Pogba

[Oranges038]

Looks like he's just trying to play the victim now.

Anyway, he's missed almost 100 / about 33% of games through injury/suspension, couldn't say how many he just wasn't picked for because he's such a liability at times.

He has no excuses, he simply hasn't done enough to justify his fee or his wages while he's been at the club on the pitch and then you have all the BS with fatty off the pitch.

He's just another on his day player, who's on days happen to be rare events. The sooner he's gone from the club the better, time will tell but I doubt he'll be any better for whoever he goes to.

 

[Catt]

Please, for the love of God just feck off already.

Agreed!

 

[BigRon1985]

Apart from the numerous haircuts....

That was a delight.

Never knowing what new and crazy style he's going to bring to the pitch...

Man i'm gonna miss that.

Don't forget the silly handshakes with Lingard!

 

[LoneStar]

Still remember seeing the controversy over his signing from Le Harve, getting interested because of that, seeing every little clip of youth football and him looking amazing. Then he started getting those tiny cameos for the first team, I was even at one of them when he got minutes against West Brom and there was some optimism he'd actually stay. Even when he went to Juventus I was excited to get to see him play properly, watching his highlight videos and matches when I could. Honestly it was the most excited I'd been about a player in a long time and I was absolutely loving it when we signed him back.

Cut to all these years later and its hard to argue he has been anything but an abject failure. Even as his biggest fan and defender I have to admit all in all he has been a total waste of money and time. His purple patches can be spectacular but so rare and so short lived. The drama and nonsense he, his agent and family bring are embarrassing. He's 29 now and ok done well for the national team but he hasn't made his mark at United at all and I will actually be glad to see the back of him.

So much time wasted discussing what we needed to do to get the best out of him, so many false dawns, so much giving the ball away because all he wants to do is show off how he can hold off a few players. At this point I don't even care if he goes and rips it up at another team, he is obviously not going to do it at United and I can't wait to move on from the never ending cycle of hope and disappointment.

So long Pogba, you failed.

I remember watching his highlights from Juventus when it looked like he was close to joining us, and my God, i was so impressed by his skills and passes. I thought we had managed to sign a generational midfield talent, and with it being Jose‘s first season, i was almost giddy before the start of the season. Tbf, that season was probably the last time we won a trophy right, just goes to show how far we've fallen.

 

[padzilla]

Check your history mate.....Fergie definitely did not want to let him go.

Pogba negotiated an insanely huge deal with Juve while under contract with United and left when Fergie wouldn't match it, after all this was a player who was still a teenager having played a few parting cameos for the first team suddenly demanding a pay rise or else.

It was clear he had the wrong attitude.

Fergie at the time: "It is disappointing. I don't think he showed us any respect at all, to be honest. I'm quite happy that if they [footballers] carry on that way, they're probably better doing it away from us."

It's one of the major failings of the Glazer regime that we are now full of players who are here simply because they can't get higher salaries elsewhere, and their agents made mugs of us.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

Pogba is an odd player

• Used to love watching him play, stylistically
• Harbor no ill will towards him. Seems like a nice enough chap.
• But definitely believe it's the right decision to let him go

At the end of the day I find it hard to feel passionate either way about Pogba because he's such an in and out figure at United whether it be quality of performances or his availability/being picked.

 

[ForeverRed1]

He’s part of the worst era in recent memory, good player but never hit the heights for this club. It’s time he goes. Best for him and best for united.

time to move on

 

[mikeyt]

One of the few genuine world class players we've had in recent years, just a shame he's never brought it consistently. I do think he's been one of the main victims of our tactical crap under Ole where he never played in his best position and instead we built around Bruno. Bruno earned it to be fair but a shame as I think Pogba could've bossed it in the PL.

 

[Corridor of Uncertainty]

One of the few genuine world class players we've had in recent years, just a shame he's never brought it consistently. I do think he's been one of the main victims of our tactical crap under Ole where he never played in his best position and instead we built around Bruno. Bruno earned it to be fair but a shame as I think Pogba could've bossed it in the PL.

So what's his excuse before Bruno arrived?

The term world class means putting in exceptional performances, if not week in week out, certainly more often than not. When has that ever applied to Pogba? You need more than isolated games to be world class.

 

[Rolaholic]

Absolute state of this. My expectations are low for the Daily Star but come on.

Made up or not, fans are still frothing at the mouth to unleash abuse at the caricature people have created of him.

Especially sinister on the heels of his mental health admission, which was brave coming from his background where it's still a very taboo topic, but no one gives a feck evidently.

