POGBA: I WILL BOUNCE BACK
That’s Paul Pogba’s tally for this season after his dismal display against Liverpool and don’t forget he cost a whopping £89m! ON ME ’EAD SON...
A DEFIANT Paul Pogba has vowed to recover from a poor performance in Manchester United’s draw with Liverpool. The France midfielder addressed his 12 million followers on Instagram yesterday, saying: ‘S*** happens. That’s when we need to be strong. I’m ready to fight, ready for the next one. I’d like to thank the supporters who keep believing in me. At least we didn’t lose. Never stop fighting.’ Pogba claimed people expect too much following his world-record £89m move. ‘People say that, at that price, a player must score or provide assists. My role as a midfielder is not to score. I have to work for the team rather than think about myself.’
AS LAUNCHES go, it was about as well conceived as the one which propelled Paul Pogba up into the air when he gifted Liverpool a penalty at Old Trafford 24 hours earlier.
One can only assume adidas’s plans to unveil Pogba’s new fashion range yesterday were so far advanced they could not be altered, despite the Manchester United midfielder’s lamentable display in the 1-1 draw with their arch-rivals.
The low point, of course, was that awkward, twisting leap to challenge Dejan Lovren which resulted in the Frenchman handling the ball right in front of referee Michael Oliver.
It was not the first time Pogba has struggled to live up to expectations in the big games for United. While there is no doubt that his midfield displays are a major factor in the club’s 16-game unbeaten run, he has been noticeably less effective against top-four rivals Chelsea, Tottenham, Arsenal, Manchester City and now Liverpool.
When Jose Mourinho was asked about it before the match, the United boss was understandably defensive about his £ 89million world record signing.
‘It is not fair to say a player has to be dominant,’ said Mourinho. ‘I am not expecting the team to play really badly and for one player to have all the weight on his shoulders — not Paul, not anyone.’
The trouble is, nobody has put more weight on the 23-year- old’s broad shoulders than United, club sponsors adidas and Pogba himself. While Mourinho was speaking on Friday, it was revealed Pogba has become the first footballer to have his own Twitter emoji. It came complete with the new ‘PP’ logo
that was shaven into Pogba’s latest hairstyle for the Liverpool match and, conveniently, coincided with yesterday’s launch of the adidas x Pogba Collection.
The range includes a new boot that ‘comes with extra gold plating’, according to a press release from the sportswear company, and ‘Pogboom etched on the webbing’.
No Pogba announcement would be complete without a dance track, and this one is supported by a tune from Parisian rapper MHD.
It is reminiscent of his carefully choreographed return to Old Trafford from Juventus in August, which featured a music video of Pogba dancing to a rap song by Stormzy.
United and adidas worked closely together on that project with the club’s official website carrying a succession of moody photos and videos bearing the slogan #pogback.
In the months since, we have witnessed colourful hairstyles and dance moves to go with some impressive, if hardly world-beating, performances on the pitch.
Quite what Sir Alex Ferguson, the man who signed Pogba as a 16-year-old from Le Havre in 2009 and criticised him for not showing United ‘any respect’ when he joined Juventus for £1.5m three years later, made of it all as he watched from the directors’ box on Sunday is anyone’s guess.
After all, quite a few talented footballers have passed through Old Trafford successfully down the years without the need for promotional videos or branding.
Sitting behind Ferguson with his father Ted was David Beckham, whose clashes with the former United manager over ‘ Brand Beckham’ were partly to blame for his departure from the club.
United’s commercial monster has been well and truly let out of the cage since Ferguson retired in 2013, with Pogba undoubtedly its biggest beneficiary among the current playing squad.
Indeed, the shared links with adidas mean United are understood to be more than happy for their poster boy to continue marketing himself in such a manner, and the Pogba emojis were plastered all over the advertising boards surrounding the pitch on Sunday.
As he left the dressing room an hour after the final whistle, Pogba was accompanied by team-mate Zlatan Ibrahimovic, whose late equaliser against Liverpool took his total for United to 19 goals at the halfway stage of the season. If United fans were handing out personalised emojis right now, it’s fair to say the charismatic Swede would be top of their list.
While Pogba disappeared outside to the screams of waiting fans, Ibrahimovic stopped to talk and was happy to discuss the hype around his team-mate.
‘I think football is like that today,’ he said. ‘When I started to play football there was no social media, none of these things. But it’s part of the game now. What is too much? We don’t know.
‘Paul belongs at the top absolutely and the pressure will be there. I think he likes it because, without pressure, we would not be on our toes.
‘If you want to play at the top, pressure is 24 hours. If you play well, it becomes even greater. It’s something that we learn from and have to handle.
‘The pressure I have all around me is nothing compared to the pressure I put on myself. Your pressure (from the media) becomes like a kindergarten for me.’
As Pogba reaps the rewards of his latest venture, there is no escaping the fact that he has only brought more pressure on himself.