POGBA ‘DOES HIMSELF NO FAVOURS’ BUT IS STILL A LEADER
Solskjaer insists: Paul didn’t do himself any favours on social media, but now he has become United’s leader on the pitch
NOTHING underscores the transformation of Manchester United more than Paul Pogba. Signed to add both glamour and purpose to the club, the last days of Jose Mourinho saw him reduced to sitting mournfully on the bench.
As such, any frivolous post on social media, usually a goal celebration routine with Jesse Lingard, would invariably provoke a backlash from frustrated fans.
In the first instalment of this fixture at Anfield just before Christmas he was an unused substitute, Mourinho explaining that he had several better players at his disposal. By the following weekend, the manager would be gone, Pogba would be restored to the team and instrumental in United’s 5-1 win at Cardiff in Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s first game in charge.
It might seem simple but getting £89million players to perform is part of the job spec. Solskjaer has done that, which presumably is one of the key criteria when Ed Woodward appoints a full-time manager.
In essence Solskjaer has harnessed the extrovert nature of Pogba and ensured it is more than an Instagram caricature. United actually signed him partly to be a driving force of the social media posts Woodward so values. The difference now is he is a driving force on the pitch as well, with the performance against Chelsea last Monday night one of his best yet.
‘Paul has always been a largerthan-life character,’ says Solskjaer, who managed him briefly for United reserves in 2010 during the Frenchman’s first spell at the club. ‘He has a fantastic family but you don’t do yourself any favours [by overdoing social media]. You don’t want to give anyone an excuse, really. So, of course, you don’t go to the Brit Awards this week. We know leading up to the other game against Liverpool there were stories about players not being focused. It is not about that.
‘We know they are focused, we know they are doing their best but he does help himself by toning it down a bit. But that is just Paul being Paul. Knowing him, he wants to win, he wants to be the best. And you would be surprised by the number of minutes he’s played.
‘Apart from David De Gea and maybe Nemanja Matic, he has played the most minutes for us in the league. There was a perception that Jose left him out all the time.’
Maybe. But Pogba and Mourinho had become a sideshow that was sapping energy from the club. And Pogba has yet to be afforded his own individual song by United’s hardcore fans. That speaks of the scepticism about the extroverted Parisien’s performances prior to the last two months. Now there is the synergy which was always envisioned when he returned.
Pogba, who has recently become a father, is on Instagram as much if not more than he was prior to Mourinho’s departure. Yet, allied with inspirational performances on the pitch, it is much less of an issue.
‘I have not said anything to him about it,’ said Solskjaer. ‘I have talked to the whole team about expectations and standards and what I expect from them. I am a bit older than them and don’t understand all this social media.’
Solskjaer is somewhat disingenuous. In March last year, when United won this fixture 2-1 with two goals from Marcus Rashford, he posted a photo of Rashford’s shirt draped over the TV as he watched the game in Molde.
Then he was a fan. It hardly seemed realistic to imagine he would be
managing the team a year later. ‘Even though I posted that picture, it was maybe was one of my five or six tweets ever,’ added Solskjaer.
Mourinho complained about the era of a footballer who has 6.1million Instagram followers, but it was hard not to think he was simply a man out of time and aghast at the fact that young people had more media power.
There are certainly positives to the social media. The YouTube clip of Pogba filmed before the World Cup final for France against Croatia last summer showed what he might be, given the chance. He is standing in the dressing room and all eyes are on him. More experienced and older players hang on his every word as he urges them to seize this once-in-a-lifetime moment.
‘He is a leader in training, he is a leader in the dressing room,’ said Solskjaer. ‘Players are allowed to be themselves. He spends a lot of energy being a leader on and off the pitch. The nice car, different haircut – I can’t do anything about my grey hair, but it is not a problem to have whatever haircut you want. It has never been a problem with Paul. I remember when he was 16 he wanted to feel good. If you feel good, you will play well.’
Of course, more will be demanded of Pogba. Paris Saint-Germain shut him down effectively to the extent that his frustration possibly contributed to his red card.
Better teams will stretch him, and only then will we know whether he can be judged a United great.