Pogba - Can he kick it?

In his first game for United I thought it looked like they'd got a proper player, driving forward with the ball making things happen from deep etc. Since then I have to say I've been disappointed with him in every game I've seen him in. Some games he's been completely invisible. He's not once looked like he did in that first game (admittedly I haven't seen all of them). So he's pretty much been the odd flash here and there, you'd expect a hell of a lot more all things considered, not least the huge fee. Difficult to say how much is him and how much is the positions he is being played in. Nothing to be jealous of here!
 
MikeTheNative said:
Would people agree with me that Wijnaldum has played better this season?
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That's an interesting question. Both have been inconsistent imo but in different ways - in the big games Wijnaldum has been quietly brilliant, controlling the midfield and chipping in with the odd goal but it's been against the poorer sides where he's not stepped up and taken hold of those games. Pogba on the other hand, imo, is inconsistent over 90 minutes let along game by game - he has moments in games where he does something but then the rest of the game passes him by.

Who's been better is open to debate but at £25m I find myself wanting more from Wijnaldum
 
Pogba is too inconsistent and no one seems to know what he's supposed to be doing, and it feels like he doesn't know either. Maybe he'll come good, but he'll never be worth the transfer fee.
 
Janesy B said:
Pogba is too inconsistent and no one seems to know what he's supposed to be doing, and it feels like he doesn't know either. Maybe he'll come good, but he'll never be worth the transfer fee.
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Really depends what other fees we see in the coming years but yeah pretty unlikely.

Also lol @ 90% jealousy stuff :D.
 
I think he gets a bit of a pass this season because it's his first year back in England and his first year playing in the PL. You've got to remember that he barely played at all under SAF, just a couple of sub appearances here and there before he left for Juve. The PL is very different to Serie A, so he's going to take time to adjust. Plus, he was playing in a settled Juve team that dominated Italian football year after year, whereas he's now playing for a team that are still trying to find their way back to the top of English football, with a manager in his first year in charge and a squad that still needs improvement. To expect him to put in Messi and Ronaldo type performances in his first season is a bit naive. Next season he will definitely have more expectations and I would then be disappointed if he didn't start dominating games.
 
Shamikebab said:
Except he has, people just like to pin the hate on him. Oh he didn't produce a world class performance 10v11 against the league leaders with all our attacking players out? Oh no.
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Come on man, he ran games from midfield at juve because he had players to sit in for him and let him bomb forward. At United now, there's no one helping him, he's been shown to be a ordinary footballer and is not and will never be world class, he was awful for France in the Euro's because he was asked to play a role he just can't do, and now he looks completely out of his league with only Herrera alongside him. To get the best out of Pogba, Jose needs to look at how Conte was using him for juve and build a team based on this overrated £89m waste of money. Good player, capable of sublime moments, but nothing special. A world class midfielder should be bossing games, like what Robson, Keane, Scholes, Lampard and dare a say it, Gerra....(no can't say it) did week in week out
 
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What a strange argument, essentially saying that a player that needs help isn't that good a football player. All good players need help from teammates, nobody is a one-man team. None of the players you mentioned could have done what they did without a class midfield surrounding them. Keane and Scholes played alongside each other and also had Giggs and Beckham in there, arguably the greatest midfield the PL has ever seen. Lampard had Essien behind him mopping up and doing the defensive work so that he could focus on scoring goals and creating chances for teammates, and Gerrard was at his best when he had Mascherano and Xabi Alonso alongside him in midfield.
 
Good player, I think he's been OK but obviously for £89m you expect more than OK. Exactly the same as I said with Ozil just double the price, if you are paying that sort of money you expect them to be good in 4 out of 5 games of which at least one they are setting alight. Players you buy for £15m you cut some slack and just look for promising signs that they will develop or at least put in solid performances in most games. Given he's played for MU before you can't even really play the 'oh he's a young foreign player new to the country, league and culture, he'll need time to acclimatise" card.
 
HangTime said:
Good player, I think he's been OK but obviously for £89m you expect more than OK. Exactly the same as I said with Ozil just double the price, if you are paying that sort of money you expect them to be good in 4 out of 5 games of which at least one they are setting alight. Players you buy for £15m you cut some slack and just look for promising signs that they will develop or at least put in solid performances in most games. Given he's played for MU before you can't even really play the 'oh he's a young foreign player new to the country, league and culture, he'll need time to acclimatise" card.
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1. He played like 2 games for us before, not exactly a lot of experience is it

2. Young, promising player for £15m? Have you been asleep for a year? This is a world where no name players cost £30m.
 
I don't see why people are hung up in the price, it was clear at the time that Utd would over pay, Woodward simply had to buy big and Juve knew it too. I don't think anyone put him in the same category as Messi or Ronaldo, even if the price is the same, although having said that, I doubt it is... and besides, Utd have more money than they can shake a stick at, what's £100mill? Peanuts.

He's been played out of position in a team that is still not 'complete' with a new manager, hardly the end of the world.
 
1) He was at the club for nearly three years before. The point I was making was that, unlike some young foreign players (say Martial), he wouldn't have to start from square one in terms of learning the language, the culture, the nature of the club and English football etc, the sort of external factors you sometimes see cited for those type of players e.g. Reyes. Even if he'd played zero games he'd still be in a better position.
2) Age didn't come into my comment, but leaving that to one side I've seen plenty of players be transferred to PL clubs for up to £15m in the past year. Heck just look at the most recent transfer window, you've got Gabbiadini, Beharino, Brady, Snodgrass, Van Aanholt etc. At that price your expectations are less than at £89m, or even £43m.
 
Doesn't help that Mourinho keeps switching formations, which shows he's having a bit of a dillema.

For me Pogba plays best on the left in a midfield three. Personally would have gone for 2 or 3 new midfielders for what we paid.
 
Pogba has been pretty underwhelming but when it seems to happen with any decent player we buy it's tough to know how much of the blame is his. I dare say we will find someone else in a few months to throw a hundred mil at it will probably happen again.
 
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