Monday Verdict: Bullied out of the game, Pogba display ‘laughable’

Paul Pogba: Not his finest hour for Man Utd

Paul Pogba: Not giving up on top four

Paul Pogba fails to rise to the big occasion, plus what do West Ham do about Dimitri Payet, and is Pep the wrong man for City?


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Pogba melts under Old Trafford spotlight

Paul Pogba is certainly not a player to shine away from the limelight. As if becoming the first player to launch a Twitter emoji hashtag wasn’t enough, he then showed up to a vital game against Liverpool with his initials dyed in bright green on the side of his head.

Funnily enough, bright green was a pretty solid indication of how sickening his afternoon was going to be.

For the world’s most expensive player to get bullied out of a game so easily was borderline laughable. The penalty he gave away was a nod to how despite having played in some huge games, he still has youthful tendencies, and it played right into Liverpool’s hands.

Manchester United ratings: Pogba dreadful; Fellaini the difference

He couldn’t deal with the pressure, ultimately becoming embroiled and perhaps a tad too involved in physical battles he was never going to win. Pogba became more concerned about restoring his reputation as a midfield boss after losing early duels that it eventually became clear that playing football had become somewhat of an afterthought.

The Frenchman did a ridiculous WWE-style move on Jordan Henderson that he was lucky to escape punishment for, all the while doing little to help his team get level in their most important match of the season.

It would be wrong to claim that the former Juventus man hasn’t been much more impressive in recent weeks, something which has coincided with a resurgence in form from the 21-time Premier League champions.

The fact remains, if you are worth £92million, then you are expected to show up in the big matches and are supposed to handle the big occasions.

When Pogba is on form, there is no doubt that he is instrumental in the way that they play; gelling with his midfield pairing as the catalyst while Michael Carrick mops up and Ander Herrera plays almost the box-to-box role. Today, he was only instrumental in their downfall.

Manchester United fans will have wanted to see the dab on the big stage from Pogba, but probably not leading to a penalty. A symbol of his frustrating afternoon.

Oli Fisher

 

Pep will recover from big beating – but City have changed too much too soon

Pep Guardiola: Looks glum on sidelines

It’d be easy for the doom-mongers to come out in force on the back of Manchester City’s heaviest defeat to Everton since 1986 and Pep Guardiola’s biggest-ever margin of defeat as a manager in league competition. That’s perfectly normal – and one expects even after a night of sleeping on the 4-0 setback at Goodison that the result will not have become any easier to swallow.

But City have not become a bad team overnight and the Pep and his players will recover from this – their team is full of too many good players not to.

But there’s no getting away from what has been a real baptism of fire for the City manager in England, who arrived with a big reputation following highly successful stints at Barcelona and Bayern Munich. The City boss has very much tried to put his stamp on City this season by changing both their shape and the way they play; a style more familiar to continental football as opposed the slightly more rough and tumble of the Premier League.

There’s an argument to say that style isn’t entirely suited to English football and that the Spaniard has tried to implement the change too soon, and far too drastically.

In a way, while Guardiola has often insisted he won’t change his philosophies, there is an element now that says the City manager needs to get back to basics; to remember what it is they are good at and what it is that made them successful.

Pep Guardiola: Watches team self-destruct

Of course that’s easier said than done and there is plenty of work to be done on the training ground before an obvious solution can be found.

When all is said and done though, it’s a results business and City have so far fallen below their own expectations as well as Guardiola’s. A change at City (or any club) is no bad thing, but I’d argue that City simply don’t have the defensive options to make a success of it right now – on the domestic front at least.

Really, until he finds the right balance in his defence – buying a pair of new full-backs is probably the first thing he needs to get right – it almost seems futile trying to implement the formation and style of football Guardiola wants to impose.

If Guardiola could handpick an entire rivals’ backline to show his players what he’s looking for, then it’s probably Spurs who are the archetype of what he’s trying to achieve. It’s also probably the reason why you often see City linked with both Kyle Walker and Danny Rose – two wing-backs mobile enough to make that system work, yet ‘streetwise’ enough to know when it’s their defensive side of things that need to come first.

While Guardiola has made the first change in the summer by switching Joe Hart for, at first Willy Caballero, and then Claudio Bravo, it’s the players in front of the Chilean who have probably struggled the most with Guardiola’s system.

He may, however, also need to consider that while the City keeper can play to his style, perhaps he isn’t as good a keeper as he was expecting….

Until he makes some new additions, what he’s trying to implement will take longer to adjust and yield positive results. As Sunday showed too, there may be the occasional big beating and bump in the road too along the way.

Make no mistake, Everton were merciless – scoring with all four shots they had on City’s goal. While to a degree that is unfortunate, Pep is going to have to think about whether the players he has at his disposal are best suited to the style he wants. If that isn’t the case, City are either going to need to invest heavily, or the club are going to have expect more days like today.

