Very poor last night. Pogba was the better of the two for sure.
Overall though Bruno is far clear of Pogba in a Utd shirt.
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Very poor last night. Pogba was the better of the two for sure.
Overall though Bruno is far clear of Pogba in a Utd shirt.
I don't like Pogba as a player, I hate all the baggage he brings along with him and am looking forward to getting him out of the club at last, he should have went when Jose did, but he was our best player last night. Still want him gone though.
Better with him than without, as always. Like how he bodied Weghorst but Dean has a personal vendetta against him. Thought he faded in the 2nd half which was expected.
In the CL I'd consider playing him off the left, with Sancho right. Rashford and Cavani off the bench and Mcfred. Think that gives us the best chance of grinding out results. Hopefully get some quality balls into the box and Rashford might be useful again against tired legs.
In the CL I'd consider playing him off the left, with Sancho right. Rashford and Cavani off the bench and Mcfred. Think that gives us the best chance of grinding out results. Hopefully get some quality balls into the box and Rashford might be useful again against tired legs.
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Bruno hasn’t been good for over twelve months bar the odd game but the thing with that is that he can have one good game in ten and people will talk about how great he’s been since he joined. Pogba can play consistently well but if it’s not out of this world great it gets lumped in the one good game in five category.
For the record every player in that team last night was better first half than second and when the team performs worse then individuals will undoubtedly.
Paul Pogba has scored 5 league goals in his last 3 seasons combined. That's known as a calendar month for an in form Bruno.
He was fine against last night Pogba. First half good. Second half poor = average performance overall.
So much about him coming back and being the difference eh? Lost to a championship side and drew to bottom of PL. Huge impact......not.
Wondered how long it would take for you to drag Bruno into it?
Hang on a minute.
It’s not like he’s spent a whole career being brilliant and only recently coming to Utd and not performing.
He’s spent most of his career at Utd and most of his senior career ( this is his 6th season since his move back)
He had 4 good seasons at Juventus, breaking into a very good, solid, strong first team as a youngster at 19, a teenager!
An environment where a young athletic talent can shine…and he did for a lot of his time there.
He left Juve still a youngster, at 23.
In the French national team, he’s always been surrounded by very good and exceptional players. They are a physically strong and talented bunch. He’s been WC many times for France, but just a useful and important member of the squad on other occasions.
It’s worked for him in the right team, which clearly hasn’t been the case here for most of the last 6 seasons, but time is now running out for Pogba.
He’s 29 in a months time and his tall stature and physique will be working against him from now on.
He played really well in the first half’s of both the Middlesbrough and Burnley games, but faded away early in the 2nd in both games.
That wasn’t just down to lack of match practice and fitness, after his long lay off.
Recarding the holding off - it does annoy me a bit with Pogba, and I agree with previous poster it is a weak point of his (not disastrous, just weak): Everybody needs to hold of sometimes, and in front of the attacking box or by the corner flag it’s often the right choice. Pogba’s issue hear to me, is that he will more often than necessary in midfield, when we are in a build up, upon receiving the ball wait for the physical challenge and hold of, when other players would have changed direction immediately, sped off, or played a quick pass backwards or sideways to keep the ball moving. This delays our build up by a few seconds every time, which when done often is detrimental to our attacking flow, and when it doesn’t work, it often leads to dangerous counters because of the phase of play and place on the pitch.
I seem to remember he was better at avoiding this yesterday in the first half, though, more often than usual playing a quick pass keeping the tempo on the ball up.
I don’t bother to much what otjers say about ‘1 in 5’ or such. I think Pogba on the whole have been a good player for us, only in spells brilliant, seldom really bad, but often hasn’t functioned too well in our set up. Used well he can be part of a very good team, but I’m not totally convinced he is worth the quoted salaries and the media distractions. Just my 2 cents.
