Difference was that Man United were a title winning team that could make that choice, and it was always an obvious choice to make.
Now we are a team trying to get in the top four and don’t have the same luxury, because the alternatives are nowhere near the same quality.
And it’s as much to do with the forwards for us as well, having Rashford, Martial and potentially Sancho in a front three benefits United more with Pogba and Bruno feeding them the ball than any combination we’d be able to put out.
Martial and Rashford may have their issues, but in a team that’s been conservative and devoid of creativity they’ve scored 28 prem goals between them. That’s the same as Aguero and Sterling and four fewer than Mane and Salah.
That’s something we should be looking to improve upon, not hinder it by messing about with the set up of the team. If Pogba’s not playing to his full potential because of that, so be it. But United will be a better team for it.
comment by rosso is done with this (U17054)
posted 1 hour, 43 minutes ago
I’m joshing.
I just think in many ways we have a similar problem with Bruno and Pogba to the problem we have with Rashford and Martial, and the problem we had with Giggs and Sharpe, and the problem we had to an extent with Veron and Scholes: you just can’t get the very best out of both of them every week.
With Rashford and Martial, it’s because of where they’re both most effective, which is the same singular position in off the left.
With Bruno and Pogba, it’s because Pogba to be most effective needs to play in a three with two more disciplined midfielders and Bruno you want stationed in the final third.
Just my view, obviously, and I respect others, particularly as I recognise many disagree and I’m probably in a minority. The player that will have to prove me wrong is Pogba, of course, and we’ll see how things develop with him back in the two (assuming that’s how we start the vast majority of games).
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But Pogba only needs to perform the role better than Fred or McTominay, which he already does by lightyears.
The two major complaints people like to raise about Pogba playing/starting deeper is that he can lose runners sometimes and overplay in dangerous areas.
But Fred & McTominay give the ball away much more cheaply - not overplaying (because neither player is gifted enough to overplay to begin with) and as far as losing runners... Fred frequently charges from his station to close down balls he's no chance in hell of getting to, and McTominay failed to track runners yesterday on three occasions. I made mention of it in the match thread at the time.
Pogba plays deeper for France as part of an overall stronger unit without issue. With Matic finding some form, Bruno hitting the ground running and Martial & Rashford offering regular goalscoring output, suddenly we look a lot strong and Pogba has made a big difference in the last three games now.
This is what I don’t get about some United fans, Pogba may be lacking there compared to some of the elite central midfielders in world football, but compared to Fred and McTominay it’s not a contest.
Perfect Example
Page 4 of 4
posted on 28/6/20
Difference was that Man United were a title winning team that could make that choice, and it was always an obvious choice to make.
Now we are a team trying to get in the top four and don’t have the same luxury, because the alternatives are nowhere near the same quality.
And it’s as much to do with the forwards for us as well, having Rashford, Martial and potentially Sancho in a front three benefits United more with Pogba and Bruno feeding them the ball than any combination we’d be able to put out.
Martial and Rashford may have their issues, but in a team that’s been conservative and devoid of creativity they’ve scored 28 prem goals between them. That’s the same as Aguero and Sterling and four fewer than Mane and Salah.
That’s something we should be looking to improve upon, not hinder it by messing about with the set up of the team. If Pogba’s not playing to his full potential because of that, so be it. But United will be a better team for it.
posted on 28/6/20
comment by rosso is done with this (U17054)
posted 1 hour, 43 minutes ago
I’m joshing.
I just think in many ways we have a similar problem with Bruno and Pogba to the problem we have with Rashford and Martial, and the problem we had with Giggs and Sharpe, and the problem we had to an extent with Veron and Scholes: you just can’t get the very best out of both of them every week.
With Rashford and Martial, it’s because of where they’re both most effective, which is the same singular position in off the left.
With Bruno and Pogba, it’s because Pogba to be most effective needs to play in a three with two more disciplined midfielders and Bruno you want stationed in the final third.
Just my view, obviously, and I respect others, particularly as I recognise many disagree and I’m probably in a minority. The player that will have to prove me wrong is Pogba, of course, and we’ll see how things develop with him back in the two (assuming that’s how we start the vast majority of games).
----------------------------------------------------------------------
But Pogba only needs to perform the role better than Fred or McTominay, which he already does by lightyears.
The two major complaints people like to raise about Pogba playing/starting deeper is that he can lose runners sometimes and overplay in dangerous areas.
But Fred & McTominay give the ball away much more cheaply - not overplaying (because neither player is gifted enough to overplay to begin with) and as far as losing runners... Fred frequently charges from his station to close down balls he's no chance in hell of getting to, and McTominay failed to track runners yesterday on three occasions. I made mention of it in the match thread at the time.
Pogba plays deeper for France as part of an overall stronger unit without issue. With Matic finding some form, Bruno hitting the ground running and Martial & Rashford offering regular goalscoring output, suddenly we look a lot strong and Pogba has made a big difference in the last three games now.
posted on 28/6/20
This is what I don’t get about some United fans, Pogba may be lacking there compared to some of the elite central midfielders in world football, but compared to Fred and McTominay it’s not a contest.
Page 4 of 4