Neville labels Solskjaer’s omission of Man Utd man ‘absolutely disgraceful’

Paul Pogba TEAMtalk

Phil Neville says Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s decision to leave Paul Pogba out of Man Utd’s starting XI is “absolutely disgraceful”.

The France World Cup-winner has been on the bench for the last two games after being dropped last month against Newcastle.

In fact the 27-year-old, who recently saw his contract extended by 12 months, has made just four Premier League starts this season.

His form has been poor and he managed just 10 minutes of action at Goodison Park in the 3-1 win over Everton.

And former Man Utd defender Neville says the decision to leave him on the sidelines is a huge oversight.

“I still think it’s absolutely disgraceful that Pogba can’t get in that team,” Neville told Premier League Productions.

“For United to win a league, for United to be successful, for United to play the style of football that Ole wants them to play then Pogba has to play.

“You can play one of them [Nemanja] Matic, Fred or [Scott] McTominay and then you play Pogba with [Bruno] Fernandes.”

Solskjaer has not criticised Pogba publicly, but he did offer the player advice last weekend.

Pogba was criticised last weekend after giving away the penalty which allowed Arsenal to win 1-0 at Old Trafford.

The midfielder claimed “maybe I was a bit out of breath, it made me do this stupid mistake”.

Solskjaer afterwards said: “He needs to stay on his feet. Paul [Pogba] knows it’s a soft penalty to give away similar to Nemanja [Matic] who almost got a penalty.”

Pogba on the outside looking in

But after Saturday’s come-from-behind victory, there seems little prospect of Pogba forcing his way into the United midfield.

 

 

Solskjaer was quick to point to his starting midfield three of Scott McTominay, Fred and man-of-the-match, Bruno Fernandes after the win on Merseyside.

“If we can get this determination, mindset, approach every single game, we’ll be hard to play against,” said Solskjaer.

“You see all the tackles that Scott and Fred were winning in the middle there. We’re tight, we’re compact, we win the ball, we play, we’ve got spaces, that’s how we want to see these boys. So we’re very pleased with that.”

Both Fred and McTominay provided a solid platform for Fernandes free role and he capitalised with two goals.