers in the hope of finding a new team.

Exactly my opinion.

 

[balaks]

The best thing for this United side would be for Pogba to sack Riola and commit to the side fully. Put a proper DM in place of Matic and it would cover a lot of Pogbas weaknesses whilst keeping the passing ability he showed last night.

We're not going to buy 2 CMs in the summer so you're left with Fred or McT playing most games and neither are anywhere near the level Pogba can play at.

He has no interest in playing for Utd. That has been obvious for years.

 

[meamth]

The best thing for this United side would be for Pogba to sack Riola and commit to the side fully. Put a proper DM in place of Matic and it would cover a lot of Pogbas weaknesses whilst keeping the passing ability he showed last night.

We're not going to buy 2 CMs in the summer so you're left with Fred or McT playing most games and neither are anywhere near the level Pogba can play at.

You're not going to sack your money maker, the person who brought you all these success. The Adidas deals, etc. There must be some contract involved between him and Pogba. That's not going to happen.

Loyalty in football is dead, we're not in the 90s where we see one player is devoted to one club. They will always be open for a move to other clubs. I can live with that reality, some of us don't. It's normal.

I wouldn't mind him staying, for sure wouldn't mind him leaving too, but if we are going to win titles, Pogba should be playing for us for many many years. I'm fine with a primadonna in our team.

I agree, moving forward if he stays, cool. But please sign a defensive midfielder like you said and see if we can be better.

 

[meamth]

He has no interest in playing for Utd. That has been obvious for years.

Right. How come his colleagues keep saying he is professional on the training pitch and keep giving his best for the team?

How come he keep on getting picked for France if he has terrible attitude?

What proof you have?

 

[VP89]

Right. How come his colleagues keep saying he is professional on the training pitch and keep giving his best for the team?

How come he keep on getting picked for France if he has terrible attitude?

What proof you have?

He said he has no interest in playing for United, not that he has a terrible attitude or that he will go on strike.

 

[balaks]

Right. How come his colleagues keep saying he is professional on the training pitch and keep giving his best for the team?

How come he keep on getting picked for France if he has terrible attitude?

What proof you have?

His attitude on the pitch for most of the games I've ever watched him for Utd?

 

[meamth]

His attitude on the pitch for most of the games I've ever watched him for Utd?

Because he is languid and have lax body movements?

 

[balaks]

Because he is languid and have lax body movements?

No because he hasn't been very good and he is clearly capable of so much more than he has given your club.

 

[Inigo Montoya]

No because he hasn't been very good and he is clearly capable of so much more than he has given your club.

But a lot of that is down to his playing style. Just because he doesn't run around like Kante, he gets disproportionate amount of stick.

His failings are Utd's; not signing a DM to free him up is an issue. He wants to be more involved deeper and when it works it's outstanding, when he loses possession it inevitably leads to a counter.

 

[Striker10]

Paul has a lot of quality but he's not better then Bruno. If he is, it's up to him to prove it. Pogba can play in this team and I think if we were successful over recent seasons then it might be different. It would be better for Paul to give his agent the elbow. He's made a mockery of his career as there is still much to prove and too much bs which has probably been encouraged by his agent (the hair stuff and all the pr nonsense).

I can understand Paul being unhappy but he has to also look at his flaws. He CAN do better but it's not about changing clubs. It's about focusing on the game rather then trying to get 'fans'.

 

[balaks]

I get that you guys support him because he's your player but he has treated you lot like mugs yet he gets defended to the hilt. If he was in my team I'd have been calling for him to be sold about 2 years ago.

 

[Saddy]

His Player Rating of 5.2 is an accurate reflection of his season and showed last night the reasons why - his fancy turn was highly risky as he had 2 opposition players closing him down in our last third of the pitch. Highly risky and TBH not in the "coaching manual" but it came off and it propelled us towards a win - he probably lost possession in our half of the pitch around 4/5 times but still did enough to get a 7/8 rating.

This isn't the world class standard we bought and continue to pay for that level of consistent performance - couple with his toxic agent and he should still be let go but worth keeping until the summer.

However if he could maintain the level from last night and help cement a top 4 position with a great chance of the title ............. I would still let him go !

 

[Adam-Utd]

played very well last night. Did everything you can ask of him defensively and some lovely stuff offensively.

