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

Perhaps because Pogba when it's all said and done is simply a much more complete CM than Riquelme ever was. Riquelme was a terrific player, but he's the perfect example of a player who needed to be catered to, in terms of the players he had around him and the system in which he can be effective and at his very best.

 

Pure 10s like Riquelme are the exact type that have to be catered to in order to flourish. Only some systems use them and pure 10s usually dont transition well to surrounding positions like out wide, up top, or dropped in as a CM. Look at Ozil for example. In a setup as a 10 I still think he'd be great. But setups that include a 10 are becoming rare and out wide typical 10s dont have the pace or workrate to deal.

 

@Ashur Every player needs certain type of team mate to flourish it doesnt undermine Pogs but without Herrera tireless running Pogs loosing free would have been a risk. I thought the post was in negative vibe but after reading all the comments its actually opposite.

 

I'm not disputing the argument that all players need the right players around them to perform at their best, I've clearly said so before. But some in that department are more specific and "needy" than others.
Again, Riquelme is an absolute terrific player, but at the end of the day there were great limitations in how and who he could be used/played with in order to see him at his best. Pogba in that regard is far more adaptable and versatile than Riquelme was. That is simply a fact and not a knock against Riquelme: it's just the way it was with him.

 

With that i completely agree he is more complete player than Riquelme, its pity his few yrs were wasted by Mou.

 

PSG aren't looking forward to going up against Paul Pogba 👀 pic.twitter.com/gxHXH2HTKB

— GOAL (@goal) February 11, 2019

Love the prospective idea of him being matched up against Marquinhos tbph.

 

No one in history has been given the level of freedom you are expecting Pogba to have.

Even if he scores 20 goals and gets 20 assist (the numbers a player without restrictions should get) it still doesn't give him the license to try megs and sombreros on his own end line.

 

This is a confusing post.

I don't sanction him taking undue risks in our final third. I do sanction him trying to play out. Please note that he's not nearly as prone to doing that under Ole because a) he's being used as an outlet more and b) we have movement. Part of the reason he got caught in possession was that he didn't follow Jose's instructions to just lump the ball forward and kept trying to play the ball out from the back. In our system with no movement, that was a bad idea, but I'd argue that lumping the ball to Lukaku was also a bad idea. An even worse idea was benching our best player.

Even if I was asking for Pogba to get whatever imaginary levels of freedom you say I requested, in 11 games he's got 8 goals and 6 assists. Over the course of a season he'd piss all over 20/20 from a great height.

To my recollection, I don't want him marking on set pieces and I don't want him to be responsible for tracking runners to the byline. Doesn't make sense to me given he's an elite outlet and probably among the best decision makers on counter attacks in the world.

 

you constantly made excuses for him when those things did happen.

You said you have to Live with Pogba taking risk.

 

We certainly do. Very few players play without risk and certainly very few elite players. I said he should avoid undue risks. Dribbling in front of our box etc is a problem. I don't want him in front of our box (like on the edge of the area) except for when he's recovering to help quell a break. In best use, he will play the way you would expect a team's most creative player to play when the system has 2 more defensive midfielder and 4 defenders.

I really don't see what the issue is beyond you trying to score some points.

 

No issue.

You just clarified.

 

I think it is fair to say he was (at times) poor under Mourinho. I think the same could be said for pretty much every player. There were ABSOLUTELY bad decisions Pogba made that were his own doing, but when everyone is playing poorly and the results are bad I think we have to hold the manager more accountable than the players. I think France showed he could play if not mistake free football, a more controlled version of himself. I think the argument was made to him that they would let the attackers take the risks and try to win the game and the back 6 would just be solid. It was clear he bought into that. Given that Mou was supposed to be a players' manager it is really bad that he wasn't able to get the players to buy his vision (even if it was flawed).

 

[emoji57]

Paul Pogba since Ole Gunnar Solskjaer took charge:

🎯🎯 vs. Cardiff
⚽⚽ vs. Huddersfield
⚽⚽🎯 vs. Bournemouth
❌ vs. Newcastle
🎯 vs. Spurs
⚽ vs. Brighton
🎯 vs. Arsenal
⚽ vs. Burnley
🎯 vs. Leicester
⚽⚽ vs. Fulham
🔴 vs. PSG
🎯⚽ vs. Chelsea pic.twitter.com/mIU5Z8bgj6

— Football Tweet ⚽ (@Football__Tweet) February 18, 2019

 

Pogba is one of the best midfelders in the game - Ole

https://www.goal.com/en-us/news/pog...the-world-solskjaer/mim1m09l8t5a1kk0jif88afns

Hard to argue that point: the run of form he's been on as of late has simply been ridiculous.

 

Scary for other teams is that while his numbers are absolutely popping right now, Pogba still has more to give.

 

We all know his performance improved when his hairstyle did. He's basically Sampson.

 

Oh shut up.

 

Souness and Dunphy you're next...

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport...score-paul-pogba-player-ratings-a8785886.html

As noted, there definitely is this feeling that he's nowhere near his peak/maximum (which is an incredible and kinda crazy thought in itself).

 

Jamie Carragher has conceded he was 'wrong' over Paul Pogba - but he stands by one thing he said...https://t.co/2jYYCzHPFk

— Football365 (@F365) February 19, 2019

Jamie Carragher couldn’t have been more wrong about Paul Pogba 😂😂 https://t.co/GuYPYGiI53

— Man Utd Talk (@ManUtdTalk_) February 19, 2019

 

Lol @ Carragher.

 

Pogba 🆚 Bailly 😄 #MUFC https://t.co/7ujXSdZZvj

— Manchester United (@MUnitedFR) February 19, 2019

 

Is that Dave in the background wearing black panties?

 

Lukaku is wearing them too at the very end of the vid.

 

There is no one like Pogba - Ole

https://www.skysports.com/football/...t-manchester-united-says-ole-gunnar-solskjaer