[Bebestation]

Great quip

The other thing is that Pogba deep in a 4231 would press worse than Pogba in a 433.

He has too much defensive area to cover to always be proactive in a press all the time & it will no doubt leave an attacking minded CM even more confused.

The more I watch Bruno the more I see that theres no difference in his ability, motivation to play straight down the middle & help spread our midfield wider in a line so they can press together depending on the attackers position. You watch all the time Bruno spends tracking & running back; he just needs to be positioned a bit deeper for him to only make runs forward all game both attacking wise and defensively. same with Pogba.

It's a shame because Bruno doesn't need to add creativity in one position all the time especially when Pogba can make a run in to the AM if he sees the space and do it instead leaving Bruno back in midfield or vice versa. Hell even both.

Watching someone like Van de Beek plays from CM but is making runs all over the place adds him to the list as well.

There's another excuse for Pogba

 

[Isotope]

Hahh.. I'm getting disillusioned with Pogba. It just seems like he's doing the bare minimum, game after game, with all the talent we know he has.

I've never thought that he's ever down tooling or whatever the new term is. I think he's a good person but just seems hard to motivate himself.

 

[WR10]

Like what the hell is wrong with him? I cant even blame Covid for this sort of carelessness. Its like he thinks Old trafford is his playground were he can just freestyle whenever he likes. When will he cut out the immaturity from his game?

If I was Bruno there I might have shot him

 

[Eddy_JukeZ]

That clip of Pogba is awful, but I am pretty sure he was nowhere near match fit for that game.

I don't think Ole should have started him(or even played him at all).

 

[Myrecks]

After watching the entire Mourinho series on Amazon Prime, I’ve got to say I’m very impressed with the way he talked to his players about Pogba. Crazy how a lot of people still give him stick about not being world class. If he can command that much attention from an opponent, he’ll always be welcome in a United side.

 

[Clermontois]

I couldn't agree more, defensively he is awful and doesn't offer enough offensively to start ahead of Bruno. He shouldn't be a starter imo, more of an impact sub when needed.

Utter folly.

 

[The Original]

Bruno quickens the game up, Pogba slows it, he can play at a higher tempo, both in making runs and crucially in pressing. Also gets shots off quicker and is sharper with his back to goal.

Pogba has fantastic ability with a ball but that doesn't make him a 10, he is better when he can see the game, the rate at which he is prone to losing the ball in deep areas with his back to goal should be an indicator that 10 isn't really his role. Also that every manager he has had since Juve at Club and international levels have wanted to use him in a deeper midfield role.

Why use his time in a deeper position as a sample when actually these mistakes he has been making there only happened when he played deep? He has played in 10 and we never saw those sort of mistakes. He has a great passing range so yes it makes sense to use him deeper but Pogba lacks a certain graft and urgency to his game that is not suited to the deeper role.

He dithers way too much on the ball to be a good #10. Just because he isn't good enough in a deeper position, doesn't mean we should play him as a 10.

This dithering argument is not accurate. First of all a 10 is supposed to hold on to the ball in order to displace defenders, and create space. It doesn't always come off, and looks like aimless dithering but that's not always on Paul. A lot of the time it is because there is no movement.

He should play 10 because when he plays closer to goal he is simply the most creative and precise passer of our current midfielders. Bruno sometimes has the vision but is much less precise in his passing, and is also, though you might not notice it, much less of a goal threat.

 

[Falcow]

After watching the entire Mourinho series on Amazon Prime, I’ve got to say I’m very impressed with the way he talked to his players about Pogba. Crazy how a lot of people still give him stick about not being world class. If he can command that much attention from an opponent, he’ll always be welcome in a United side.

Pogba has world class talent and as an opposition manager you have to make plans to counter that. The problem however is that we only see his world class talent very sporadically. The rest of the time (the majority) he doesnt warrant a place in the side. Being a world class talent is one thing, applying it game in and game out, season after season is an entirely different matter and something Pogba has proved himself utterly incapable of in his 4 seasons here.

