OF Manchester United’s last eight Premier League games, Paul Pogba has started six. Over those six appearances, the Frenchman has failed to register a single goal or assist. He has, however, conceded three penalty kicks. And it would have been four had VAR not intervened to review a penalty against Pogba against Brighton.
Both statistics highlight the failings in Pogba’s game right now. For a player whose best qualities are believed to be on the attacking side of the ball, such low productivity is inexcusable. Coupled with his carelessness inside his own area, it is clear Pogba is doing more harm than good at United at this moment in time. His foul on Hector Bellerin against Arsenal on Sunday certainly cost his side two points.
Of course, Pogba’s role at Old Trafford has been forensically analysed from the moment he returned to the Premier League in a world record £89 million move from Juventus. This price tag placed expectations on the Frenchman that he was unable to deliver on such was the state of Manchester United’s midfield for a number of years.
Pogba: “I put my hands up for this mistake, it shouldn't happen. Of course the team has my back and everything but me personally I'm hitting myself to give away a penalty like that and lose 1-0 to a stupid mistake” #muzone [mutv]
— United Zone (@ManUnitedZone_) November 1, 2020
While Pogba had his critics, many of them, he also had his defenders, and they made good points about how to get the best out of the player. The point was made, with some justification, that the Frenchman had always seemed most comfortable on the left side of a midfield three. It was in this role that Pogba had thrived at Juventus.
Another common argument was that Pogba needed better players around him to succeed. United fans watched the 2018 World Cup in frustration as the midfield found a level he had been unable to achieve at Old Trafford. But Pogba was flanked by N’Golo Kante and Blaise Matuidi for France. These teammates harnessed him. It was a different story at club level.
Now, though, the excuses frequently made to explain Pogba’s underwhelming performances have faded. The 27-year-old has been used predominantly on the left side of a midfield three by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer over the last two years, in the same role he has excelled in for both France and Juventus.
Pogba is also surrounded by good players at United, with the January addition of Bruno Fernandes and the summer signing of Donny van de Beek giving the Frenchman peers on his own level. Factor in Fred, who has overcome a difficult start to life in the Premier League, Nemanja Matic, who is enjoying a career renaissance, and Scott McTominay and Solskjaer’s midfield options are no longer so thin.
And yet Pogba continues to struggle. This season is still young, but he has reached new heights only in terms of his lethargy. Pogba has coasted through almost every game with the only meaningful impact made in his serial concession of penalty kicks. The excuses for Pogba and his defenders to fall back on are gone. Manchester United simply aren’t getting enough from their most expensive player.
Last season should have been Pogba’s last at Manchester United. The time was right for both the player and the club to move on after four difficult years together. The signing of Fernandes had given Solskjaer the driving force through the centre of the pitch Pogba was meant to be with the player himself, essentially replacing the Frenchman before he’d even left.
The global Covid-19 pandemic and its impact on the finances of clubs around the world prevented this narrative from reaching fruition through an eventual transfer, but so much of the same old discussion around Pogba remains. The only difference now is the Frenchman might not have so much of an argument to make for himself.
