The defence of Pogba!
This topic contains 41 replies, has 18 voices, and was last updated by 
killyboye 6 years, 2 months ago.
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At the end of the day it is the managers resposibility to get the best from his players. Whether that is tactical decisions or man management or whatever, that is the managers job. Yes Pogba needs to grow up a bit and develop more to his game so that he can be relied on to do a certain job, but then you wouldnt see Barcelona asking Messi to track back and defend, RM wouldnt ask the same of someone like Isco. When Messi has been played in a position that is not his preffered choice in the past, people go off their nut about him playing out of position and saying what a joke it is. Why cant people say the same about Pogba? Also, I thought we would be building the team around Pogba, if we want to do that then we should play to his strengths, if we are not going to do that then why pay £89 mil for him?
@stuntman_matt. I don’t see the logic in arguing that a central midfielder like Pogba needs to have zero defensive responsibility because Lionel Messi – the greatest attacking player in history who scores and assists about 80 goals a season doesn’t have defensive responsibility.
How are these players in any way the same?
If you want to argue that Pogba is a worldclass attacking footballer and in fact NOT a midfielder then show me the goals and assist numbers from Juventus that justify that. This man has played in midfield his entire life, even in our academy. How does comparing him to Messi make any sense at all??
Also, you will find that I have been crowing about how great Pogba is all season until his shocking recent showings, he was playing brilliantly in the exact same system so please explain to me how it’s Mourinho’s fault??
hatters – My point is that everything is the managers responsibility. Players arnt going to play badly on purpose, if Pogba isnt playing well then it must be down to something that the managers has either done tactically or something that he has said to him etc.
I dont need to show you the goals and assists numbers from Juventus to justify saying that he is a world class attacking footballer, I can just point to the games he has played in and say “look”. That should be more than enough. I havnt said that he isnt a midfielder. I was saying that different tactical systems get the best from different players. We are currently playing a system that isnt getting the best from Pogba. Yes it may have worked earlier in the season but now teams have worked out that he doesnt play that role particularly well and are now exploiting it as a weakness in our midfield.
Comparing him to Messi is about comparing the best players of each team. Barcelona play a system that lets Messi practically do what he wants as it gets the best out of their best player. If we want the best out of Pogba then we should employ a similar tactic.
Messi changed from a wide player to a false number 9 and now back as a no10 or wide with suarez as the no9 for barca. He’s adapted and still producing the goods. When you see pogba jogging around chasing the ball like a headless chicken in the last few weeks then you have to question him. Like hatters said he has been playing pretty well until last few games.
We need him to control the midfield and assist the four in front of him. Fair enough spurs overran us in midfield and I’m not going to be harsh on him based on that performance but against Newcastle we shouldn’t need an extra midfielder to win the midfield battle. He was jogging around and there was a stat in the first half that he made the least sprints from everyone on the pitch. That’s not good enough for a central midfielder and no way is down to jose.
However, it’s not just about pogba, watching spurs last night with average fullbacks who were up and down pushing Juventus back and helping retain possession. Compare that to dad’s army full backs we have who hardly cross the half way line. This is not down to jose as I remember ivanovic maicon bosingwa azpilicueta and ashley Cole being fairly attacking. Full backs are vital in today’s game and we just haven’t got any
Here’s my view:
Pogba in a 2 man midfield is not ideal, not his best position BUT he should still be comfortably better than all the alternatives in our squad and for Mourinho to sub him off is a damming indictment of his performances.
Regarding Mourinho, I don’t think he is actively trying to make Pogba a scapegoat. Mourinho always expects more application from his best players and is simply demanding Pogba puts in the performances he is more than capable of in the system Mourinho wants to play.One thing about Messi, he works his balls off for the team.
Im not trying to be patronising by just posting a video and saying “this is what pro’s are saying”, and Redknapp is just a thick idiot, but I completely agree with what Higginbotham says about Pogba. If anyones interested.
@stuntman_matt. The opinions of “pros” means nothing to me and I therefore have not watched the video you posted. Those men are paid money to make inflammatory remarks and also are failed coaches of the game.
This is a football forum and I want your opinion, not Higginbotham’s.
You are fully entitled to your opinion but in my view, it’s pretty rubbish.
The defence of Pogba!
Well I enjoyed it Matt! Higgingbottom in particular talks very well, he makes a sound and interesting pundit. And I agree with them but for me they don’t address the elephant in the room…that Paul Pogba seems like a very immature footballer. Looking like a headless chicken crossed with a giraffe is not purely down to playing in a midfield two.
Imagine if Pogba has Wayne Rooney’s attitude. You play your best wherever you’re picked, up front, number 10, left wing holding midfielder – whatever! You give your best for the team, end of story.