Take DDG as an exame. We all know that DDG has world class talent and for 4 or 5 years he at least demonstrated that talent week in and week out. So he had the consistency to match the talent. Without this consistency, the talent is not enough. I dont get how people fail to see this with Pogba, or is it me that is missing something?

It worries me that Ole feels he is undroppable, same applies to other players mind you, Rashford, DDG, Lindelof.

 

[Hammondo]

Why use his time in a deeper position as a sample when actually these mistakes he has been making there only happened when he played deep? He has played in 10 and we never saw those sort of mistakes. He has a great passing range so yes it makes sense to use him deeper but Pogba lacks a certain graft and urgency to his game that is not suited to the deeper role.



This dithering argument is not accurate. First of all a 10 is supposed to hold on to the ball in order to displace defenders, and create space. It doesn't always come off, and looks like aimless dithering but that's not always on Paul. A lot of the time it is because there is no movement.

He should play 10 because when he plays closer to goal he is simply the most creative and precise passer of our current midfielders. Bruno sometimes has the vision but is much less precise in his passing, and is also, though you might not notice it, much less of a goal threat.

He doesn't have the close control or agility to play 10. He has played it before and was poor.

He gets closed down easily and loses the ball as CM where he has more space, he is very easy to pressure when hes further up the pitch.



This is a great video on why.

 

[The Original]

He doesn't have the close control or agility to play 10. He has played it before and was poor.

He gets closed down easily and loses the ball as CM where he has more space, he is very easy to pressure when hes further up the pitch.



This is a great video on why.

The video makes the point that he is similar to Iniesta. Now he may not occupy the space in the hole, but he does need, like Iniesta, to be the furthest forward midfielder. That is my point, regardless of what you choose to call the position.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

The video makes the point that he is similar to Iniesta. Now he may not occupy the space in the hole, but he does need, like Iniesta, to be the furthest forward midfielder. That is my point, regardless of what you choose to call the position.

He’s played as the furthest forward midfielder before. And been poor. He’s been poor in every position we’ve played him. And he’s had a crack at every midfield you could possibly play a CM. He’s also been good in all these positions.

The issue isn’t the position he plays it’s his lack of consistency. Which plagues him no matter what position he plays.

 

[Hammondo]

The video makes the point that he is similar to Iniesta. Now he may not occupy the space in the hole, but he does need, like Iniesta, to be the furthest forward midfielder. That is my point, regardless of what you choose to call the position.

He also said he can't be the main creative player in midfield. That he's a luxury player that's difficult to make effective.

 

[The Original]

He’s played as the furthest forward midfielder before. And been poor. He’s been poor in every position we’ve played him. And he’s had a crack at every midfield you could possibly play a CM. He’s also been good in all these positions.

The issue isn’t the position he plays it’s his lack of consistency. Which plagues him no matter what position he plays.

From December 2019 - August 2020 I would say that wasn't true.

Also how can you say he was poor in the past season??

 

[The Original]

He also said he can't be the main creative player in midfield. That he's a luxury player that's difficult to make effective.

Which are not points connected to anything I have said.

 

[Clermontois]

He’s played as the furthest forward midfielder before. And been poor. He’s been poor in every position we’ve played him.

Criticize the player for his awareness or something true, no need to go around fibbing. The best AM we have had here coincided with the best football we have played post Ferguson and that was in Ole's first few games.

 

[AlwaysTheKop]

There’s no denying he’s a world class football, but from the outside, it feels like it’s been years, season after season of you guys waiting for him to show it in more than two games in a season, and the coaching and the right players aren’t there around him so I don’t think you’ll ever see a prolonged version of his best... personally I think I’d have had enough by now, his price is only going down and down, so I’d cash in and get a few up and comings in... although I guess as United fans, unfortunately, you wouldn’t be sure if the money would be wasted.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Criticize the player for his awareness or something true, no need to go around fibbing. The best AM we have had here coincided with the best football we have played post Ferguson and that was in Ole's first few games.