I agree with your general point that sometimes it can be effective. I disagree if you mean Pogba is good at deciding when to invite a hold off and when to keep the ball moving. I think this decision making is a weakness with him, just like Rashford has a weak decision making of when to shoot and when to pass outside the box.
Compared to a player like De Bruyne (high bar, I know), who often will do what you say, but most times will keep the ball ticking, and almost never lose the ball in midfield with half his teammates in front of the ball, Pogba too often slows our play with this move, and he creates openings for the opposition as often as he does for us with that particular choice. That’s just my impression, on the whole.
He was very good again last night but we all know it's a matter of time before he or his agent throws another strop. Much i love watching him play we will be better off without him.
Pogba will be 29 in a few weeks time. He’ll pass his 30th birthday during next season.
As good as he can be on his day, physically he’s a great big, tall lanky lump and time isn’t on his side.
£400,000k p/w ?
Is he worth £60m in wages over the next 3 years, if he can somehow be persuaded to sign a new contract?
It’ll be £80m if we’re daft enough to offer him 4 years.
….and we talk about the Glazers siphoning off money from the club?
As good as he can be on his day, physically he’s a great big, tall lanky lump and time isn’t on his side.
£400,000k p/w ?
Is he worth £60m in wages over the next 3 years, if he can somehow be persuaded to sign a new contract?
It’ll be £80m if we’re daft enough to offer him 4 years.
….and we talk about the Glazers siphoning off money from the club?
First 3/4 of this post I agree with. Last point
sorry when did we start blaming players for taking wages?Was great first half and nonexistent second.
Agree with @Pogue Mahone that he dawdles on the ball too long at time where a simple pass can be better utilised.
Agree with @Pogue Mahone that he dawdles on the ball too long at time where a simple pass can be better utilised.
Any guesses what the 3 fingers celebration was? Rio said 3 more years. I reckon he'd told Rangnick he was gonna score a hattrick 
There is no need for his agent to throw any strop (Pogba has never done that publicly btw). June is soon
First 3/4 of this post I agree with. Last point
I wasn’t blaming players for taking wages.
Just comparing how we view the Glazer’s leaching off money being a drain on resources, with spaffing away a king’s fortune on ridiculous overpaid player contracts.
Sorry I’m out of posts for today.
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Good first half, drifted out of the game a bit into the 2nd half but came back strong in the last fifteen minutes looking like he might make something happen.
I think his best days are behind him. What big team is going to build their team around him?
Why are people obsessed with this idea?
Your agenda
He'd be perfect to add some flair and creativity at Madrid. Modric isn't the youngest anymore. They have an actual DM and a somewhat defensive minded b2b to pair him with. The league is a bit slower so that would suit him as well.
That isn’t how it happens IMO. In theory, of course, what you say would be a problem, but that isn’t the reality. If Pogba gets the ball and a quick pass is on he will play it. If he gets the ball and an opponent is not on his back, he doesn’t stop and call an opponent over so that he can back i to him! The backing in comes when he gets the ball under pressure. Again, similarly to a big number 9. No striker backs in and holds a ball up when it is played to him if there is nobody actually right on him from behind trying to win it. That would just be weird!
Ah, the Caf’s favourite phrase!
You don't usually pay people 400k a week unless they are the main player in that area of the pitch? Not that I even understand what this term really means, it's a bit hyperbolic, but I assume that is what everyone is alluding to.
He isn't paid 400k but even then. Teams rarely build around a single player the way the caf seems to be obsessed with.
What he does too often is that he waits for the contact before he decides what he's going to do, when actually a touch away into space is is a better move, perhaps that's just a lack of awareness on his part. As a midfielder he should be looking to get away from close contact like that as much as possible when receiving the ball.
You think someone is going to sign Pogba on a free and pay him pennies? Even Herrera got a huge salary after a free transfer.
There's no team that Pogba seamlessly fits into. People rave about him for France but they still suffer from the same Pogba that we do, it's just you get away with it more at international level.