But that’s not getting the most out of poor Paul happy…sob sob boo hoo
🎻
Pogba’s never going to be like a Rooney or Messi, scurrying around and busy. He’s just not that type of player, different build, dynamic and mentality. United should be looking to exploit his strengths, not expose his weaknesses.
If Pogba had Rooney’s attitude of playing your best wherever your picked, he would maybe be worth another £90 mil in todays market! To be honest though, I’m not sure it would be a great thing anyway as I think Rooney could have been an even better player for us if he had been more selfish and stuck to one position in the team. He won’t be making it as Captain next season at this rate though so he is just shooting himself in the foot with his attitude at the moment.
jm1502″United should be looking to exploit his strengths, not expose his weaknesses.”
Exactly!!
Overrated by MU marketing team. Whole world know he’s not as good as what MU fans claim. He’s already exposed his ability. Nothing to hide now. And there are moron like you’ll try to blind and lie to yourself he’s good. CLAP CLAP CLAP!!!!
Should Mouringo changes his system to get the best out of a few players. Pogba, Rashford, Lukaku aren’t preforming as they should be. I am def not a fan of the style of Mourinho, he refused to change it up and not see that players are under-preforming. The matches aren’t like in the beginning of the season when we were flying with attacking football and maybe chances with goals. Now we should be hoping that there is a good cross coming. Its now LVG days with lots of passing with creating not much!! Things need to change for the better. We have the players for it, only a stubborn manager not to see so.
Form is temporary class is permanent, Pogba and Matic are both out of form and it happens in football, no one can be on top for a whole season, Since Pogba joined i think it’s the first time he’s had a bad stint in more than 3 games in a row, we’ve lost Points due to the off form of these two players. They’ll def be back i just hope it’ll be soon
Libanski, i think utd fans need to be really honest with themselves. Pogba has been average since he came. He should have had much more of an impact. This cahp has it all in his locker. He can become the best player in the world without a doubt with all the talant he has but if you are honest, he has not been good enough. Its greay turning up playing well at home under the lights to newcastle and stoke but were was he aagainest spurs in the big big games againest city,chelsea etc last season.
he was excellent againest aresnal and everton away this season. He should be able to play in a two man midfield. Its just he doesnt have the brain at the minute. He doesnt know when to stay or go. He has everything to be cclass in a two man midfield.
its like liverpool fans at the minute.VVD has two good games and hes the best player in the world. Its silly. Objection and prespective is needed. All utd fanbs want to for pogba to do really well but he he isnt if they are honest.
kdb is pulling the league apart. That should be pogba and i dont get the excuse that kdb has better players around him. Utd have a frightening front 4 if used well now
if pogba cant be trusted in a 2 man midfield , play him as a ten with sanchez out right and martial out left. Thats pace and frightening power going forward. Utd have a veryy good team. He is surrounded by good players. Some are out of form but i think the excuses for pogba need to stop. He really needs to step up ande become the powerful player that is hidden inside him.
just my opinion from the outside as i was just wondering what utd fans are thinking about pogba
Anyone know what Pogba’s buy out clause is? It is often said he is so good we should build the team around him but I look at it differently. If we could persuade a team to pay a kings ransome for him we could use our I’ll gotten gains to build a whole new team with several new players instead.
There’s no doubt that Pogba was at his best when on the left of a midfield three, with Pirlo, Vidal, Marchisio to name a few supporting him and covering his ass, they also had Bonucci and Chiellini in CB positions with Lichtsteiner and Evra at wing back, there was plenty of support and cover from world class players. Even then he was immature, in the CL final against Real there were a few occasions when he didn’t get the ball and threw himself to the ground or just stood complaining. Juve and Allegri were happy for that to happen. Everyone knew the kind of player he was and Pirlo was the kind of player who could make any system work around him.
Pirlo’s possibly the best player ever really. I know Messi scores and assists plenty but Pirlo made teams tick, like Eriksson does at Spurs or Xavi and Iniesta at Barca. Messi wouldn’t be the player he is without them behind him threading passes, controlling the game.
He’s not a player who is defensively strong, whether that’s a mental/intelligence factor I don’t know but it doesn’t mean he shouldn’t work hard to improve it. As a player in his position he has to be able to defend, even if only sporadically.
So, do we defend Pogba? In one sense he has NEVER been utilised for us in the manner he was at Juve, mostly because we don’t have a Pirlo or a Vidal to allow him play an almost purely free attacking role. I think Mourinho knows that given time we can do this but not at the moment and he needs Pogba to help until the squad is strong enough to be built around him, which it isn’t at the moment. Pogba needs to man up, for a while at least, but Mourinho needs to see if he can make a system work around Pogba as well. Neither has happened to date so both manager and player are to blame here imho
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