Goal-shy Pogba demands better service

MATHIAS POGBA insists he is ready to meet Alan Archibald’s demand for more goals — provided his Partick Thistle team-mates help him out. The French striker has only scored once for the Maryhill men this season, a statistic which has forced his manager to ask for a bigger return. Pogba, who hopes to lead the line against Aberdeen tonight, is adamant he can fire the bullets to keep Thistle safe. However, he insists he will need the necessary support to do so. ‘I’m trying to change this every game,’ said the 25-year-old (pictured). ‘We had a small chat this morning. He (Archibald) came to me joking, saying it’s not hard to score a goal. I said: “It can be but we don’t create enough chances”. ‘It’s hard to score when you personally get one chance every three games. ‘As a striker, you can’t create chances. It’s (for those) behind you to create chances for you. ‘We need to score more goals but, if you don’t create chances, you can’t score goals.’ Pogba denies that his confidence has taken a hit as a result of the perceived lack of service. ‘I wouldn’t say it kills my confidence but, as a striker, when you create chances the goals will come quicker,’ he added. ‘I think sometimes we play quite direct, but we need people coming with me to attack the ball. ‘If I’m attacking the ball and they are late behind me, it’s going to be harder. ‘I think sometimes we play football and sometimes we play direct. We mix it up. ‘I don’t feel under pressure about that because I don’t know this word, pressure. ‘I have always been like this. I am very confident about myself. Pressure? Stress? No.’ Manager Archibald is unable to call upon Stuart Bannigan after the midfielder hobbled out of the one-goal defeat to Hearts on Saturday, while Abdul Osman is a doubt. However, despite Aberdeen’s title ambitions, the Thistle boss believes his side can still dig out the win that would take them up to fifth place. ‘We’ve got to try to use the pressure on them,’ he said. ‘They’ve got to keep that title run going. If we can maybe silence them it will help, but we’ll need to score goals against them and that’s not something we’ve done this season against the top three. ‘But we fancy ourselves to get something.’