Why did you not quote the rest of my post? It’s kind of important to put that bit in context.

 

[Sayros]

It's easy to see where Jose was coming from. Pogba is lazy, careless and lacks real desire/hunger..in short he doesnt give a shit and as we know from his pasta belly mouthpiece, he doesnt even want to be here.

This is going to be another year where he is not in the running for any of the club player of the year awards and will be a million miles away from the league player of the year awards once again. Why do you think in his 4 years he he hasn't ever been mentioned as a club player of the year candidate despite at one point being the worlds most expensive footballer? Honest question. Seriously that's a shocking indictment of him. The least we might expect of him is that he is there or there abouts for club awards at least. Look at Rooney, Keane, Ronaldo, Rio, season after season they were in the mix for league player of the year awards, never mind club player of the year awards which Pogba cant even manage to do just once....I'm absaloutely sick of him, I'm sick of listening to the litany of excuses always made on here for him and quite frankly he is a disgrace. Jose was 100% right.

All of his negative attributes (of which there are many unfortunately) are infectious and rubs off on teammates hence the virus comment from Jose.

I’d love to waste my time reading this but when you start off with pure drivel, it kind of kills the motivation to keep reading. You have some kind of personal issue with him, so no one is going to take your opinion at face value. To try and claim Jose was right and make up the same tired, boring, and unoriginal opinions which have been dispelled by all at the club is just that, boring.

 

[saint Jose]

- snip -

Like what the hell is wrong with him? I cant even blame Covid for this sort of carelessness. Its like he thinks Old trafford is his playground were he can just freestyle whenever he likes. When will he cut out the immaturity from his game?

Simple! He wants out of the club so does the bare minimum to not be in breach of contract.

We missed the boat when we could've sold him for a nice 100m and use that money to re build with more value for money Bruno Fernandes type of a player, doing that could also help get the wage structure back to a normal level which is a massive problem at the club post SAF with a massive unfair discrepancy in wages causing fiction among the players... but now we are stuck with a player who does not want to be here and 'phones in' performances running down his over-inflated contract only to leave for nothing and turn into the next ballon d'or winner at psg...

like i said earlier is it fair that he is paid 7x more than hungry, young passionate players like Greenwood who on current form is more of a game changer than Pogba with his attitude and horrific work rate ?


Get rid for as much money as possible and use money to rebuild with hungry players who fight for the shirt!

 

[Falcow]

I’d love to waste my time reading this but when you start off with pure drivel, it kind of kills the motivation to keep reading. You have some kind of personal issue with him, so no one is going to take your opinion at face value. To try and claim Jose was right and make up the same tired, boring, and unoriginal opinions which have been dispelled by all at the club is just that, boring.

Well we can agree that perhaps they are tired, boring and unoriginal but it doesnt make them any less true. Heck even I'm sick of having these opinions. What's really tiring however is the list of excuses for him on this forum.

Do you have a counter agrument to even one of my points? Try starting off with the one about him not wanting to be here which is a major part of the overall picture. I would like to hear it please?

Then I'd like to hear your thoughts why in the four years he has been here he cant seem to manage sufficient consistency to feature in our player of the year awards....like ever. Please do dispel this one? Is it not factual that for each of his seasons here he has not been good enough to warrant an award, either fans, players or managers? This is also despite the fact that we broke the world transfer record to sign him.

To my final point, do you not believe attitude/workrate and commitment are infectous and that these qualities, good or bad 'rub off' on those around you?

I dont know the man personally so it's nothing personal, by all accounts he is a nice guy. But I do have a major problem with how he performs on the pitch.

 

[Bobski]

He is in the worst condition I have seen from him as a pro. Unfortunate combination of issues, coming back from an injury late last season, short break, then covid, but he is a long way from his best self at the moment. Needs 2 weeks of solid training before he plays for the first team again.

