Telles having a whale of a time.
6
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 42
- Goals
- 6
- Assists
- 6
- Yellow cards
- 9
- Status
Telles having a whale of a time.
There's nothing as annoying as listening to one of our fans trying to argue that Pogba has been our best player since he arrived here. This is the guy that has been criticised from absolutely everybody, ex players, ex opposition players, fans. He's been moved all over the pitch by two managers to try to get him preforming. And yet there's people talking as if you must be an absolute idiot to not see he's been our best player.
Either they're unbelievably deluded or they're right and I have a deep down, subconscious
hatred for Pogba, the same player I lambasted us for selling and constantly said I hope we'd bring back.
Either they're unbelievably deluded or they're right and I have a deep down, subconscious
hatred for Pogba, the same player I lambasted us for selling and constantly said I hope we'd bring back.
We should have never bought him from Juve. That money should have been spent somewhere else. The same way with Maguire and I am glad that we did not buy Sancho for over 100 million pounds.
As is now amply clear that he isn't a player you rebuild a team over. You add him at the end to take the team to the next level. Given that he has been quite a poor signing for us.
Toure is arguably the best midfielder to play in the prem. Besides, him and Pogba play nothing alike. Same with Scholes.
I don’t think that anyone that has watched Pogba play at United can genuinely say he doesn’t create or struggles to assist with the amount of chances he has created that our forwards have failed to convert. Now he’s playing a deeper role as Bruno plays in front, of course he’s not going to be assisting or creating as much
True, but I still think it's what we ultimately need. Pogba at Juve was at least closer to that kind of player, no? then he came to United and only seems to be able to hit the post or miles wide.
this is a very recent memory. He was great in his first 2/3 seasons, the worst started when he fell out with Jose and then recovered his form again under Ole. Since his ankle injury though he hasn't got back to anywhere near his best, that's a worry.
To say he's been awful all the time and a waste of money is just frankly rubbish and bias.
It's not a crazy opinion to me. Could play anywhere from CB to 10. Impossible to tackle, long pass, vision, dribbling, powerful shooting, free-kicks, crossing, left foot, right foot. Could build up, dictate tempo, create, be on the end of the chances, counter from his own box on his own all to a world class level. It was a joke really.
He was the catalyst that started their domination off. Winners and motm performances in semis & finals galore to win their first trophies. He was the epitome of a big game player for them. I regard him as their most important player too.
something like this.i have a feeling he’s the big reason our midfield looks so unbalanced, disjointed and tired since he came back in. We are too slow on the ball and that lets the opposition set themselves well during most attacks, we are too soft in the press and we play without enough aggression and Pogba is a major offender on all counts. he’s been in his worst form here since lockdown. Recently he’s cost us more goals and chances than he’s saved scored or provided and become a liability. There was a slight chance we still could have succeeded with Bruno and Pogba in the same team if we’d invested well in the DM position and got some energy bite and passing in there but we’ve just ignored it in typical United fashion. We badly needed to replace matic (who I also think is way too passive and is already past it) but we gave him a bumper new deal instead. He at least needed some competition and rotation this season...
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I think once a narrative has settled, people tend to focus on it. It's easy to forget how good he is. I will concede that he's been poor since he got injured. It's a shame the video that best showcased Pogba at United was hit with a copyright notice and erased from the internet. It was titled "Paul Pogba 50 assists that would have been" and showcased 50 clear cut chances wasted largely by Ibra, Lukaku and Rashford and it was shocking how much a disservice they did to Pogba. It was posted on this site once, but alas the only thing remaining is a reddit thread with 100 comments of United fans and neutrals saying "wow". I'll link the thread if you want to peruse the discussion:
I'm saying all that to say. Pogba has at times, carried United on his back, granted we never reached any soaring heights, much to the contrary, we've been in freefall for years, but he's been very good for us at points. At one time, he was even called the best midfielder in the prem, but all that gets forgotten about when he strings some bad performances together and then people talk as if he was never good for us. I don't begrudge a player for not being able to solely turn us into world beaters.
