His problem here, aside from injuries, was that his skillset and playstyle made him an imperfect fit in every position we could have played him in.
His best attributes (carrying the ball, range of passing) were things that required him to play deeper. He was therefore less effective starting higher up the pitch, particularly poor at playing behind the striker because he wanted more time on the ball than you get allowed in that position. He had some good games coming off the left, but his lack of pace meant it wasn't great for the overall balance of the team and it still somewhat wasted the things he was world class at. Unfortunately, playing deeper in a midfield two exposed the things he's actively bad at (lack of defensive acumen, a propensity to make bad decisions and dawdle on the ball).
To get the best out of him without being too porous you need to play him in a midfield three with two more defensively minded players, but doing so leaves a huge gap between the midfield and the front three because you have no-one naturally filling that more advanced position to link midfield and attack. France got round that by playing him alongside Kante and Matuidi/Rabiot behind a lopsided front three where Griezemann dropped in from the left to occupy that space behind the striker. But, that only worked because they had those exact players available and it played to all their strengths. It was never feasible to try and recreate that at club level by buying a bunch of players to accommodate Pogba when an injury to him would ruin your system and mean it was all for nothing. Also, why go to all that effort when the alternative is buying an attacking midfielder like Bruno who fulfills the same creative role in the team more consistently without needing the same coddling?
I think the criticism of Pogba as a person is over the top and strays into the nasty far too often. But I think it's fair to criticise him for his unwillingness to work on his weaknesses in the 5+ years he was here. Because let's be clear, he could have been one of the greatest centre midfield players of all time if he'd worked on the defensive side of his game and cut out the silly stuff.
This would suggest the form of his career came from deep (by which, I'm assuming you're stating the World Cup run?), but it's at Juve with Pirlo and Vidal that he displayed his best, most consistent form, higher up and to the left, where, whilst losing some of the long passing, others elements came to the fore, namely shooting and crossing as well as sudden, raking crossfield passes out of nowhere. The net gain from that position was arguably never replicated again and certainly not tapped into with any of that presupposed consistency - that Pogba looked like a dead cert' to be a special, career-great player.
This thread - as was most of his career here - is a really bizarre carousel of hate/dislike for the player with barely any acknowledgement of timelines or why he - or things - ended up as they were. Going from structure and a defined role designed to get the very best out of him, to sort of being dumped in a side and told to play is deconstructive at best, and calamitous at worst, and in such a young, whispy player, a good manager with his best interests at heart is going to tap into his psyche and make sure he keeps him tuned in, motivated and focused, and most importantly like he is with the team rather than divided from it. We had the antithesis of what both coaching and managing should be whilst he was here, and his personality type is going to be one of the first to fall foul of that. Of course the player has blame laid at his feet, as professionals are supposed to always do their best and be switched on, but again, quality managers and coaches do not let situations get so out of hand or have no clue what they're doing with the players at their disposal - it's no coincidence whatsoever that in structured environments with strong, personable coaches, Pogba always showed his best, most disciplined football. At least with a ten Hag here at his arrival, all the groundwork would be there for the player to get on board with, with no nebulous, undefined or uncertain periods of 'what to do with him' or 'how to handle him' rearing their proverbial heads.
It's also not unique to Pogba, as most of those
really talented players need strong, skilled coaches to keep them in line and extract all of their best qualities whilst suppressing the worst traits and flaws in their game and/or mental make up. I'd also say working on weaknesses comes by way of a coach with the know-how giving the briefs and instructions for the talent to adhere to. We had no such level of coach here during Pogba's tenure. All of our young players suffered because of this, and the whole squad atrophied in unison with only those from elsewhere coming into the set up and lighting fires, either maintaining their previous standards or finally, falling in line with the mean of the shambolic environment they had entered. Bruno gets the most credit of all for the fact he was unaffected and unperturbed, steadfast in whatever he was taught in Portgual and not tainted with the brush so many others eventually fell foul of as what they once were became a thing of the past... ironically as our own coaching permeated their collective consciousnesses.
I don't think Pogba needs excuses made for him, but the reality of what went on here is nearly always redacted in favour of a nonsense narrative or an upholding of real dislike for the player when everything went tits up towards the end.