Toxic isn't even the word anymore

 

[Xanther]

Always got this feeling of regret about Pogba, he could've been so good. Dude wins title after title at Juve, was of huge positive influence, got to a CL final with them, wins 2 international titles with France including a World Cup...

He comes here and doesn't look like he knows what he's doing. It's par for the course with players like him at Utd. You just knew Sanchez was going to look half the player when he joined. Utd don't have a culture of being tactically relevant, and certainly haven't in the past 10 years, so how can we expect consistently awesome performances from these players?

Even during Fergie's later years, there were jokes banded about here about how we shouldn't try to sign Neymar from Santos because Fergie would just 'workhorse' him like he did Anderson. It was a joke but it was something I believed in. We can cite that 2008 team but we had the physical, technical and tactical conditions in the players and in Quieroz to make that happen. If there is no pre-existing culture of refreshing instructions and tactics, how can we expect it in the here and now?

I see young Pogba at Juve, I see Pogba for France and I see a guy who could've put himself in the Modric/Xavi/Zidane level, if only Utd got their **** together. A total technical virtuoso, with physically the most perfect conditions, and the creativity to boot. People like numbers, and even when he had our best numbers in 2017/18, he gets ignored. People want to say he's not a leader; well, I think the France national team would beg to differ.

 

[mctrials23]

I'm glad i'm not the only one who sees this - I said the same thing about 2 years back.. Even if we ignore the fact that he thinks defending is beneath him and Jogs around the pitch putting in the barest shadow of effort. The fact that when he gets the ball he purposely holds on to it as long as possible to invite pressure. It's like he thinks he's so good that he says "i'll decide when i pass the ball, i'm not going to let you dictate it to me"

I've been banging this drum for years. Pogba plays for Pogba. This sort of thing and the complete lack of effort when it comes to the team obligations tells you everything you need to know about him. 10 yards in front of our defence he will try and hold off two players completely unnecessarily just to show he can and 70% of the time he gets away with it. 25% of the time he doesn't and 5% of the time it leads to a goal or a very good chance. All because he wants to show off rather than moving the ball on quickly. Yes there are times when it is good, it draws a player in and he goes past them into space. That isn't a decision he seems to make though. There is no "is this the best decision for the team" its "I reckon I can pull this off and it will be impressive".

On his day, sublime and easily one of the best in the league. At his peak, he is perhaps slightly better than KdB. Difference is that KdB puts in 8/10 90% of the time and Pogba puts in 8/10 20% of the time if that. One of them can be depended on to always give their all and do their best for the team and the other can be depended on to do whatever he fancies doing. One takes games by the scruff of the neck and leads by example and the other only flourishes when the going is good.

 

[mctrials23]

Made up or not, fans are still frothing at the mouth to unleash abuse at the caricature people have created of him.

No they aren't

This is like Rashford all over again. There are a tiny proportion of people who hate him and will always give him abuse no matter what. There are far more people who seem to think any criticism of a black player must have a racial element to it and then there are the rest of us in the middle who are football fans. We look at how players perform on the pitch, how they work for the team and how they conduct themselves on the pitch. Paul Pogba has justified his wages in about 15% of games. He has always flirted with leaving United and seems to take no personal responsibility for any of Uniteds struggles on the pitch despite very much being part of them.

And yes, when you are one of the clubs highest paid players you are held to a higher standard. Thats how life works. Get paid more and people expect more. If Rashford was on £100k / week he would have a lot more people giving him the benefit of the doubt when hes making noises about being unhappy. So would Pogba but both of them are paid eye watering sums of money and both of them act like everyone around them is the problem.

When the club is such a mess and your best paid players aren't helping then they can't expect people to have that much understanding or sympathy.

Oh and tabloid paper talking shit, thats not entirely new is it.

 

[Ali Dia]

His fans have almost caused a civil war amongst our fan base and I genuinely hope some of them leave with him. It’s been so toxic at times even attempting to question his actual value to the team. Pogba is great everyone else has let him down. It’s nonsense. We’ve signed tonnes of different players to unlock and help him. He had structure, burgeoning success, a defined playing role and the captaincy under Jose and he laughed in his face and spoke about leaving after one year here. He’s basically just been injured half the time since then. On the balance just because the bits of info we get says he’s chilled and approachable behind the scenes doesn’t actually mean he’s the right player for us. That’s half the job. What’s really good for morale is being that guy but also leading on the pitch by example and he’s been terrible on that front. Off the pitch I think all this putting himself above the club has helped lead the lads faster towards the selfish entitled group of players that are more hungry to build their brands and take pops at the club and fans that we have now. They couldn’t really care less and it shines through all too often in their performances.

