Dropping Pog may be best for Solskjaer
MIDFIELDER STRUGGLING TO FIND HIS FORM AFTER COVID
YOU may have seen the tweet doing the rounds this weekend, the one which seemed to confirm what we saw with our own eyes with regards to Paul Pogba’s performance for United at Brighton.
The World Cup winner was far from the only Reds player to struggle on the south coast, but the extent to which he lost the midfield battle against Adam Lallana and Steven Alzate was concerning.
Pogba was replaced by Fred after 65 minutes at the Amex Stadium. In his time on the pitch he didn’t create a chance, produce a shot, make a tackle or interception and had the lowest passing accuracy in the United team at just 71 per cent.
His highlight was seeing VAR overturn the decision to give a penalty against him early in the second half.
But we didn’t need the statistics to tell us that Pogba had a poor game at Brighton, just as we didn’t need statistics to tell us he was poor against Crystal Palace a week ago, a game in which he was replaced on 67 minutes by Donny van de Beek.
Seeing Victor Lindelof keep his place in United’s defence on Saturday was the surprise on the teamsheet that took the attention away from the Frenchman, when many felt he might have been vulnerable to Van de Beek, who looks fitter and sharper right now.
There is an important caveat to Pogba’s displays, in that he missed two weeks of training after testing positive for Covid-19.
It’s difficult to know exactly how much that took out of him physically and how far behind the eight-ball he is when it comes to fitness. But if that is the case then he should be eased back into action anyway, it would have made sense for him to feature at Luton, rather than in the heat of another Premier League game.
After another disappointing display, it’s approaching decision time for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who isn’t short of options in central midfield. It’s the one area of the pitch where United do have strength in depth, which means poor runs of form don’t have to be covered over to the same degree. Pogba could step aside while he searches for sharpness and rhythm and there are candidates to come in and replace him, notably the two men who’ve replaced him in the past two weeks, Van de Beek and Fred. The £35m Dutchman must be edging closer to a first start in the Premier League. After spending most of last season on the sidelines, Pogba returned after the Premier League restarted in June to form an exciting partnership with Bruno Fernandes, with Nemanja Matic giving the two a solid platform in midfield. But that partnership is yet to hit the same heights this season and United have been disappointing in
There will always be discussion around Pogba’s place in the United side, he hasn’t lived up to his £89m fee
midfield against Palace and Brighton. Having been dominating games after the restart, they have struggled to impose themselves in the first two Premier League games of this season.
Dropping Pogba may be a drastic step to fix that, but his performances haven’t been good enough so far, even if there are valid excuses as well.
The fact is, there will always be discussion around his place in the United side. He hasn’t lived up to the £89m fee paid to Juventus in 2016 but he has his moments and will look a better player when he is surrounded by better players, as we saw briefly at the end of season.
For some supporters his languid s style is reason enough to be critical, while others haven’t forgotten he wanted to leave last summer. While th that was never on the cards in this window, he did dodge an opportunity to commit his future to the club when doing media duties before the win at Aston Villa in July.
Whatever the future does hold for Pogba, right now his performances haven’t been of a high enough standard, and with Solskjaer having options in midfield the time is coming for the 27-year-old to drop to the bench. last