Looks a lot fitter again which is the main difference really.

It was a poor performance. He could have done much, much, much better.

are you watching the same team? It's quite clear you either don't know what a good performance is or your hatred of him is letting it effect your judgement. That was not a poor performance by any means.

No wonder people are getting angry with him if those are the sort of levels you're expecting from him, it's ridiculous.

 

[Classical Mechanic]

He was fantastic in some attacking phases and very poor in some defensive ones. You can pick a negative or positive interpretation of his performance depending on your bias. The truth was that it was the good and bad of Paul Pogba and fairly typical of the player.

 

[roonster09]

I get that you guys support him because he's your player but he has treated you lot like mugs yet he gets defended to the hilt. If he was in my team I'd have been calling for him to be sold about 2 years ago.

If he was in your team, you would be defending him just like how you lot defend Jose after shitting on him for years.

 

[balaks]

If he was in your team, you would be defending him just like how you lot defend Jose after shitting on him for years.

Jose has been great for us, if he performed as Pogba has performed for you guys I'd be wanting him out.

 

[roonster09]

Jose has been great for us, if he performed as Pogba has performed for you guys I'd be wanting him out.

Yeah sure, I would believe that.

 

[balaks]

Yeah sure, I would believe that.

I was calling for Pochs head at the end so I can assure you I'd do the same for Jose.

 

[roonster09]

I was calling for Pochs head at the end so I can assure you I'd do the same for Jose.

Of course most of the fans will call for manager's head but not right from the start. If Pogba signs for Spurs, you lot will make up all possible excuses for Pogba saying why he couldn't live up to the expectations, just like how some Spurs fans completely rewrote Jose's time at ManUtd with all possible excuses.

With all due respect, no matter what you say I won't believe it after watching how most of the Spurs fans view on Jose changed once he was signed.

 

[ghaliboy]

I get that you guys support him because he's your player but he has treated you lot like mugs yet he gets defended to the hilt. If he was in my team I'd have been calling for him to be sold about 2 years ago.

I don't think he really gets defended to the hilt here. There is definitely a healthy defensive cohort who legitimately defend him from that position of him being our player and make an acceptable critique of the good and bad. There are plenty that are pretty harsh on him. I think you're conflating the 6 or 7 obsessive loyalists (we all know exactly who they are) who you can tell it doesn't matter what happens they will come in and post the same cookie cutter gushing praise and random stat tweets/gifs after every performance no matter what. The thing I find weird about these people is how personal they take these discussions as if they have to take the criticism of Pogba on their shoulders as some kind of self flagellation to defend his honour. I actually think this thread has just about the right balance of level headed observation and critique in general. The fringe wankposters on both ends of the spectrum get touted as the median, I don't agree that it is.

 

[Oldyella]

He was fantastic in some attacking phases and very poor in some defensive ones. You can pick a negative or positive interpretation of his performance depending on your bias. The truth was that it was the good and bad of Paul Pogba and fairly typical of the player.

Sounds about right and really sums up his whole stint with us.

 

[VP89]

But a lot of that is down to his playing style. Just because he doesn't run around like Kante, he gets disproportionate amount of stick.

What the feck

His failings are Utd's; not signing a DM to free him up is an issue. He wants to be more involved deeper and when it works it's outstanding, when he loses possession it inevitably leads to a counter.

What the feck squared

 

[Inigo Montoya]

What the feck


What the feck squared

Wonderfully eloquent response.

 

[VP89]

Wonderfully eloquent response.

Apt, too

 

[balaks]

Of course most of the fans will call for manager's head but not right from the start. If Pogba signs for Spurs, you lot will make up all possible excuses for Pogba saying why he couldn't live up to the expectations, just like how some Spurs fans completely rewrote Jose's time at ManUtd with all possible excuses.

With all due respect, no matter what you say I won't believe it after watching how most of the Spurs fans view on Jose changed once he was signed.

You are pulling me so far off topic I can only assume you are deflecting. Straw Manning all over the shop.

 

[Idxomer]

Aside from his two involvements in the goals, he was also the one who found VDB with a great ball that took three Sheffield United players out of the game, this should've been our fourth goal if VDB managed to get the ball to Rashford.

 

[westmeath]

played very well last night. Did everything you can ask of him defensively and some lovely stuff offensively.