In theory that would be true but Pogba is a big player, he doesn't have the acceleration for that kind of thing. Also that's generally the context of these actions, generally opponents do what is almost always considered a foul, they grab him or barge into him, yesterday it happened a few times, the referee only whistled when he was on the ground despite the opponent grabbing him with both hands and it wasn't subtle.
That is the figure being touted for his next contract, I wasn't saying he is currently paid that.
No, I don't think anyone is going to pay him pennies but since you you mentioned France and Herrera. No one built a team around Herrera despite his "huge" salary and France didn't build around Pogba which was the point that you made.
Which makes it even more irrelevant.
Where did I say France built their team around Pogba? I also didn't say anyone built their team around Herrera. Did you quote the wrong post? Herrera doesn't need people doing the running for him, either.
Again, I respectfully disagree with this. Of all the criticisms levelled at Pogba, one thing that I will certainly not agree with is that he will not release a pass if it is on. He literally makes several one and two touch passes every game. I’m not saying he does not engage in that physical stuff, but I think people are making up the contexts in which this occurs. I don’t know if we can get some gifs from last night, but it isn’t how I see it.
You asked what big team will build around him and when I asked about where the obsession comes from, Conor brought up his potential wage which is irrelevant and you answered to my response to Conor's post with Herrera and France. The entire convo is about your point regarding building around him and my question about where the obsession comes from, I didn't move from it.
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There is no figure really being touted for his next contract, it’s just something people keep banging on about in here to try and rationalise criticism. The conversation has been ongoing for a couple of years now, the narrative has barely been about a figure at all. More simply about the will of the player. There is little to no talk at all about Pogba demanding £400k, and there hasn’t really ever been, bar maybe an odd speculative tweet in the last few years. The conversation has not really been about money at all, more about what the player and the club want to do.
I've mentioned building a team around him once and you claim it's an obsession? Bizarre. The point about Herrera was relating to his salary and moving on a free, not building a team around him. France was performance based as people seem to think he plays a lot better for France than he does for us, which may be true to an extent, but the same issues are there and in reality it's the same Pogba but in a slower environment and better players around him.
I'm a fan of Pogba but will shed no tears when he leaves and don't expect him to live up to his obvious talent when he does.
All well and good when a big number 9 does it on the edge of the opponents box, not so great when he does it on the edge of our own box. It's a high risk style of play when a simple pass to a better positioned teammate would work, and that pass is often on when he decides to try and hold the ball.
The obsession is about the caf, not you in particular. Now if something is bizarre is how you don't answer the simple question asked, you answered to everything but the question. Where the building around him comes from?
I mean, if that was the circumstances in which it happened, I’d agree with you too. But it isn’t, to me.
And as I said, defenders do the same on the edge of their own box all the time. Every game. Before often clearing the ball down the line, or a teammate comes round to give them a pass or they try and win a goal kick/throw in off their man.
What doesn’t happen is Pogba gets the ball with good passes on, but he doesn’t take them, and instead waits for an opponent who wasn’t there to begin with to come over so he can wrestle with him. On the edge of his own box. That is just made up IMO.
No he doesn't, but what he does do is hold the ball under pressure when there is an easy out pass on to a teammate. The pass would get us out of trouble and move the ball quicker up the pitch but he wants to show his strength and tricks off by turning them and running. It's infuriating because whilst it looks good when it works, it slows the game down and sometimes costs us when he does lose it.
When a defender does it they are always looking how to get the ball cleared, either with a pass or a kick down the lines. They would never hold it for the sake of holding it and they would definitely not try and dribble it out (unless they're named Eric Bailly).
I don't think you've answered one thing I've asked, you just spend your time replying to comments that haven't been made.
Where did you ask that? I think a Pogba needs a team building around him as he isn't good enough in traditional positions. The 2nd, and more attacking, 8 in a midfield 3 is perhaps his most suited but depends who the other midfielders are.
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