 

[Member 105568]

Just find it insane that they can write that he said the club is dead to him when he never said that. There's twisting words and then there's that. The whole 'toxic' thing needs to die as well.

“find it insane they can write that”. A bit over-sensitive is it not? It’s only the Daily Star, in any case. He didn’t say United was dead but I’m pretty sure he said the season was dead, which is typically selfish and unprofessional at any level.

 

[Member 105568]

Especially sinister on the heels of his mental health admission..

Why would a health issue from 4 years ago give someone a pass for shafting their employer today (and all the other times)?

 

[BorisManUtd]

Juve and PSG don't guarantee anything really. Juve can't even guarantee domestic trophies anymore.

Think Juve are getting back on top. They were far from first 3 teams in the league and now even have some (very slim) chances of winning Serie A.

 

[jesperjaap]

Talented player but been sick of him for years and all the media circus playing up again with him speaking to the press, jsut be glad when its all over and he goes.

Been a sissapointing signing when we hoped for so much more, wasnt a mistake signing him but was very much a msitake we didnt sell him the last couple of seasons and are letting him leave now for nothing

 

[Tom Cato]

A quality player but let's be honest he isn't suddenly going to become a disciplined and consistent midfield leader after six years in his second spell at the club.

The fact he has briefed the media so many times about his future has been thoroughly disrespectful to the club and the fanbase.

He has a superstar ability but a poor attitude - Fergie was seldom wrong and he wasn't wrong about letting Pogba go the first time.

The problem is there are others with similar senses of entitlement in the squad who simply do not back up their high profile and massive wages with regular performances.

If we were able to get rid of Pogba, Shaw and Maguire in this window it would be a huge step in rebuilding the squad with the right players.

Ferguson very much wanted Pogba to stay. His issue was with Raiola who convinced Paul to screw patience and join Juventus.

"“He and I were like oil and water. From then on, our goose was cooked because Raiola had been able to ingratiate himself with Paul and his family and the player signed with Juventus.”

Ferguson is quoted as saying he is glad to have gotten rid of Pogba, because of Raiola influence, even going as far as calling him a "shitbag" in public, and probably much more flowery words in Scottish behind closed doors.

 

[Tom Cato]

What’s this nonsense I heard on SSN tonight that Pogba’s waiting to hear who the new manager is before deciding his future. Is he that cocky and we are that weak as a club to dish out another huge contract if he says, “I’ll stay actually as I like the sound of this new manager “. Joke!

In professional worklife, who your boss is is very important. Even more so in extremely competetive markets, of which professional football is one.

Of all the things to harp on Pogba for, wanting to see what direction the club is taking is absolutely not one of them.

 

[Castia]

Give absolutely zero fecks about him going. Been a complete flop when on the pitch and a fecking sick note at best missing huge chunks of the last few seasons.

Good riddance

 

[Solius]

“find it insane they can write that”. A bit over-sensitive is it not? It’s only the Daily Star, in any case. He didn’t say United was dead but I’m pretty sure he said the season was dead, which is typically selfish and unprofessional at any level.

Doesn’t matter, it’s still not what he said. I don’t think it’s over sensitive at all and I find it maddening how much of a blind eye is turned to papers making shit up.

 

[RedDevil@84]

The number of people who find excuses for whatever Pogba says is insane. During SAF times, if any player regularly mouthed off to media, talking down about United, that player would have been thrown off and fans would have agreed that it was right thing to do.
But when it comes to Pogba, some fans simply like to justify whatever he says and call critical fans as haters. Pogba can do no wrong.

 

[MadDogg]

I like how you confidently call something an absolute myth when most of the pundits and the footballing world in general accepts this. He is either injured or plays like crap. Come back from injury, has a great game or two, then fades back to being mediocre. Rinse and repeat.

Except for the one spell he had after Jose left, he has been this way in his entire tenure at United. Inconsistent to the bone.

He has been inconsistent, but not as inconsistent as you made out with your 'one good game in ten' claim. There's just so much more attention on his inconsistency than on anyone else that it's bizarre.

