Maybe Pogba just isn’t that vital to United any more
Tonight was supposed to be, what, the fourth coming of Paul Pogba? Count them. there was the first, when he joined from Juventus in 2016 for a world record transfer fee.
he was the player who would fire the Jose Mourinho era at Manchester United. the powerhouse midfielder the club had been lacking since, well, the teenage prodigy Pogba left.
he was going to be the modern Patrick Vieira. Wayne Rooney spoke of the physical battle Pogba presented, even in training. he said tackling Pogba hurt, even when he didn’t intend it to.
Pogba could not quite deliver on those mighty expectations, so there was the second coming.
that was 2017, his next season, when it was thought he would build on strong performances in Europe by getting to grips with the demands of the Premier League slog.
it was pointed out Pogba hadn’t played at the top level in England before. it would have been as big a shock to him as to any foreign player. this year would be different. it wasn’t.
At times, he couldn’t get in ahead of Scott Mctominay.
then there was the third coming, in 2018, when Pogba was made captain. he lost that role, fell out with the doomed Mourinho and, despite a brief resurgence under ole gunnar Solskjaer, ended the campaign in conflict with fans as United lost at home to Cardiff.
And so to this, the fourth occasion Pogba has been depicted as United’s saviour, except this time even his manager does not appear wholly convinced.
the trailers had a now-fit Pogba (right) and Bruno Fernandes paired in a dream midfield, but by yesterday it seemed likelier Solskjaer would stick with his team pre-lockdown.
Pogba would be a substitute with the official explanation that Solskjaer, ever the decent fellow, intended showing loyalty to a group that had gone 11 games unbeaten before the season was put in mothballs.
if this sounds rather convenient, it is. A manager wouldn’t start a new season faithful to those who had done well last May and this is, at heart, a new campaign under the auspices of old. there is no question of Mourinho not using harry Kane, who is also back fit.
if Pogba was so vital to United, he would be beside Fernandes and nobody would question it.
Could it be that players who were regarded as place-holders pending Pogba’s return continue outperforming the Frenchman in training, too?
SoLSKJAER is nice — but not so nice that he would be anything less than hard-nosed given what is at stake.
Maybe he shares wider reservations about his perfect midfield; that Pogba’s erratic discipline might unsettle Fernandes, in a way the much-improved Fred did not.
that Pogba’s casual approach to defence leaves his team-mates with an increased workload that could inhibit Fernandes’s style.
of course, Pogba has not started a game since September 30 and Solskjaer may wish to ease his path back.
Yet, increasingly, it is becoming harder to invest in claims of his transformative qualities. United seemed to be doing quite well without him before the virus intervened. Maybe they simply don’t need saving any more.