Why are you banging on about Liverpool? It's Everton we're playing. It's not even certain that he'll be out for more than a month..
Pogba out for 4 to 6 weeks | No Megathreads
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Pogba is a great player but not the finished article. He seems a bit head strong to me and appears to be overly obsessed about his fashion image off the field with all his changing hair styles and colours. If he and MU dont get to grips with his hamstring problem it could become a chronic injury that could plaque him for a long time.
He is a match winner but needs to get his head sorted., with a few more years he should see the light and hopefully become the complete player
He is a match winner but needs to get his head sorted., with a few more years he should see the light and hopefully become the complete player
So how much is it?
The Times saying up to 12 weeks. We should have bought another midfielder.
12 weeks??!!!
Pogba did his hamstring last season didn't he and he was out for about 2 games
12 weeks for a hamstring?
Feck off if that's true.
2 months are too much for a hamstring injury. That's probably BS.
6 week months?
if it's 12 weeks, feck.
I already thought we were kind of thin in midfield, but man.
Hopefully just BS. Seems kind of lengthy for a hamstring injury(since Pogba had a similar 1 last year and was back fairly quickly).
I already thought we were kind of thin in midfield, but man.
Hopefully just BS. Seems kind of lengthy for a hamstring injury(since Pogba had a similar 1 last year and was back fairly quickly).
BS.
12 weeks? Surely not!
12 weeks? What did he get shot in the hamstring jeez!
He'll be back next month. A few steroids, some rest and the power of youth and he'll be hopping around soon enough.
6 weeks is bad enough but 12 weeks could derail the season.
This is why we should have purchased another midfielder. We only have 3 good midfielders in Pogba, Matic and Herrera(sorry Felliani fans). When we play weak teams we play two of the three but when we play better teams we require all three so we should have purchased one extra midfielder for rest and rotation purposes and for injury cover. We would probably have to buy a midfielder next year anyway with Carrick retiring so why didn't we just the midfielder a year earlier and integrate him into the squad? Fabinho would have been perfect for situations like this and he could give Valencia a break as well. It is reported that Valencia has ongoing niggling injuries that require icing after every match so we can't flog him in every single match.
Fellaini is a good midfielder, might not be a great one by any means but he has his uses. Also I agree we should have brought in another midfielder (maybe even two as a direct replacement for the Matic role), but we had more pressing positions in the squad we didn't even address. It was obvious when we weren't in for a LB (which is imo our weakest position) that we were done with our business for whatever reason.
You don't buy a good midfielder to put him on the bench waiting for the main player to get injured, though. If we had got another midfielder we would have had 6 while we're playing with only 2 and all of them will want to play.
Injures to the most important players happen, and you're not supposed to replace them with the same quality when they got injured. I don't think Chelsea for example have any great replacement for Hazard. All his subs are hard worker players and that's it but they're fine with it and still can win without him.
Most top teams have quality players on the bench, for example, look at Man City and Real Madrid and their embarrassment of riches. We only have 3 quality midfielders for 3 midfield positions. Carrick is now 36 and too old to play at this level and Fellaini is not really a CM but better in an advanced role. We are Manchester United a top tier club and we should have a better squad options given our status. The extra midfielder doesn't just play only in injury situations but can be used off the bench to close out victories and to rotate with the starting players for example when we have two matches per week. Another area we are woefully undermanned is fullbacks. We have an assortment of CBs, wingers, and RBs filling in at LB for the last two years. Compare our situation with Man City who purchased two starting fullbacks and a reserve fullback in one transfer window alone or Conte who buys Tiemoue Bakayoko as a starter and then buys Drinkwater as a reserve. I don't think it's overkill to have 4 quality players for 3 positions.
Real Madrid's all quality players on the bench were considered young talents when bought and develop into the quality they are now. A player like Asensio was bought for less then 5m and wasn't considered any big name at this time, even Barca refused to buy a plus 5m to get him and looks how he developed.
I don't think Man City is a good example, too. They have 3 FBs, 2 on the right and one on the left. That's a very normal depth and we also have it, considering they get rid of all their full backs in summer as well, and in the attack it's normal they have this number of players if they are playing with about 5 at the same time. Aguero, Jesus, De Bruyne, D.Silva + 2 of B.Silva, Sane or Sterling. They are only playing with one midfielder so they need this number of attackers and only one or 2 of them sit on the bench.