A good example is the season Mourinho got fired. Going by the media, Mourinho, and most fans, anyone would think Pogba had been absolutely terrible that entire season and was deliberately trying to get Mourinho fired. The reality is that he'd very much had a 50/50 season. Started well, had a poor patch, played well again, had a poor patch. Then Mourinho got fired. Now is 50/50 good enough? Of course not, and it's certainly inconsistent. But what nobody (especially the media) mentions is that Pogba being good for 50% of the season up until that point was comfortably better than any other outfield player in our entire squad. Shaw had a brief good period at the start of the season (coinciding with Pogba's first good patch), Martial had a brief good period midway through (coinciding with Pogba's second good patch). That's it. Every other single player from the strikers to the defenders had been terrible for the entire season to that point, and yet it's Pogba that took almost all the heat. Why is that?

Similar things happen regularly where he has taken more criticism than he really should have got. Once again I should stress that I'm not saying that he shouldn't have got any criticism - he certainly deserves some (especially over the last 18 months where things have gotten worse). But if we limit it to his first four seasons - which players were actually more consistent than Pogba during that period? Maybe Zlatan for the 2/3rd's of the season before the injury. Umm...anybody else? Smalling maybe?

 

[Carl]

I like how you confidently call something an absolute myth when most of the pundits and the footballing world in general accepts this. He is either injured or plays like crap. Come back from injury, has a great game or two, then fades back to being mediocre. Rinse and repeat.

Except for the one spell he had after Jose left, he has been this way in his entire tenure at United. Inconsistent to the bone.

Accept he's inconsistent but 1 good game in every 10 "or more" is pure hyperbole.

 

[Carl]

The number of people who find excuses for whatever Pogba says is insane. During SAF times, if any player regularly mouthed off to media, talking down about United, that player would have been thrown off and fans would have agreed that it was right thing to do.
But when it comes to Pogba, some fans simply like to justify whatever he says and call critical fans as haters. Pogba can do no wrong.

During SAF times we were good though. I don't think there's much wrong with players calling out the absolute shit show that's going on at the club right now when its the truth.

Not "excusing" Pogba here btw. I think it's probably better for all parties to go different ways this summer.

 

[AndySmith1990]

Absolutely delighted he'll soon be gone. Hopefully we'll replace him with someone who gives a shit.

 

[RedDevil@84]

During SAF times we were good though. I don't think there's much wrong with players calling out the absolute shit show that's going on at the club right now when its the truth.

I dont think it is ok for players to say stuff to media, just because it is true, partially true or true from the player's point of view

For example, I wouldn't be ok with VdB saying that the managers and the club has no idea how to play him. Don't want DDG to go and tell he has absolute plonkers in front of him. Don't want Maguire to go and tell that not having any good enough midfielders in front of hm is making his job difficult. Rangnick to go and tell he has absolute donkeys above him.

 

[Stacks]

We have an £80mil CB along with his chuckle brother at LB who think defending is beneath him more often than not.

Pogba should go but fans are in for a massive shock if they think that happening & replacing him with X Player will change much.

this is sadly true. Luke Shaw is the biggest opposite of Wes Brown. Defending doesn't mean anything to him. its like a chore

 

[Redlyn]

We have an £80mil CB along with his chuckle brother at LB who think defending is beneath him more often than not.

Pogba should go but fans are in for a massive shock if they think that happening & replacing him with X Player will change much.

It wont transform us, afterall we are losing a quality player, even if the application is not always there.
But for me losing him (an 8/10 on some days and 5.5/10 on most) and replacing him with a consistent 6.5 - 7 player is already a step in the right direction.
We need about 20 of these small steps in the right direction, but we have to start somewhere. He really needs to go.

 

[Ace of Spades]

Pogba is an odd player

• Used to love watching him play, stylistically
• Harbor no ill will towards him. Seems like a nice enough chap.
• But definitely believe it's the right decision to let him go

At the end of the day I find it hard to feel passionate either way about Pogba because he's such an in and out figure at United whether it be quality of performances or his availability/being picked.

Sums up my feelings overall as well. Think it is best to part ways.

 

[OL29]

His fans have almost caused a civil war amongst our fan base and I genuinely hope some of them leave with him. It’s been so toxic at times even attempting to question his actual value to the team. Pogba is great everyone else has let him down. It’s nonsense. We’ve signed tonnes of different players to unlock and help him. He had structure, burgeoning success, a defined playing role and the captaincy under Jose and he laughed in his face and spoke about leaving after one year here. He’s basically just been injured half the time since then. On the balance just because the bits of info we get says he’s chilled and approachable behind the scenes doesn’t actually mean he’s the right player for us. That’s half the job. What’s really good for morale is being that guy but also leading on the pitch by example and he’s been terrible on that front. Off the pitch I think all this putting himself above the club has helped lead the lads faster towards the selfish entitled group of players that are more hungry to build their brands and take pops at the club and fans that we have now. They couldn’t really care less and it shines through all too often in their performances.