Looks a lot fitter again which is the main difference really.



are you watching the same team? It's quite clear you either don't know what a good performance is or your hatred of him is letting it effect your judgement. That was not a poor performance by any means.

No wonder people are getting angry with him if those are the sort of levels you're expecting from him, it's ridiculous.

He definitely did a lot of good stuff last night but ultimately his propensity to give the ball away in dangerous positions cost us a goal, again. It happens time and time again and it really kills us in important games.

 

[Adam-Utd]

He definitely did a lot of good stuff last night but ultimately his propensity to give the ball away in dangerous positions cost us a goal, again. It happens time and time again and it really kills us in important games.

I don't remember him costing us a goal at all?

 

[TsuWave]

Pogba revisionism is crazy. Guy has only really been poor since his injury. Prior to that he was one of the best performers in a poor team. Ibrahimovic ate nicely off of Pogba. At one point he also led all our core attacking stats despite being a midfielder. Guy was also the catalyst for Ole to go in the record breaking winning run that got him the job full time.

His time at United has not lit the world on fire, but he's been good, at times very good even, here.

 

[roonster09]

You are pulling me so far off topic I can only assume you are deflecting. Straw Manning all over the shop.

Nonsense.

 

[appleman]

He has been looking sharper lately, I think it really might be the fitness post-COVID and/or perhaps some psychological counseling. The way you see him play, trying to be all zen in his movements, I think it's rather a mental thing than him trying to promote himself to other clubs.

He really does remind me of actual zen practice in the sense that when he tries to force his magic stuff it never happens and when you kinda notice he's just going with the flow his passes are amazing. It's just that, especially with modern day play, you kind of have to force a large part of your game, or have such great instincts that you don't have to consciously think of the tactical side of the game. Either way, not being able to tap into all that consistently while you are trying to will hurt any team he's in. Plus it seems that he's been very reliant on external factors, causing a difference in performance between moments in time, but also between France NT atmospheres and the United ones. Hope it clicks, though, it is what makes him a unique player, and hard for me to hate or even not love him, simply because of this idea about him. I have something similar with Ganso. Even if they'll never show what could have been, the idea will keep them in my memory forever.

Maybe I was just reading into things too much at a time when I read more about that zen stuff a while back, and maybe he now is trying to sell himself, but it's just my take. For now I just hope he can show some good stuff – preferably consistently – here at United. Whether he's still here next year is for next year to worry about.

 

[soapythecat]

He was creating some nice chances and showing what great vision he has....but....there are times he gives the ball away far too easily and is dispossessed loads. Had he not created the chances he had, he would have been hung out to dry last night. His mistakes could easily have been punished by a more accomplished side.
I know other players can give the ball away, but Pogba seems to be the more consistent at it.
When he isn’t producing killer passes his game is largely what we seen last night with lots of errors.
I’d still sell him in a heart beat - there are plenty of more consistent midfielders out there who won’t be a prick when buddying up with his agent.

 

[DickDastardly]

Fair enough. You've got me beat there.

That's all I'm talking about. Playing him higher up is what got the best out of him in that period. He was only moved back to account for other's deficiencies.

I see Pogba and Bruno as having very similar mentalities once on the ball. They don't care about keeping possession, they just want to create chances. I understand what you mean, I too think pass it quicker, you're making it harder for yourself by stopping, but when it works out (our 3rd goal today), you've got to hold your hands up and admire the courage and skill, so we just have to accept the turnovers are the risk we take when playing him there.

I don't care about individual players over the club of course too, but I do think it's not all black and white with him. Do you not think he has been unfairly scapegoated for our failure's as a club over the years?

I really believe there's a place for him in the team with Bruno, as Bruno alone isn't enough at the highest level. We just need a highly skilled defensive mid to be able to support both Pogba & Bruno. Matic/Fred/McTominay are no where near good enough sadly. That's what we're missing right now.

Yes, playing him higher up the field worked. It worked even better when we had a unit up front in the likes of Zlatan.
He has to be surrounded not by better players, but with stronger personalities.

The bolded part only works if you play AM, i have no problem with our attacking players losing the ball more often then not - like somebody already said - it's a percentage game.
I do however have a problem in losing the ball at our own half, needlessly, without any real pressure.

