United need on-field leader

I THINK most Man Utd supporters accept that although things need improving, the best is being made of the present situation.

Certainly the use of young players committed to the club is a refreshing change from the highlypaid mercenaries who had no idea what it meant to wear a Man Utd shirt.

The talk of adding defenders, midfielders and attackers to the squad is an irrelevance unless an onfield general is found. Otherwise it is just a group of players running around who, on most days, will get the job done, but on the days when backsides need kicking, will not. Whatever the manager or coaches do off the field they have little effect once the troops go into battle. They cannot score or create an important goal or get a bit more out of the players around them due to the respect they are held in or force of their personality. This is the one thing that would change the team dramatically at the moment.

This would create a team atmosphere, give the younger players guidance and give the more experienced players someone to follow.

I don’t know where this person is to be found from in the present personnel – that is not my job. But I do know that until it is achieved the team will not become a coherent, consistent unit. Would Beckham, the Nevilles, Nicky Butt or Paul Scholes have been half as effective without Eric Cantona, Roy Keane, Peter Schmeichel, etc. behind them? I think not.

Secondly does anyone honestly care wether Paul Pogba ever plays for Man Utd ever again? If he stays at the club for some unknown reason it is better that he stays on the injury list. At least there he is at his least disruptive. He is not going to do anything while his agent is telling him that they both know more about how he and Man Utd should be playing than the management and coaching staff.

His agent is obviously unaware of the high number of past and present stars that have graced football fields worldwide due to the junior and senior coaching systems at Old Trafford. Let him take Pogba back to Spain or Italy where, domestically, he will play around half a dozen games of any importance per season. The rest of the time he will be able to stroll around against inferior opposition and have plenty of time to tell everybody how great he is.

What a waste. Dave Bumby, New Zealand