 

[Dolf]

Absolutely terrible this game. Playing him so deep doesn't help but stil... put some effort in man!

 

[Hammondo]

Can't ignore this, we need to be looking for proper CM's who can do an actually job running the game. We have no subs to do that, and honestly if we got someone who can then Pogba would soon be benched.

 

[limerickcitykid]

His last full season (18/19) he had our highest whoscored rating of any outfield player, got 13 goals and 9 assists and was - at least to my memory - easily our best midfielder in a pretty mediocre team.
So if you'd like to say today was the same performance as that season, I'd like to say you've no idea what you're talking about, and recency bias has clearly clouded any sense of objectivity you have.

Excellent level indeed.

 

[Member 109952]

He is in the worst condition I have seen from him as a pro. Unfortunate combination of issues, coming back from an injury late last season, short break, then covid, but he is a long way from his best self at the moment. Needs 2 weeks of solid training before he plays for the first team again.

Yeah he's way out of shape. Probably one of the worst games I've seen from him. Not going to jump on the he's rubbish bandwagon because I think he's a crucial player for us, but he needs some serious managing right now because that was dreadful physically.

 

[Raven]

Decent first half, absolutely atrocious second half.

 

[Hugh Jass]

Atrocious. Played like a drunk sunday league pub player.

Needs to be dropped ASAP.

I would love to see the stats. They aint good i guess.

 

[YAMS49]

Absolutely abysmal performance. An embarrassment.

 

[AngliaRed]

Playing way too deep but he wont play in Brunos position so he either needs to adapt and put a shift in or get use to being on the bench.

genuinely love this guy and want to see him succeed.

 

[DickDastardly]

Bench him.

Make him earn the place in the first 11.

Not looking good for him if Ole has the ballz.

 

[sport2793]

As a medical professional, I'm completely convinced that COVID has screwed up his start to the season. It looks like it is still affecting his body, lots of folks who have gotten the virus have complained of persistent symptoms after "recovering" from it.

Really frustrating as a fan, but there is a medical explanation to it. VDB should start in place of him for now.

 

[Mailo]

As a medical professional, I'm completely convinced that COVID has screwed up his start to the season. It looks like it is still affecting his body, lots of folks who have gotten the virus have complained of persistent symptoms after "recovering" from it.

Really frustrating as a fan, but there is a medical explanation to it. VDB should start in place of him for now.

I agree.

 

[Idxomer]

We were even worse without him, so yeah he's absolutely the problem here.

 

[Hugh Jass]

I am sure Ole knows that unless Pogba starts turning out performances, it will be Ole's head rolling.

 

[acnumber9]

He clearly isn’t fit. Shouldn’t be starting games until he is because he’s a liability.,

 

[MrBest]

Is not match fit, played out of possession and is complacent. There really is nothing else yo say but he needs 2 to 4 weeks to get up to speed.

 

[Hammondo]

We were even worse without him, so yeah he's absolutely the problem here.

Because we have no one else who plays his role.

 

[starman]

As a medical professional, I'm completely convinced that COVID has screwed up his start to the season. It looks like it is still affecting his body, lots of folks who have gotten the virus have complained of persistent symptoms after "recovering" from it.

Really frustrating as a fan, but there is a medical explanation to it. VDB should start in place of him for now.

For someone who claims to be a "medical professional" you have no idea if he had symptoms to recover from or was just asymptomatic

 

[MrBest]

We were even worse without him, so yeah he's absolutely the problem here.

I dont think people are saying he is the problem, he is not match fit. DVB in his position would of been a more sensible way to start the game, bringing Pogba on in thr 60th plus min.

 

[Borys]

Pogba being after Covid is a perfect excuse to bench him in the next few games for Ole. If he plays it right there should be no fuss about it. He might even admit it was his fault to make him play from the start when he clearly isn't fit.

Whether his performances are related to the post illness condition or not does not make any difference. He's in poor form and we have players ready to take his place.