I don't have a big problem with Pogba, and yes, I do think he had been scapegoated, even by myself more often then not.
The issue in hand is a problem with multiple starting points - one of them is definitely his agent.
Although, if you think about it, we had Zlatan who shares the same agent, and we had zero problems with him. Maybe the fact Zlatan keeps him in check?
The second problem is his performances, sometimes, more often then not, they are simply not adequate for a Manchester United player.
He gets scapegoated because he SHOULD be the best player in our team. At least that's what everybody thinks. Yet, he never seems to deliver the best performance.

We could go on and on and on in what he needs, what position is best for him, what players should we buy to accommodate his play, etc, etc....look, you did it just now.
It always somebody else.

Life doesn't work like that. He's been here for what, 4, 5 years now?
He has inspired zero. Look at the threads we made with the word Pogba in it.
Hardly anything good in them. Just like his performances.

Yesterday was the same, a flash, but nothing more. Yes, an assist. Check. Defensive headers. Check.
Losing the ball in our half because he needs showboating and physical contact. Check.
Holding on to the ball in search of the perfect pass. Check.
Zero leadership in the midfield. Check.
Zero tempo setting. Check.

In all honesty, we should end this toxic relationship and move on. He left us once, he's gonna leave us again.

And it will be for our benefit.

 

[westmeath]

I don't remember him costing us a goal at all?

He lost the ball, they got a corner and scored. I know it’s stretching it a bit but it started with him turning over possession.

 

[Mourinhonista]

He's playing better because he wants back into the limelight. It's best for all partys when he leaves in the summer but until then let's enjoy having him on. When he wants to be, he's one of the best players in the world. We'll be benefitting immensely in the next couple of months, IMO.

Kudos to Pogba, he could've pulled an Eriksen. Juve will take him anyway.

 

[Real Name]

Pogba revisionism is crazy. Guy has only really been poor since his injury. Prior to that he was one of the best performers in a poor team. Ibrahimovic ate nicely off of Pogba. At one point he also led all our core attacking stats despite being a midfielder. Guy was also the catalyst for Ole to go in the record breaking winning run that got him the job full time.

His time at United has not lit the world on fire, but he's been good, at times very good even, here.

Revisionism alright.

He was good in that run when Ole good the job but I wouldnt say he was the catalyst and after a while his form fell of a cliff. And it happened over and over again, after a good or decent period he would be in a bad form. At most he's been very good in some games, brilliant in few.

 

[redshaw]

Good and bad for Pogba

He gave the ball away cheaply deep in his own half which led to the second goal for Sheff U. Of course we should be able to defend the corner as well.

Has been working harder for those around him though in the last two games, something fans have been wanting to see for years and one of the reasons he gets slagged off a lot. I feel he's going to knuckle down and continue this at his new club. He has some light at the end of the tunnel now.

He will probably be brilliant at his new club helping out in midfield and spraying passes around like before. I don't think he's been committed since the title charge and project he bought into fizzled out under Jose in Dec 2017. He knew United weren't going places and wanted out. Both parties have been at fault really and hope he does well in his remaining years.

I wonder how much the latest Raiola piece affected Ole's choice in Leipzig. Doesn't matter when the article was done, it's when it came out before the vital CL game. Ole said it was tactical but I doubt it. I feel a back four with Pogba we get though with a draw. Leipzig tried to target AWB at the home game and lost 5-0, AWB is awful in a back three and we offered him up on a plate to target which they did from minute one to great success this time. For me it was a calamity by Ole, not helped by wanting to not play Pogba after that situation in the press. I also think Pogba realizes it went too far with his agent fecking things up again just before a big game. We should be in the CL still.

 

[Sylar]

His best start for us this season. The issue is we can get a quality game every 6 games, instead of 6 out of every 8 games.

We know he has talent and this is the fall on him.

Bruno is everything I thought he would be. In fact in his first season back I reckon that was his best he showed for us. And that little run after Ole got the job.


We've seen so many excuses made for him:
-position is wrong
-he needs a DM to unlock him
-he needs a creative outlet to take pressure of him
Etc

But at the end of the day he lacks consistency. It would be great if we get some run of form from him before he leaves

 

[Adam-Utd]

He lost the ball, they got a corner and scored. I know it’s stretching it a bit but it started with him turning over possession.

Right, not his fault then definitely stretching IMO