The level of vitriol thrown his way is weird to me. Especially since he's a Carrington graduate and segments of the United fanbase pride themselves on "supporting one of our own", but I never felt like that's applied to him. Guy was off injured for most of a season, came back and contracted covid, and was far from being the mail culprit against spurs but his thread was one, if not the most active, post match.
There're so many wrongs with this statement.Ole said:
Exactly. Pretty much how I see it.
This is too much. He never did - he merely contributed along the way while the others are usually the one that do the heavy lifting with him making the flashy lifting at those times.
That said, he is definitely our front runners when it comes to creating chances.
That's it, while he often disappoints us in other aspects eg. discipline with his silly bookings, handballs, invisibility disappearing in games, terrible games throwing tantrums, off field antics with his comments, etc etc.
Guy was literally the catalyst for the unbeaten record breaking run that got Ole the permanent job. This is what was being written about Pogba at the time:
https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/paul-pogba-rated-premier-leagues-13976221
https://reddevilarmada.com/2019/01/...orld-right-now-on-current-form-not-debatable/
https://bleacherreport.com/articles...pogba-is-1-of-the-worlds-best-in-his-position
https://inews.co.uk/sport/football/...ogba-ole-gunnar-solskjaer-relationship-255882
and no one was questioning it, but OK
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As a club, we've got a warped sense of reality towards expecting expensive players to come in and instantly transform our side, turning us into a top team all by themselves. When City/Liverpool/whoever were building their side, did they bring in one star player to their weak team then all was suddenly fixed and voila they're a top side? It doesn't work like that anywhere. So why do we expect it to work here?
When people say things like Pogba needs this or that to succeed, it's not so much about him and more like wanting to be the best team we can be by, maximising the talents at our disposal for us as a club with the supposed highest standards. Juve had a top midfield when he was there. Pirlo, Vidal, Marchisio, Khedira, Hernanes (last 2 weakest but still better than ours). Excellent midfielders in their own right capable of running the midfield. You get the point. They were never totally reliant on one player. Who was Pogba surrounded with here?
In the years before Bruno, he was expected to build up our play from deep, whilst also being our main creator further up the pitch at the same time. With such a burden placed on one player, it didn't matter who it was in his shoes, there was no chance it was ever going to succeed overall. The times we resembled an actual midfield, lining up with Herrera and Matic alongside him, were categorically our best periods of form. But we've never had that kind of midfield consistently which has been the biggest problem for us all along.
When people say things like Pogba needs this or that to succeed, it's not so much about him and more like wanting to be the best team we can be by, maximising the talents at our disposal for us as a club with the supposed highest standards. Juve had a top midfield when he was there. Pirlo, Vidal, Marchisio, Khedira, Hernanes (last 2 weakest but still better than ours). Excellent midfielders in their own right capable of running the midfield. You get the point. They were never totally reliant on one player. Who was Pogba surrounded with here?
In the years before Bruno, he was expected to build up our play from deep, whilst also being our main creator further up the pitch at the same time. With such a burden placed on one player, it didn't matter who it was in his shoes, there was no chance it was ever going to succeed overall. The times we resembled an actual midfield, lining up with Herrera and Matic alongside him, were categorically our best periods of form. But we've never had that kind of midfield consistently which has been the biggest problem for us all along.
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A poor City legend who couldn’t even get a birthday cake from his own team, which triggered his leaving.
Yeah. He's way underrated, maybe it's just because we're on a Man Utd forum and he did kill us over the years. SAF would have had at least a few extra titles if it wasn't for him.
Swap him + Martial for Haaland.
I think having Haaland as our main striker with Mason as an impact sub + a new CB will make us a genuine threat. Cavani will be a great help to the youngsters too.
Haaland needs to be here asap and we should do whatever we can to get him. Pogba would be a starter for Dortmund.
I think having Haaland as our main striker with Mason as an impact sub + a new CB will make us a genuine threat. Cavani will be a great help to the youngsters too.
Haaland needs to be here asap and we should do whatever we can to get him. Pogba would be a starter for Dortmund.
