Paul Pogba image 6

Paul Pogba France flag

2020-21 Performances


View full 2020-21 profile

6.0 Season Average Rating
Appearances
42
Goals
6
Assists
6
Yellow cards
9
Status
Not open for further replies.
Pogba is just a conundrum we are yet to solve and it might be that we never do. He was playing very well in a double pivot after project restart alongside Matic and Bruno but probably doesn't get the credit he deserves for those performances because he didn't score many goals or many direct assists. He's also been good for France over the years in a similar role from what I understand. The go to argument there is that he has Kante next to him and frees up Pogba to do his thing which is fair, although I understand he has played with Rabiot too who is a different player to Kante.

He's had a horrible start to this season and I do think Ole shouldn't have played him given the fitness issues he had with Covid and no pre-season - that's not helped him at all and then of course a good portion of the media, rival fans and a large part of our fanbase just love to criticise him whether it is fair or not.

For me, we more or less have all the attributes and qualities we need in midfield but they are just oddly spread across all of our players:

Matic - technically our best DM, progressive from deep and positionally good, however, slow and immobile and can't cover the ground we need him to.
Fred - great energy and ball winner, at times looks quite good and progresses the ball well but often falls short. Not sure he is suited to DM as he is best when able to press all around the pitch
McTominay - physically very impressive and covers a lot of ground and works hard. Similar to Fred but perhaps a bit better positionally; passing is decent but again, not the high quality we need
Pogba - world class ability on the ball but intensity and defensive discipline can let him down. Can be guilty of trying to do too much when things aren't going well, rather than keep it simple.
VDB - technically very good, one and two touch player and looks like he can be trusted with defensive duties and seems to be a very intelligent player. I actually think he is probably going to be a better 8 than a 10
Bruno - just does Bruno things - elite numbers - risky passing at all times means he has to play ahead of the ball

A world class DM is probably the answer to our problems - someone who can cover a lot of ground and progress the ball well from deep. I'm still annoyed we weren't in for Partey! If we can get a top class DM we could play a 433 with two 8s who could be 2 from Pogba, Bruno and VDB or failing that, it will help our 4231 formation or indeed if playing a diamond. If Pogba ultimately wants to go, we have some recruiting to do / progressing some of the academy players coming through but VDB might make more sense as a signing. The 433 might bring a bit more stability to our performances and seems to be the in vogue system with its success obvious at City and Liverpool. Pogba ultimately played his best football for Juventus as the left side of a 3 and if we want to get the best out of him then I believe signing a new DM is critical. I suspect it will be too late though and Pogba may end up moving on before we do, however, regardless of Pogba, we need to sign that DM!
 
It's good on paper but I don't remember us scoring goal that way, or even a dangerous situation.

Also, it's not true he's the only one who can do that. Maguire seems to be doing that on regular basis, Lindelof did that against Besiktas and Rashford won a pen afterwards.

To me sacrificing fluency to our midfield by forcing Pogba in, because he can hit the long range pass, is too big of a cost. And not necessary, as we've been doing well without him in midfield so I'm not sure why Ole still insists on Pogba in there. His impact on the game from deep is minimal, for both United and France.
That's why I said ideally. Can't blame Ole to test it out. But not sure if it is worth it anymore.
 
Well, at least that confirms why he's been as bad as he has been.

One of the reasons I chose not to criticize him in this period is that we knew there had to be an effect.

When a player says they can't even run, gotta ask the question as to why they ended up starting him in our opening games.
 
Well, at least that confirms why he's been as bad as he has been.

One of the reasons I chose not to criticize him in this period is that we knew there had to be an effect.

When a player says they can't even run, gotta ask the question as to why they ended up starting him in our opening games.

Exactly. They can measure their oxygen, and a myriad of other vitals. So they should have known!
 
This is so important.
Yup.

Wijnaldum, a key player for Liverpool, hasn't signed a contract and most likely will leave on a free. Guess what, Liverpool don't really care and will still start him every game because right now they don't bother about long term this, or building for the future that. Klopp wants to win as much as he can, so he's making use of the talent at his disposal.

I want us to do the same for our players. Some fans would love to ship Pogba, Martial, Matic, and some others out ASAP, but I think it's better to realize we have quite a few good players and try and use them to enhance our immediate prospects, before their inevitable departure.
 
Thank feck. Can't wait to see the back of him and Raiola.
 
His time at the club has been much ado about nothing

Thankfully this means we won't give him a long term deal on astronomical wages
 


Luckhurst full on "Go Ahead Make My Day " mode

Full revisionist mode if he's saying Mourinho was purely sacked over falling out with Pogba.
 
