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

Yeah dont think Pogba could deal with a guy like Keane. This generation is clearly a lot softer (but smarter).

 

@benni... SIlvestre was better and had a big HEAD..

 

What a goal sterling. England take the lead

 

I'm not playing dumb. I'm not excusing Pogba. He made a mistake, but if you are defending a 1 goal lead and your CM receives the ball under pressure in the center circle why the ******** are 2 midfielders (Coman & Sissoko) blazing up the pitch, practically level with the CFs?

Why is there so much space between Pogba/Kante and the back line. If the defensive line was high (as it should be with Kimpembe and Varane being rapid but with Lenglet also being used to a high line) that's a non starter.

You can have your defenders sit back OR you can have your wide midfielders super high up the pitch, you cannot have both when you are defending a league. That a chance even resulted was not simply individual errors (Pogba, Kimpembe) but a systemic failure.

Also, to say Pogba was 'probably' France's best player of the tournament is an understatement. Pogba was the best player in the tournament. He was absolutely ********ing on one. Despite playing 6th most minutes for France, he led them in every category you could reasonably expect a midfielder or creative player to lead in. Absolutely on fire for the tournament.

Maybe my point wasn't well made. I wasn't saying Pogba didn't make a mistake. I'm saying that mistake, in this game, is not the reason France were eliminated. This game alone France gave up a stupid penalty and each CB got burnt on a goal. Lenglet was a statue for the first header, Varane for the 2nd and Kimpembe got done dirty on the 3rd.

Like even if we are saying that goal is the reason France lost (it wasn't, they conceded 2 other goals and lost a shootout), it is not reasonable that a CM cannot lose the ball in the center circle without the DM and defenders have zero responsibility in denying a goal. Like if they cannot defend why are they on the pitch? It wasn't like Pogba played a defense splitting through ball to Gavranovic.

 

A.Cole sur Pogba: "Il y aura toujours des gens pour le critiquer. Beaucoup essaient de le blâmer pour le troisième but, mais je n'arrive pas à comprendre. Si les adversaires traversent la moitié du terrain pour marquer, cela signifie que ses coéquipiers ne l'ont pas aidé." #MUFC pic.twitter.com/YofSpd3ymv

— Manchester United (@MUnitedFR) June 29, 2021

G.Neville : "Nous avons vu le meilleur et le pire de Pogba en seconde période. Il a montré le meilleur de lui avec une frappe de classe mondiale. Il commençait vraiment à entrer dans le match. Quand son équipe domine, il est absolument exceptionnel." #MUFC pic.twitter.com/2kbb8YG7BR

— Manchester United (@MUnitedFR) June 29, 2021

Cole on Pogba: "There will always be people criticizing him. Many are trying to blame him for the 3rd goal, but I don't get it. If the oppo crosses half the field to score, that means he got no help from his teammates."
GNev: "We saw the best and worst of Pogba in the 2nd half. He's shown his best with that world class strike. When his team are on top, he's absolutely exceptional."

100% with Cole on this. Putting aside all the great things he did, not only in the game vs the Swiss but throughout the tournament, yes he made a legit mistake that led to the Swiss's 3rd but where was the help/cover from some of his top notch teammates? After all, it's not like he lost the ball right around the 18yrd box...
Not to mention, as noted, the collection of errors and general poor play of several players on that bad team selected by Deschamps yesterday, that appears to go barely mentioned.
Glad that Mbappe is being spared major grief (except for Rabiot's mom apparently) but beyond the loss vs Switzerland, he just had a very poor tournament by his standards. GNev's comment is just so representative of how Pogba is judged on a constant basis: just can't win, pretty much no matter what.

 

Disappointed in G.Nev but not surprised at the English press especially on a black player (has to be said). Cole points out the obvious. Also there was Coman turning it over less than 25 meters from Goal for the second goal and no one says anything. Pogba turns it over in the opposing half and no one closes down the ball, there is a whole boulevard to play the ball to the forward but it is Pogbas fault.

 

He was in the opposition's half when he was dispossessed FFS. Weren't Kante and Sissoko supposed to be behind him protecting the back?

 

@Father Ted Its Pogba so lets blame him

 

In the 90th minute of the game, Coman, like Sissoko were almost as high as Mbappe and Benzema, running away from the ball. The fact that Pogba lost possession is material to the goal, but looking at it in isolation is madness. If Coman or Sissoko had showing for the ball instead of sprinting up field, who knows if Pogba even loses the ball?

 

Paul Pogba - Euro 2020pic.twitter.com/tZNbZ60igg

— TitouSDR (@TitouSDR) June 29, 2021

Arguably, the player of the tournament so far and without a shadow of a doubt, France's standout during these Euros.