Mate, I think you are flattering Bruno just a tad. Bruno’s scored only four non-penalty goals for United. Since signing, he has had the team set up for him to thrive and his use of the ball is incredibly aggressive. He’s a fantastic penalty taker, but he’s been here for 26 games now and scored four goals away from the penalty spot. His output has evaporated over our last 15 matches.
It is as if people’s opinion on Bruno was set after his first ten games, and he carries that credit for his next 50. People can lament Pogba’s start to this season, but Bruno is just as great a concern right now.
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Yep. Both Pogba and Bruno are extremely talented players but neither are functioning in this team right now.
Pogba and Fernandes are both fantastic players but they shouldn't be playing together.
Why not play one of them at any one time, alongside (probably) Matic and vdB. The other can then rotate - we're going to play enough games for everyone to make an impact and thus we'd have a strong squad. Playing only one of them next to more of a worker would allow Bruno/Pogba to roam more freely and make plays, while his partner covers.
...................... Matic / Fred ........................
vdB / McTominay ..... Fernandes / Pogba
Why not play one of them at any one time, alongside (probably) Matic and vdB. The other can then rotate - we're going to play enough games for everyone to make an impact and thus we'd have a strong squad. Playing only one of them next to more of a worker would allow Bruno/Pogba to roam more freely and make plays, while his partner covers.
...................... Matic / Fred ........................
vdB / McTominay ..... Fernandes / Pogba
Go back to fifa.
The reality is that it's somewhere in between. He hasn't been as good as some people make out, but he has been better than others go on about.
I feel you are in the latter category. For instance, you say he's been moved all over the pitch? He's basically played two positions, one of which he's normally played very well in and coincided with some of our best runs of form. Then he gets moved back to a midfield two where he's played the majority of his games and he tends to struggle for consistency.
At the end of the day it comes down to this - he's been inconsistent. Good 50% of the time (some of it extremely good), not good enough 50% of the time (some of it terrible). Is that good enough? Of course not. But go through the performances over the last few years and how many players can you name that have been good more than 50% of the time? I honestly struggle to think of a single one.
The absolute best example of all that was 18/19. At the start of that season Pogba and Shaw were easily our best players while everyone else struggled. Then they both dropped off as well and we didn't really have anyone playing well. Then just as Mourinho looked like he was about to be fired, Pogba and Martial stepped up and saved his job while nobody else was playing well. That continued for a while, then both of them dropped off again and the entire team struggled. Mourinho eventually gets fired and the media and many fans blame Pogba. Why? Pogba had played well roughly half the season at that point. Shaw and Martial about a quarter. Not a single other player in the team had been good for more than a game or two. Yet to this day people talk about Pogba being terrible and playing a big part of getting Mourinho fired. Admittedly there had been two or three games during his poor periods where he was truly atrocious, but overall he'd easily been our best player that season so far. Not because he'd been particularly good, but he'd done a hell of a lot more than anyone else in the team. Then of course Ole took over and the team as a whole had a great period, led by Pogba who was literally one of the best players in the world for a while. Then they all struggle again for the last 2 months or so of the season. Overall - Pogba had been good for roughly half of the season which isn't good enough, but it was comfortably more than anyone else in the team.
Other seasons have been somewhat similar although not quite so well spread out. He's absolutely had too many poor patches of form. But he's been nowhere near the worst and I'd say there are very few who have been better.
Really hope he’s being dropped. We need to send message to everyone that you are all droppable even for someone with 2nd highest wages in the team if you are underperforming. Beside, nothing hurts to put Pogba on the bench, it gives another bench option to bring on if worst case the score still 0-0 in 60th min. And also we got PSG midweek, Pogba can rest today and play in that game instead rotate with Bruno.
Are you not a fan of swapping TWO of our best players for a 19 year old?
Hope I get proven wrong but I don’t think Ole has the guts to drop him. I agree that VDB should start and give Pogba a rest for the PSG game.
Name me one player in the squad who is capable of definitely scoring 25+ goals a season. I know we're overstocked in the attacking department, but in order to win titles you need the cream of the crop forward, and unfortunately as it stands, we don't have that. Fixing the CB and RW problem will help solve loads, but they still won't make us a title winning team. Who is our Cantona? or Aguero? or Rooney? We don't have that kind of player in the squad, and like I said, we may guarantee top 4 with an RW and CB, but never the title.