 

James Marshment

 

 

West Ham need to sell ‘disrespectful’ Dimitri Payet – and asap

Dimitri Payet: Wants to leave West Ham

I was glad to read West Ham are ‘demanding £50million from Dimitri Payet’ on Sunday. Glad, because not only is that a direct U-turn from David Sullivan’s ridiculous statement just 24 hours earlier in the programme notes, but glad more so because it shows the club are now willing to accept the situation and move on.

Don’t get me wrong: I understand exactly where Sullivan is coming from. Payet was arguably the Premier League’s best player last season and along with Riyad Mahrez, was definitely the most entertaining to watch.

On a personal level, I think he’s one of the most talented imports we’ve ever seen in this country, where for me, he ranks alongside many of the greats.

Dimitri Payet: Clause in his deal

But having paid him a £1million loyalty bonus as recently as a few months ago, Sullivan had every right to feel angry and upset. Footballers are paid handsomely enough as it is; for one to go on strike is nothing short of scandalous. For me it’s a breach of contract and I only hope West Ham have had the brass balls to freeze his pay during his self-inflicted exile.

But when all is said and done, Payet – as talented a player as he is – is not irreplaceable; nor should any individual be bigger than the club, as Andy Carroll quite rightly pointed out.

The best thing West Ham can do now is sell Payet as quickly as possible and for as much as possible.

Given his age (29), the £50million the club are quoting won’t be achievable. I think they could have got that fee had they sold in the summer when, on the back of some excellent displays in the Euros, Payet’s stock was at an all-time high. Given he’s now six months older, has acted in the way he has and, let’s face it, not quite hit the heights of last season, his fee will probably now fetch about £30million – still a decent return on the £10.7million they paid Marseille in June 2015.

Michail Antonio: West Ham to stand firm

And West Ham needn’t be too downhearted either. In Manuel Lanzini and Sofiane Feghouli they have two players capable of filling that Payet role. And in the club’s Player of the Year (so far) in Michail Antonio, they have a powerful midfield runner, who has already shown he can fill the void when it comes to creating and scoring goals.

With £30million in their pockets too, West Ham can spend the money to bolster their squad and the link to Swansea’s Gylfi Sigurdsson, be it in January or at the end of the season, makes plenty of sense.

The final word though to Karren Brady, who throughout this tumultuous last week has been the voice of reason at West Ham, seemingly when many around here – Sullivan, I’m looking at you again – were losing their cool.

Having proven she was already one step ahead of Sullivan on the Saturday morning by admitting the club would inevitably have to sell Payet before the end of the month, she then tweeted the most subtle of digs at the player, when praising the commitment of Antonio.

Well said, Karren, well said….perhaps West Ham should leave the negotiations of Payet’s sale to you, rather than Sullivan, who appears to be letting his heart rule his head – not that we blame him.

 

James Marshment

 

Teenage kicks paying dividends for Everton

While plenty of headlines will no doubt be placed on the goalscoring debut of Toffees teenager Ademola Lookman, it was the display of another in Tom Davies that really encapsulated the performance of Everton.

Davies, born on the day England got knocked out on penalties to Argentina at the 1998 World Cup (football, please stop making me feel old!), was probably only in the Everton side due to the absence of Idrissa Gueye at the African Cup of Nations.

Davies, however, was everywhere and turned in an excellent display to fully justify the faith put in his by Koeman.

Davies was involved in three goals – including a delightful finish for the third – ran further than any player on the pitch and proved durable in midfield for the home side on what was just his second league start. They’ll certainly be many more to come on this evidence.

Davies and Lookman became the 16th and 17th different teenagers to score a Premier League goal for Everton; the joint-most in the competition with Arsenal.

If anything, Everton have perhaps lacked a bit of an identity under Ronald Koeman’s reign so far, but on the back of the 4-0 romp over Everton, perhaps it’s the energy of their teenagers which can not only provide it, but also give the club plenty of hope for the future.

 

James Marshment

 

Silva a Tiger tamer

There was plenty of negative things said and written about Marco Silva when he was appointed Hull’s manager earlier this month; not least from Paul Merson, whose barely concealed xenophobia was the main focal point of his ire.

Although very early days, two wins in his first three matches in charge at least suggests Hull were right to roll the dice and gives the Tigers – who looked dead and buried under Mike Phelan – a fighting chance of survival.

Saturday’s 3-1 success over Bournemouth all the more impressive given Hull were a goal down inside three minutes. Not perturbed, they at fought back to score three times and claim a priceless win which not only moved them off the bottom of the table, also saw them move level on points with Crystal Palace, and five points behind last season’s champions Leicester.


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It will be tight at the top this season, but the bottom will be equally competitive. Silva will hope his winning ratio continues, though a word of warning….Chelsea are next.

 

James Marshment