Regarding Chelsea getting Drinkwater as a backup, well how is that any different to us having Herrera and Fellaini as a backup to Pogba ? Drinkwater is even less than them in quality. You need to consider that Chelsea has only 4 midfielders with 2 starting ( Kante, Bakayoko, Drinkwater and Fabregas ). That's hardly any quality depth here and if Kante is injured there's no single player in their midfield who can do the same roles as him as efficiently. We have 5 midfielders with 2 of them playing so I really think we have a better depth than them in this position.
Back to what I was saying. You aren't supposed to have players on the bench who can easily replace your most important played when he gets injured. The bench will always be of less quality than the starting players IMO. You can't bring a very good player and tell him to be a rotational option here. If you won't provide him with a starting position another club will easily provide him. Rotational players are always mediocre hardworker that know they can't start for any big team so accept the rotational place, and we already have Herrera and Fellaini in this job.
The other way is to do as Madrid. Bring some interesting very young talents who are willing to accept being rotational ones while they are developing. They may develop to be great players after that or flop. Madrid took the risk several times and always succeed but they were no under pressure as their starting line up is world class anyway.
But if you think you can bring Fabinho and tell him to become rotational option for RB and midfield ? He will never agree. He can move to PSG and will get a starting position immediately behind Verrati and Rabiot so why agree to be a rotational option here ?
3 months for a hamstring? No way.. The title charge is definitely over if that's the case and we all know it's true.
Did he get shot in the hamstring or something? fecking hell.
Yep. Sad to say it, but its' not hyperbole - Pogba is such a crucial player, its' massive drop in midfield quality without him. We should really go for another midfielder in the summer.
Won't give up hope though. Key is for our forwards to keep scoring goals. If that happens, we can cope with Pogba's absence.
If the Times are reporting the story about Pogba missing up to 12 weeks, there may be something to it.
Where is the 12 weeks article? I saw some daily express and mirror claiming the same. That's trouble if true.
Apparently, they refer to the Times.
Yeah, Duncan Castles wrote the article. After his exclusive Mourinho interview, you'd think he has the connections to get that info. Not great news is it?
How would you keep that midfielder happy when we play 4231 most games. Our player of the year, who's a midfielder, has barely seen any minutes this season. We have Matic, Pogba, Herrera and Carrick. With regards to Fellaini, Jose doesn't care about what fans think, he considers him an important player and rightly so. And we have the option to recall Perriera in Jan. Have you looked at the midfield depth of the other teams ? It's bad compared to us.
Jose mind games maybe ?
We are wedded to 4-2-3-1 mainly because none of our mids are at the level of Pogba and Matic and even tend to hinder them in a 4-3-3 at times.
If we buy a world class mid, no reason we shouldn't play a 4-3-3. Pogba is not that limited that he can't play well in any formation other than a 4-2-3-1.
The alternative would be to purchase a class midfielder who is 30 yrs or older, but still has something left to give. He will be happy to sit out certain games on the bench and play second fiddle, if he gets a decent wage. A Nainggolan like player (when he turns 30 maybe) - I know we can't get Nainggolan, so someone similar. Its' hard to identify someone like this, that I accept.
Jose mind games maybe ?
How great will it be if he starts today!You'd assume that Herrera was total shit if you just read this thread...
Apparently a grade 3 tear with possible tendon damage. Unlikely to see him again in action this year. A huge blow to our title hopes. So unlucky with these injuries to key players. He's practically irreplaceable. Will need quite a rethink of the team. All that Matic will free up Pogba stuff. We don't really have any other creative CMs. Wonder if Pereira can be recalled before January? I guess we will be forced into a 4-3-3 of something like this:
Rashford Lukaku Mhki
Fellaini Mata
Matic
Or similar permutations. It'll be a huge blow whatever we do. Shame as it was such a bright start to the season.
Rashford Lukaku Mhki
Fellaini Mata
Matic
Or similar permutations. It'll be a huge blow whatever we do. Shame as it was such a bright start to the season.
Well feck.
I've a feeling he will be back in 2 weeks
He played what two games for France in a week followed by a weekend PL game and then a European game on a short rest? That's a recipe for a hamstring injury if I ever seen one.
If true we aren't getting close to winning this league.
If he is out for the remainder of the year then that is it for our title aspirations.
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