HER PLANET SAME GENIUS I WINCED AS SCHOLES KNOCKED LUMPS OUT OF POGBA!
BRYAN ROBSON
THE first time I saw Paul Pogba he was getting lumps kicked out of him by Paul Scholes to toughen him up. This weekend I expect him to come home a World Cup winner.
Paul is an incredible talent who gets a lot of unfair criticism but I believe tomorrow will see him claim the ultimate prize for a footballer.
Then I can see him returning to Manchester United and fulfilling his potential, delivering what we thought he was capable of as a raw 16-year-old.
He has everything in terms of ability, athleticism, strength, I just wish he’d avoid the silly hairstyles and lay off the social media. That’s been his downfall: giving people ammunition to criticise him, especially when the club have spent £89million.
If he wins the World Cup, he will get more publicity than he can handle — he won’t need Twitter.
Jose Mourinho wouldn’t be able to get away with it today but, if Paul had turned up with blue hair for a Manchester derby under Alex Ferguson, I think the gaffer would have dragged him to the shower and shaved his head.
Paul is still child-like. He reminds me of Gazza and I can bet you the first thing he’d want to do after winning the World Cup is fly to Los Angeles and join up with the Manchester United lads on their USA tour. Football is his life; he loves it. Gazza never wanted a holiday or break. They were almost detrimental as he wouldn’t rest properly, he’d just want to go and play with his mates. Paul Pogba is the same.
As a kid you could see he had the ability. He was allowed to join in first-team training at Carrington and Scholesy would boot him at almost every opportunity. Pogba never really kicked back out of respect for the player Scholes was.
I used to wince and say to Mike Phelan ‘that was a bit over the top wasn’t it?’ but Alex wouldn’t pull Big-game player: Pogba Scholesy up because he said he was toughening Pogba up. When he left it was because he couldn’t see a way forward to the first team and you have to give him credit for pushing himself, whatever the aggravation it caused at the time.
When he came back I said to him, ‘I know why you left, now show you can win trophies’. He won the League Cup and Europa League in his first season and there’s a sense he will add more this year.
He is a big-game player. He has a tendency to switch off against some of the ‘lower’ teams and his other downside is dwelling on the ball and holding people off to prove his strength. That slows the game down. He should move the ball first time and show his great passing range.
France suits him because N’Golo Kante and Blaise Matuidi have great energy and defensive nous. Paul holds his position well and his passing to Antoine Griezmann and Kylian Mbappe has been first class. All he needs are goals.
I don’t see there being many goals in tomorrow’s final but I expect France to win it.
It’s a shame we are not discussing England’s potential to beat them but we had a great competition.
Croatia showed the value of experience and game management. You can’t have a greater advantage than an early goal at this level but give Croatia credit: they kept the ball better.
It’s a tough time to learn harsh lessons but Gareth Southgate’s squad have given us belief they can take the next step, next time.
“If Pogba had turned up with blue hair under Fergie, he’d have dragged him to the shower and shaved his head!”