It’s Time People Stopped Sleeping On Paul Pogba
There’s nothing quite like a massive transfer fee to hang over your head like a toilet seat. Especially if you’re being signed by Jose Mourinho, especially if it’s to play for Manchester United, especially if your name is Paul Pogba.
The flamboyant Frenchman has more than his share of those who ‘just aren’t convinced’ by him. To be fair to them it’s easy to understand why they’d come to such a stance - his world record fee only lasted a year before it was absolutely shattered by Neymar’s, but it’s still a massive responsibility. Plus Pogba’s a fellow who enjoys what he does and there are those that mistake uch things for indifference or a lack of dedication. Then there are the Garth Crooks’ of the world who automatically assume that any bloke with more than two haircuts in a single season is a bit of a flower child (power to the hippies!). Those people are all wrong though.
Pogba’s an incredible footballer to watch, nobody doubts that. Those long strides of his make it look like he’s gliding down the field, prancing where others stomp. He’s got an amazing shot on him and the ability to switch a ball 60 yards and right to a mate’s feet in the same way that Wayne Rooney or, dare I say it, Paul Scholes once did in the same jersey. Then there’s that tenacious defensive work, or his strength in the air. The amount of ground he covers in a game. The way he brings teammates into the game… goddammit is there anything he can’t do?
Yeah, there is. He very obviously doesn’t score enough goals. The bloke took 92 shots in his 30 Premier League games last season and do you know how many goals he scored from that haul? Five. So a goal for every 18.4 efforts. Harry Kane scored every 3.8 shots. Alexis Sanchez every 5.4 shots. Philippe Coutinho every 8.2 shots. Sergio Aguero every 6.9 shots. Those guys all played in more advanced positions so the comparison isn’t completely accurate – Christian Eriksen might be a better comp at 16.6, although he also had 15 assists as opposed to four from Poggie so yeah, nah.
But the dude’s got all the tools. Everything you can want from a central midfielder, he can do (other than finish his chances)… plus he’s like six inches taller than every bloke who tried to mark him. That’s almost like a burden for him at time, too many options at every moment, but if he could harness the right balance then he’d be like no other player on the planet. That’s probably another reason why people think he’s got so much further to go as a player, because there’s so much more potential there.
Here’s the thing though: Paul Pogba is no work in process, he’s already the real deal.
Pretty much, the reason for this article is to: a) balance the ledger before writing a big thing about how stunningly, gloriously, magnificently good Manchester City are right now, and b) end the silly lack of acknowledgment (at least lessen it by a couple people) about Paul Pogba’s brilliance.
So the song goes: you don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone (… they paved paradise, put up a parking lot…). When The Mighty Pog limped off injured in United’s first Champions League game, he’d gotten four Premier League games under his belt: 4-0 over West Ham, 4-0 over Swansea, 2-0 over Leicester and then the sloppy 2-2 draw with Stoke. It’s already hard to recall those days but back then United and City seemed to be on level terms.
ManYoo then beat that pathetic Everton side 4-0, snuck a 1-0 win at Southampton and then polished off Crystal Palace 4-0 with a flurry of first half goals. They were still getting the results but they just didn’t look the same. Some of the spark was gone… replaced by Marouane Fellaini. It’s worth mentioning that both Everton and Palace sacked their managers within a month of those happenings. Granted, that initial post-Pogba period was okay. Mourinho was still a happy enough chappy and the wins were flowing.
Then they went to Liverpool. Jose set up for his customary 0-0 away draw vs a top six team and it was pants from that point on. They followed that with a very fortunate 1-0 win away to Benfica, went and lost to Huddersfield, knocked Swansea out of the League Cup with a reserve team and then, yeah, went and beat Spurs. But that Spurs game was at Old Trafford, Harry Kane didn’t play and Jose copped a few boos at his decision to sub off the magical Marcus Rashford… which worked out in the end when Anthony Martial scored the winner and Jose responded with a bit of the ol’ shuduppayaface!
Statistically there’s nothing drastic here that demonstrates the difference but the difference is clear from the eye test. As City evolved into this gymnastic assassin of a team, United slumped back into the old habits of all the post-Fergie years. There are enough shots to cover up the mess but the creativity felt forced now. Romelu Lukaku went seven games without a goal. Things just weren’t quite the same.
And then Paul Pogba returned. Dunno if you saw that game against Newcastle at Old Trafford but there was one man far and above every other player on the park and it wasn’t Chris Smalling (nice goal, tho). The Pog was completely immense. He was subbed off with twenty minutes to go but by then he’d already done the damage, setting up the first goal with some untouchable skill on the right edge of the box before floating a wonderful ball to the far post for Anthony Martial and then scoring one of his own after the break, tapping in after Marcus Rashford had dropped the ball across goal at his feet. Because, oh yeah, he’s scoring goals now too.
Once you’ve seen Paul Pogba seamlessly link defence to the attack for this team, switching the ball with ease to open up space, dominating opposition midfielders every bit as well as Fellaini does (who’s also been injured, to be fair to the ent) but with the added capability of being able to pass the ball in a forward direction... then once you’ve seen Man United try to do that stuff without him… mate, there’s no question. Nemanja Matic is a far superior player next to Paul Pogba. Romelu Lukaku is the same playing in front of him. The very game he returns, his team is good again.
Just saying: that’s probably not a coincidence.
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