 

Dinho looking like he's feeling real good...

Paul Pogba and Ronaldinho catching a vibe out in Miami 🔥 pic.twitter.com/TpYx8nXCue

— utdreport (@utdreport) July 6, 2021

 

Wonder if they are staying for Tropical Storm Elsa?

 

100% facts.

@FabrizioRomano:

“Paul Pogba was France’s best player this Euros. Paul Pogba means art, he is top 5 best players in the world.” #MUFC [Twitch]

— United Section (@TheUtdSection) July 13, 2021

 

Paul Pogba sees long-term future at Man Utd but may wait on contract extension | Football News | Sky Sports

Not overlooking PSG's financial might and what they can do in that regard, but seeing what a player like Alaba for instance raked in with his move to Real, I'm pretty firmly of the camp that Pogs (like other high profile pending free agents, like Mbappe among others) will elect to run their current contracts down, with the promise of serious competition for their services (and sick money in the process).
That does not rule United out but whoever gets him in a years' time will have to pay thru the nose for the privilege, that much is certain. Raiola, no doubt, will make absolutely sure of it too, so he can collect his share.

 

All of a sudden, PSG is now the biggest club in the world. Lol.

 

Yup. Given the landscape, Barca obv don't have money, none of the Italian clubs have money and Madrid have eyes only for Mbappe so he's probably sol if he wants a bigger check.

At the same time, landing Sancho and Varane will help and maybe next season we pull off the big one and have a squad that is fitting.

 

Paul Pogba's free role in Man Utd's win over Leeds shows how best for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to use him | Football News | Sky Sports

Becoming increasingly clear to me personally, that Pogs and how he's been handled, is one of Ole's biggest wins/checks in the plus column. It's been near flawless really, when so many times things could have gone south in a pretty nasty way (Raiola alone being a big reason why).
Still too early to tell whether he'll sign a new contract but calling it now: if he were to somehow, there will be no denying for me that Ole deserves his sahare of the credit for it. It's clear that he not only gets the player, but also the man. And he's measured and calm enough to see what's really important and not to take anything personal.
As long as Pogs does his part and his job, he'll have a (staunch) ally in Ole. And no doubt he recognizes that also. And as Rio mentioned in his pod, if we can show this season we are firmly on the right track, there's no reason not to feel confident he could end up re-upping, even if we'll have to sweat most of the season in that dept. Not even concerned about the money with anyone (except PSG of course if they were to go nuts) as we surely could match anything everyone else will be able to offer.

 

My brother text me this - Men this PP thing is sad. a whole panel of white men against 1 black man. Listen how dismissive they are of Micah. for a guy who they say never reached his potential never plays to his full abilities, they sure do lose alot of sleep on trying to make him look bad. That whole group there can suck a duck.

Micah Richards: "Kane's not turned up for training and we're calling him a saint, Pogba's never said he wanted to leave #mufc but he's getting abuse." #mulive [@footballdaily] pic.twitter.com/66IjpouQh8

— utdreport (@utdreport) August 15, 2021

 

Mentioned as much a couple of days ago in the OTT: on that channel, of the British pundits who are the most prevalent/we see most of, Richards and Jamie Redknapp (on top of my head) are the only one I care to actually listen to at this point.
The rest either have their schtick that they feel the need to keep up and it's boring more often than not. While others are exhibiting, in a not so subtle way either some pretty dark and messed up thoughts right in the open. It's not just plain racism either, but a very pervasive and general xenophobia that is just disgusting in this day and age.
The fact that it's allowed to go on unchecked in kind of mind blowing to me...

 

1. I will check out the OTT
2. It is disappointing to see Gaz join in with this Pogba bashing.

 

It’s not the first time with gaz either, he has some sort of agenda against Pogba

 

Yup. You'd think that with Gaz, someone who clearly has independent thoughts and is capable of going against the grain it would sink in that Pogba is just different to how he was as a player, but not necessarily disloyal.

Pogba says the right thing frequently and always talks about the club in glowing terms. However, I think the thing that a lot of people are ignoring is that Raiola is pretty damned good at his job. Even without any concrete interest in Pogba now, he's going to get his client a shit ton of money. Either from United if we blink and unass the funds or from his next club.

People saying Pogba should publicly tell off Raiola are naiive. They are asking him to take money out of his own pocket.

In any case, moving past the contract stuff...

It was a wonderful display of passing from Paul against Leeds but I think it is also fair to say that the match was the result of chickens coming home to roost. He's played so many of those passes over the years and they didn't get finished and then in this match, practically every time he put the ball in the box, someone scored. Unreal.

Saw a stat posted on twitter that judging by non penalty xG and xA, Pogba's never been more productive than under Ole. Not at United, not at Juve.