It's been stated several times by people who actually know what they're talking about that he was a great influence in the dressing room, and was very appreciated - both for France and for Utd.
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Paul Pogba - Free Agent | ban reduced - able to play competitively from March 2025
- Thread starter charlenefan
- Start date
You say "don't know, don't care" after vigorously trying to prove that Pogba had a positive influence on the squad. Which is obviously incorrect. Make your mind up, either you care or you don't.
You misread/misunderstood me - I don’t know and don’t care “how good his influence was on the squad when he directed his agent to talk shite about the club repeatedly in the press”.
Vigorously? I posted once quoting an article as response to someone saying they’d never heard of him being a good influence.
didn’t read the rest of your post as I don’t care to engage with it. I provided an article with direct quotes to respond to the poster that said they’d never heard of it - added a paragraph saying that quotes from team mates, peers and managers can also be found corroborating on how good an influence he was and how he was valued for it. Be easy.
He should take the Saudi money if you ask me. Easier on his legs and with space he’s next level.
If Pogba had played in the 90’s or early 00’s he would have been more fondly remembered. The tiki taka era which turned into the pressing era of midfielders never suited his game.
I love watching players like him on a non-tactical level. They just play with so much freedom. It’s incredibly rare to see someone like that.
Not everyone has to be a conformist although I get these days that’s the en vogue thing with rigid possession / pressing setups now. Fans have bought into that in their droves but hopefully future setups can allow more freedom of movement for certain players.
It would really improve the sport and make it less in a straight jacket like we see some City games. The other team defends and City just dominates the ball. Poor to watch.
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Former Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba wants to help tackle the UK's cost of living crisis, telling Sky News that ending poverty is "the goal" of a new ethical fund he is launching.
https://news.sky.com/story/paul-pogbas-goal-to-end-poverty-as-footballer-launches-new-fund-12925507
https://news.sky.com/story/paul-pogbas-goal-to-end-poverty-as-footballer-launches-new-fund-12925507
This is a really fair assessment. It was always my gripe with Pogba that he was incredibly slow on the ball, he would often hog it and over complicate things, when a quick simple pass is what was required. For a player to be a great midfielder he needs to be able to do the simple things flawlessly, first and foremost and then embellish it with the spectacular when appropriate. With Pogba it was all embellishment, and that severely hampered his effectiveness and suitability for the team. He didn’t back it up with other key attributes in a midfield such as outstanding press resistance or work rate either. He was essentially a show pony who could play a beautiful pass, score a spectacular goal, or create a great opening, but ticking over minute after minute, he slowed the play down, over complicated matters, turned over possession way too much, and got breezed by or didn’t track runners regularly. He just wasn’t what I would consider a good modern midfielder.
Might want to revise that. He’s Phil Jones
He's really injury prone, it's not only about last season. He's been injured for 851 days in the last 4 seasons. That means he's been unavailable more often than not in the last 4 seasons.
If you remember correctly he missed most of the 19/20 season for us because of his ankle issues.
Pogba used to have quality but he wasn't capable to show it consistently for us even at his peak. Bringing him back at this point would be a disaster.
1 as a starter, 8 as a sub. A gran total of 151 minutes.
This ship has sailed, and let's keep it sailed.
He's all show and no substance.
He's all show and no substance.
Wow, theres a bit of karma for Juve
He was special. Does anybody even play football like this today?
Even if he goes back to half of this level I'm still taking him over all of your favorite midfielders.
One of the most gifted players in the past 15 years, shame how little he's done since about 2019.
He was exceptional in instances and our top goalscorer in 2018. that's a bit unfair. His injury record was horrific and i think he ultimately gave up on the team or his body gave up on him from 2019 onwards. The guy was sold a 'dream' and he ended playing with the likes of tominay and fred. And perreira, lingard fellaini and Dan James.
I am ok to accept he cant elevate a team hy himself and we've seen players like casemiro come in and do significantly more for us, but realistically speaking, the whole set up around pogba was at best mediocre for a lot of his years with us (a few exceptions like Ibra wont cancel out playing fecking Dan Janes as your starting RW
)He isnt a luxury player, stick zizou next to Fellaini and an aged broken down Matic you dont suddenly become a world beater.
Honestly, if he was still healthy I'd be happy to have him play in a midfield 3 next to Case and Bruno, or Case and Mount, with Rashi and Antony on the wings.
This team, this whole setup with Licha and Varane as CBs is miles ahead of what we had between 2018 and 2021, and surprise surprise, we managed to produce some good football moments last year.
feck I'm actually thinking Ole produced wonders with the quality he was given now. I need to recalibrate my brain before i start an Ole appreciation thread and get banned
Yeah, huge talent. I was a big fan of Pogba and he doesn't get the respect he deserves, despite not fulfilling the potential he had. Partly his fault, partly ours as a club. He brought joy on the pitch. Genuinely loved watching him play.
Yeah his first season was good/decent but it wasn't great. He tried doing all this stuff against City a few matches after this game and put in a horrible performance and that was pretty typical to have one good game and several really poor ones. He got quite a lot of stick in his first season and that was one of his better years here.
I wouldn’t take him back and he’s probably destined for Saudi at some point but he and Casemiro would on paper be a solid midfield pair. It’s a shame he was here during our worst era under Woodward.
Good Cameo today. I think he will return to his best this season.
Nice to see him back and playing football again. The only question remains is whether he can stay fit long enough. I hope to see him back to his majestic best, even if it will further frustrate me that it didn't quite work out for him at United (twice). A beautiful footballer to watch at his best.
I think he will stay fit. Juve are only playing a game a week this season, he will have time to recover but it remains to be seen if he can manage to play a full 38 games with lots of 90 minutes.
The rumors are that he will be called up by France again in the next international break.
I hope he gets a decent run in the second half vs Empoli tonight. I really hope that he manages to get back to a good level for a few seasons before he hangs up his boots.
One of my favorite players to watch when he was at his best - and I'm still bitter that it never really worked out for him here.
One of my favorite players to watch when he was at his best - and I'm still bitter that it never really worked out for him here.
He will play less than 20 games this season.
Only 18 games to go
saw the juve highlights and he scored a nice volley but from an offside layoff, ruled out...and the comments said he's injured again
Can a free transfer be the worst transfer of all time?
What a dopo.
During his second spell at United, I never would have suspected him of being on performance enhancing drugs. Performance *worsening* drugs, maybe….
Throw back
Whoops. That will be the SerieA sample then, presumably they will be checking the SerieB sample but that's not looking too good. Karma really can be a bitch can't it. It's a shame for him, thinking back all those years ago when I thought he was going to be a real world beater, but all the injuries, issues off the pitch and now this will overshadow the fact that he could, on his day, be pretty good at football. I'm guessing the temptation to get over the injuries and get back on the pitch with the Euros coming was too much (assuming the B sample is positive).
Maybe he can go for the Pep defence (1 in 1000 chance of error, so can't be sure).
Maybe he can go for the Pep defence (1 in 1000 chance of error, so can't be sure).
Is that confirmed? If yes that is pretty bad
I assume it was a last resort to get back on the pitch considering how much time he’s spent injured. Contrary to what some believe injuries mess with players’ heads. Sad to see either way
Aged well
Ugh that MG finish. Was also the first game of the season, can’t believe how it ended.
Pover
Messed with the wrong baller
He could always blame his doctor and then hire that same doctor to be his team doctor when he goes into management.