I mean, Cantona only scored 25 goals once, and otherwise never scored more than 19. Rooney only scored 25+ goals twice. Kind of strange players to mention to say we need a true goalscorer.
They both bought a lot more to the team than just a pure goalscorer, and the argument is that Martial does too. At least on his good days anyway, and that's where the issue is. He needs to be consistent, and make sure he's impacting the game even on his off days.
My point is that none of our current forwards, bar Mason if he molds into quality stuff (I believe he will,) are ever going to reach legendary status. We have a mentality of overvaluing our good players. Martial is definitely a good player, but is he a top top forward that will net us a title? Never. Rashford is great, but too inconsistent, and Mason is too young. Ighalo doesn't even need to be mentioned. Name me one player in our current squad that would be a starter for United circa 95-2008. Not one player would get into any of those teams because our standard has dropped so low. Top 4 finishes are on the horizon for the next few seasons until we do a major overhaul regarding forwards. I'm pushing hard for Haaland because he looks like a world beater already who relishes pressure, and swapping "two of our best players" as someone stated in the thread for him, will get us a much stronger XI on paper and in action. The fact that Pogba and Martial are the top players in this United squad is saddening.
I would say both Martial and Rashford have the potential to do so. I'm not necessarily confident that they will, but they do have the ability. It has to be remembered that last season was the first time Martial had a full season as a striker and he scored 23 goals despite being injured for over a month, and many feel he was our best player over the course of the season. Rashford seemed to be in the process of taking the step up to the top level when he suffered the injury, so hopefully he can put that behind him and get back to that level.
I have no doubt Haaland will score more goals than Martial, but there is a definite possibility that the team as a whole will play better and score more goals with Martial. Kind of like how we started playing better with Saha back in 05/06 when he replaced Ruud. Obviously Ruud would always score more himself, but Saha bought the other players into the game better.
I should note that I don't necessarily disagree with you. I just think you're being a bit harsh on the forwards we do have.
You're having an absolute nightmare in this thread. I'm all for getting Haaland in as well but I think you need to try being a little more realistic. This isn't fifa, our board would never allow any manager (and rightly so) to trade Martial and Pogba for a 19 year old. This is without even touching on the fact that Dortmund wouldn't be able to pay either of their wages. As far as I'm aware, Haaland has a release clause that kicks in next summer or the summer after, we should look to buy him then.
On the bench.
So I’m expecting us to win 5-0, the so-called virus has been removed so the football should excite beyond measure
So I’m expecting us to win 5-0, the so-called virus has been removed so the football should excite beyond measure
If the rumoured release clause kicks in during 2022, I think clubs will come in with bigger offers next summer.
Hope he gets comfortable on bench. Actually think he could be an impactful sub but he's just not good enough to justify ruining the balance of midfield
Newcastle 1:4 Man Utd
We where better when he came on. Could be argued it was because Newcastle where tired but who know.
Either way did well.
Either way did well.
Small sample size but looks in better condition, in his case the timing of the international break was good for Utd.
When you get pushed off the ball by Jonjo Shelvey, it might be time to go.
Looked decent when he came on.
Didn’t put a foot wrong. We were better with him.
There was one pass he should have made better to Van De Beek to put him one on one but apart from that I agree, good cameo.
He looks so much better when he isnt made to sit in a double pivot so deep.
His little performance today reminds me of the Juventus player he was - he makes runs, he can pass short or long, is able to be dangerous from attacking positions and from deep.
Him and Bruno had a good partnership together and this is why Bruno and Pogba should be playing together as CM in partnership with both having the ability to get forward whenever the space is available.
His little performance today reminds me of the Juventus player he was - he makes runs, he can pass short or long, is able to be dangerous from attacking positions and from deep.
Him and Bruno had a good partnership together and this is why Bruno and Pogba should be playing together as CM in partnership with both having the ability to get forward whenever the space is available.
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