It’s funny how you can place the blame for division in the fanbase regarding Pogba purely on ‘his fans’ yet completely ignore the disproportionate criticism/ lies he gets thrown at him. I don’t think there’s a single poster here who thinks he’s lived up to expectations or is blameless in his inconsistency but you can’t expect people to remain silent at the constant character assassination he gets. You were saying just the other day that he’s using his mental health issues as an excuse for downing tools under Jose which is inaccurate at best, and a complete lie at worst. The conversation regarding Pogba would be a lot less polarised if people were more balanced in their arguments on both sides. To try and pin the blame solely on those who speak well of him shows a massive lack of self awareness.

 

[OL29]

No they aren't

This is like Rashford all over again. There are a tiny proportion of people who hate him and will always give him abuse no matter what. There are far more people who seem to think any criticism of a black player must have a racial element to it and then there are the rest of us in the middle who are football fans.

Where did he even mention race?

 

[Maticmaker]

It's a sad time really, Pogba's ability has never been in doubt, but his ability to produce it when necessary definitely is.

Paul must leave OT, for his own sake. Like many others with talent, Pogba cannot live with the pressure that it brings to be thought of as, 'our best player' a label many fans still attribute to him. I think there is a role which he can excel in, but he needs players of similar talents around him, so that the 'assist' part of his game becomes 'electric'. The problem has been that because so much is expected of him, together with the motley state of our squad, means that he has to be used in positions he is really not comfortable with, sometimes just to get him a presence on the pitch.
Paul, as we have all witnessed is prone to winding himself up, how many times has he won the ball or beaten an opponent to it, then somehow manages to go back for an 'action replay' instead of moving the ball quickly ,thereby allowing the opponent, now supported by a colleague to get back at him and between them they rob him of possession, quite often in the wrong part of the pitch. Suddenly all our players who are moving forward anticipating Paul's 'killer' ball, have to back track quickly (if they can be a**sed) and we are exposed at the back.

Things are unlikely to get better quickly and therefore Paul needs to move on, he's not the guy we need in the trenches!

 

[SirReginald]

Absolutely delighted he'll soon be gone. Hopefully we'll replace him with someone who gives a shit.

You always get rumors player x is a problem, every team has them but you never feel there’s enough substantial evidence. Pogba on the other hand, you could believe each and every bad story about him, for such a big name player it really is crazy just how unprofessional he is.

It’s not just giving a shit about the club, he created divisions in the dressing room and rarely shows the effort or passion required and seems to self promote his brand more than focus on his day job.

 

[Elcabron]

We should have sold him two years ago and will now frustratingly, lose him for free a second time.

However losing him for free this summer is preferable to him signing a new contract, it hasn't worked out and nothing is going to change. We really need to move on.

 

[Bondi77]

Pogba negotiated an insanely huge deal with Juve while under contract with United and left when Fergie wouldn't match it, after all this was a player who was still a teenager having played a few parting cameos for the first team suddenly demanding a pay rise or else.

It was clear he had the wrong attitude.

Fergie at the time: "It is disappointing. I don't think he showed us any respect at all, to be honest. I'm quite happy that if they [footballers] carry on that way, they're probably better doing it away from us."

It's one of the major failings of the Glazer regime that we are now full of players who are here simply because they can't get higher salaries elsewhere, and their agents made mugs of us.

I totally agree with you on our current status.

 

[ManchesterManchester]

The hate for Pogba has always come from him being our best player so everyone always blamed him when things went wrong. I think the hate actually effected his performances big time, feel really sorry for the guy despite how much he earns, he’s human.

It’s best for both of us to part ways now. We need hungry energetic players to get us back where we need to be and he needs a fresh start. He’s had some great moments with us though.

 

[Cathy Ferguson]

I don't think our new manager will fancy such a slow and static player. I don't think there are a plethora of teams willing to offer him 350-500k per week for the next 4-5 years. I hope we focus on more dynamic and younger midfielders. His reputation doesn't match his performances on the pitch.

 

[VivaRonaldo85]

In professional worklife, who your boss is is very important. Even more so in extremely competetive markets, of which professional football is one.

Of all the things to harp on Pogba for, wanting to see what direction the club is taking is absolutely not one of them.

Have you seen what he’s delivered on the pitch in the last 5 years? You earn the right to have that approach. He absolutely has not earned it.