I have always supported Pogba but he clearly drives this line of being disrespectful to our club. Probably because he looks like he is on the decline, but I think we are on the rise and ready for silverware and need people who want to play for the club.

#Pogbout
 
If he is not fully committed and bent on leaving, let him go. Get decent money, re-invest properly, move on. Let the scouts work their magic.
 


Luckhurst full on "Go Ahead Make My Day " mode


Club's mouthpiece instructed to respond. Good to see them standing up to comments like this.

I'd stick him on the plane back to Manchester for the optics. Have him train on his own. Toxic, toxic circus.

Such a shame given the talent he has, but he's not consistent enough and the most disruptive players we've ever stuck by for so long.
 
If he is not fully committed and bent on leaving let him go. Get decent money, re-invest properly, move on.
I agree thats what we should do however struggle to imagine anyone offering decent money for him these days
 
I agree thats what we should do however struggle to imagine anyone offering decent money for him these days
He won't fetch a world record fee, but I doubt we would get less than 60 million quid for him.
 
Good. He needs to be gone anyway.
As for what we can get for him, maybe like 40 million from the likes of PSG or Inter. Get it done.
 
He needs to play consistently well for us, win-win for everyone. It's in our best interest long and short term to have him back at a good level
Even after this comments?

I'd imagine a player like Bruno with a winning attitude won't be happy with seeing his teammate and his crew behave like this. I'd also imagine he would want to back the club and manager, because this yet again puts pressure on the whole team.
 
Even after this comments?

I'd imagine a player like Bruno with a winning attitude won't be happy with seeing his teammate and his crew behave like this. I'd also imagine he would want to back the club and manager, because this yet again puts pressure on the whole team.
Yes, specially after those comments. If we are to sell him, best for us to sell him with the biggest possible fee. Him playing well helps us in that regard.
It would be a damn shame to sell him at a cut price when we bought him so expensively.
 
Yes, specially after those comments. If we are to sell him, best for us to sell him with the biggest possible fee. Him playing well helps us in that regard.
What about the squad relationship and harmony??? That's more important than any player.

Pogba has to apologise for Raiola's comments and make the agent explain if he is saying all this on his own accord or not. Solskjaer should not even select him for the bench anymore if that doesn't happen. We've made excuses for far too long now.
 
I have always supported Pogba but he clearly drives this line of being disrespectful to our club. Probably because he looks like he is on the decline, but I think we are on the rise and ready for silverware and need people who want to play for the club.

#Pogbout
However, this seems like an attempt to drive down Pogba's price and extract him from us in January. We should NOT sell him now since the price differential between uncertain COVID outlook in January with 18 months left is not likely to be more than in the summer post-Euro 2021.

At that time, Pogba will be faced with the possibility of staying for another year after which he can leave for substantial signing-on bonuses in 2022 or signing a new contract if we look promising and want him.

We should wait till after the Euros.
 
What about the squad relationship and harmony??? That's more important than any player.

Pogba has to apologise for Raiola's comments and make the agent explain if he is saying all this on his own accord or not. Solskjaer should not even select him for the bench anymore if that doesn't happen. We've made excuses for far too long now.
I think we tend to overplay these things as fans, we give them too much importance, these players are pros and they're mercenaries, they don't expect everyone in the team to be as committed as them. Time and time again we've seen players wanting to leave clubs and it never stopped their managers from using them nor their teammates from trusting them.
How we view things as fans (where everything is romanticized basically) and it's possibly viewed inside football clubs is very different.
"Pogbas has to apologise" :lol::lol: , are you being serious with this ?
 
At 27 years old, into his fifth season here since his return, having a poor season and with his agent saying his time is done, it seems we've got nearly all we will from Pogba.

So as of this moment, where would Pogba rank on a scale of bad signings?
 
I think we tend to overplay these things as fans, we give them too much importance, these players are pros and they're mercenaries, they don't expect everyone in the team to be as committed as them. Time and time again we've seen players wanting to leave clubs and it never stopped their managers from using them nor their teammates from trusting them.
How we view things as fans (where everything is romanticized basically) and it's possibly viewed inside football clubs is very different.
"Pogbas has to apologise" :lol::lol: , are you being serious with this ?
Yes, I'm being serious. A player's agent constantly talking shit about our club and now saying his client is "done" is just unprofessional and totally disrespectful.

This won't fly at any other big club or under any top manager like Klopp, Guardiola or Mourinho. This isn't media rumours or paper talks, this is yet another incident with the same player and we've had those issues since his second season at the club. We need to draw a line and set the standards that we used to have, no player is more important than the club, no matter the financial repercussions. If we still have any ambitions left to keep our status, this should be the final straw.
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.