Ignore the blah, blah, blah - the Paul Pogba thread

Rubbish player. Waste of money. Moments player actually. Remember that? LMAO.

 

Purely from a stats point of view alone, this will be his best season ever. But beyond that, his game has taken a whole new dimension this season, in terms of his influence over games and quality as an elite midfielder and player.
This is exactly what we hoped to see from him going into the season and he's responded. Can only imagine where he'd be if Mourinho had gone much earlier.

 

Claude Puel on Pogs...

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/f...ba-huge-reason-Manchester-United-revival.html

 

Pogs can lead United to great things - Martial

https://www.skysports.com/football/...r-united-to-great-things-says-anthony-martial

 

He has become leader of Jackson Tribe .. Wish we could add Bailey aswell to complete Jackson 5.

 

What's changed for Pogba at United?

https://www.skysports.com/football/...x-scott-and-jamie-redknapp-give-their-verdict

Great answers but the main one is pretty simple and very clear: the real virus has left the building.

 

The shackles are broken and Messiah has arrived..

 

United Legend in the making.

 

⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️⚽️

For the first time in his career, @paulpogba has bagged 10 league goals in a season pic.twitter.com/UaYTMKXx0M

— Premier League USA (@PLinUSA) February 9, 2019

 

Are Scholes and the like out there praising him? They were pretty quick to want to run him down when things were low.

 

Who gives a ******** what Scholes thinks

 

Scholes is still a United legend and his opinion matters. But he was wrong to side with Mourinho and trash Pogba.

 

Pogstalk

"It feels great. That's what we wanted since Ole came, we talked about the top four. We are there and we want to stay there now."@paulpogba joins @GeoffShreeves post match.

Watch live on Sky Sports Premier League or follow here: https://t.co/DEOctj4tu3 pic.twitter.com/yMFlQPpN8A

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) February 9, 2019

 

To think the stats this guy would have by now if he had a manager that knew how to use him properly the last few seasons...

 

#MomentsPlayer

I should really start calling out people by name with regard to their rating of Pogba. God, there were people who thought dembele was much better.

 

That wasnt the point made wrt Dembele.

 

There were ABSOLUTELY people who said Dembele would be a better player for United and that Pogba was only a 'moments player' who couldn't do things that most other central midfielders could do. I specifically remember someone saying Dembele was better against the press and as a result better for his team's attack.

 

I don't remember who said that but I will step forward and say that as much as I rate Pogba and what he's done, I did call him a player that needed to be catered to in midfield with how its setup. I still think thats true. But not because of how he played under Jose, because Jose was actively sabotaging him. I just still think he needs a certain amount of protection and freedom to allow him to be dominant. He's not exactly tactically flexible as a player even though he can do a job in other roles.

 

There's a bifurcated reason why Ole said he'd build a team AROUND Pogba.

First being his talent.

Second being that he is a niche who needs pawns set around him to polish his work.

 

This again. Pogba is not Riquelme, stop acting like he is.

 

Are you referring to my post?

If so, the jump in logic you made was... dramatic and it insinuated a lot of things that weren't said.

 

The argument that Pogs needs to be catered to in order to get the best of him is way overblown. His proven versatility alone is a perfect illustration of this. His role with the French national team is completely different than the role he has at United under Ole. Yet, he's been exceedingly efficient and just class in both situations.
Players, even top shelf ones, need not only quality, but players deployed in the right way, so they can showcase and maximize their own talent. Something common to all team sports and Pogba is no different in that aspect. Point of fact, Pogba is probably one of the more adaptable midfielders (and players) there is at this time...

 

If he continues to be consistent then why he cannot be compared to Riquelme and remember LVG destroyed him by putting him on wings for Barca..

 

This is a valid criticism. However there are very very few players who are world class at the CM position who can be used in multiple ways.

Scholes, Alonso, Schweinsteger, Kroos, Modric, Xavi, Lampard, Gerrard like these guys were all great but pretty much could only be used one way. The exceptions are Schweini who played as a winger at the start of his career (but then was played as a DLP almost exclusively) and Gerrard who could play in multiple roles doing the same thing.

Maybe someone like Ballack was the exception as a world class midfielder who could play multiple roles at a super high level and didn't really need to be catered to.

To my knowledge though, midfielders who contribute significantly to attack either with ball progression via passing or running tend to get to do whatever the hell they want because it is such a vital attribute. Midfielders who can progress the ball at a high level, create chances at a high level and score at a high level aren't actually a common occurrence. Lampard, Gerrard and Ballack are the examples that played in the prem in my recent memory and Lamps and Ballack were significantly less creative than Pogba is or Gerrard was. Going back a bit further, Scholes as a "striker" when he first made it into the team was that type of midfielder who was catered to for his contributions. I guess when Giggs was playing his roaming/floating role ahead of a pair of CMs he was doing what Pogba is doing now, but with more elegance and less effectiveness.