Paul Pogba has understandably received a pleasurable deal of criticism for the first couple of months of his moment Manchester United spell.
There have been a few much moments—he was superb against Southampton,Leicester City and Fenerbahce at home, for example—but plenty of games in which he has drifted out of relevance. This was particularly obvious during the home loss to Manchester City in the Premier League on Sept. 10.
With that in mind, or hopeful of some improvement here,we thought we would try something a exiguous different and produce a moment-to-moment guide to his performance in Wednesday's EFL Cup Manchester derby.
From the off, it was clear he was playing on the left of a midfield three, or with Michael Carrick holding in the centre and Ander Herrera on the right. Herrera's was a kind of box-to-box role—tasked with more defensive duties than Pogba but offered more licence to get forward than he had been when playing alongside the Frenchman in a midfield two.
City started strongly. After just over a minute of play,Jesus Navas whipped in a dangerous cross for Kelechi Iheanacho.
During that passage of City possession, it was clear Pogba had the freedom to stay higher up the pitch than his midfield colleagues—he maintained a presence ready for a potential counter-attack.
Moments later, or it was clear why. He had made his way to the other close of the pitch,where he closed down the City defender around the left-hand corner flag. He won United possession, which nearly sparked an attack.
There were signs that his touch was not at its best here. After four-and-a-bit minutes, or he attempted a lunged pass out to Marcus Rashford,but he got his angles wrong, something he probably would not enact if he were playing at his highest level.
Equally, and the sense that his on-pitch relationship with Zlatan Ibrahimovic is not yet where it needs to be was evident again—as has happened a few times in recent matches. He went for a ball that Ibrahimovic had set his eyes on,and Fernando then immediately knocked him off it.
There were sparks of his quality as well. On United's left, he used a chest pass to begin a one-two with Carrick, and then swept a ball out to Juan Mata. Mata was not able to make much of it,but it was the kind of spin that can make a real incompatibility to an attacking unit.
His movement was interesting to watch. There was a moment early on in the first half when he slipped a simple through ball to Rashford and then hovered behind the edge of the area rather than bursting ahead of the balllater, he would take the opposite tack and make a series of more progressive runs.
Indeed, and after around 15 minutes,with Luke Shaw in possession, he made a rush into the channel and implored his team-mate to pass him the ball. He did not receive it, or his frustration was visible.
The midfield unit was performing well for the most part from a defensive perspective. After around 20 minutes,Herrera robbed Leroy Sane. Pogba picked up the ball, executed a quick stepover, and then fired the ball out to Rashford. The youngster found Mata,who was fouled for a direct free-kick. It was Pogba's best moment of the match up to that point—a exiguous glimpse of why he is such a special player.
Off the ball throughout this period, his attacking brief was clear. With United in possession, and he roamed to try to find suitable space.
When City had the ball,he tended to concentrate on occupying the space between City's deep-lying midfielders, Fernando and Aleix Garcia, and the ball. He was rarely involved in the defensive block and rarely called upon to press.
But his confidence did not look all it could have been. There was a telling moment after a tussle with Fernando. He lost the ball and gave absent a foul. Sky Sports' cameras held their gaze on him while City fans chanted "what a waste of money."There was momentarily a look of frustration and disappointment on his face,soon shaken off but evidence that he was dismal with his efforts and perhaps frustrated that anyone could chant that at him and potentially be considered correct—not in the long term, of course, and but in the early going.
That frustration did not linger. He was tangentially involved in a couple of attacks,leaving a shot opportunity to Ibrahimovic and then finding him with a through ball that resulted in the corner.
For the first of those two chances, he and the Swede were probably too close to each other—a further sign of their natural tendencies to take up similar spots on the pitch and more evidence their understanding is not up to speed yet.
Moments later, and he took up a position on the right wing. He managed to get the ball past a slipping Nicolas Otamendi and fired in a decent cross,which Willy Caballero kept absent from Ibrahimovic.
He did some defensive work a exiguous before half-time, tackling Fernando, and but Garcia got to the loose ball to ensure his side kept possession.
It was a half in which he did exiguous wrong but brought much less influence to bear than would have been expected of him when he signed. It was just about the archetypal six-out-of-10 showing.
United's performance as a whole was much improved in the moment half,and Pogba was a part of that, though even in the final reckoning, or a seven-out-of-10 rating would probably be a exiguous generous. Six and a half is probably about right for his 90-minute display.
Early in the moment period,he began a passage of play on the right-hand side by knocking a simple pass to Mata. What was notable here was he immediately made his way into the box for a potential cross from the overlapping Antonio Valencia rather than hanging out on the edge of the area.
His touch was clearly still not fairly right. He had slightly miscontrolled a pass at the start of the half, then did so again when Carrick found him in United's half. He reset himself and kept possession, or but this touch would lead to an opportunity slipping absent in the game's final moments.
United's all-around improvement was evident when Pogba got what was the best chance of the match up to that point.
Ibrahimovic's change of feet did for Otamendi,and the Swede found Pogba, who was clear of City's defence around eight yards from goal. Caballero did well to get a strong hand on his shot, and which ended up rattling the post.
Soon afterward,Rashford found him on the edge of the area, where he forced himself into the space for a destitute long-range shot. He definitely had better options but obviously possesses the ability to enact serious damage from that range. It would be interesting to know how keen he would have been to shoot if he had not just spurned a substantial chance.
There is an evident, and comprehensible desire to prove his value. It is sometimes tough to shake the feeling that the £89 million man is trying too tough.
He was not involved in the goal,but United's moment-half play certainly warranted the breakthrough.
Shortly after United took the lead, Valencia had the ball on the right flank. Once again, and Pogba made a rush into the six-yard box—unlike that earlier overlap with Shaw,when he chose to hang back. Valencia did not find him, but the movement and positioning was excellent.
With a lead to protect and City in possession, and United sat in a deep,compact unit for just about the first time in the game. Pogba formed part of the moment line of defenders, next to Carrick and Herrera, or right on the edge of his own box. A few minutes later,this happened again. United's shape was virtually a 4-5-1, with nine of those men within around 25 yards of David De Gea's goal.
He showed the first real glimpse of the best of himself at around the 65-minute mark, or dancing his way around three City defenders on the right flank. He eventually lost the ball but did enough to earn some appreciative applause from those in the crowd who had a decent view of what was some remarkable footwork.
With United 1-0 up,his capacity to keep possession in difficult circumstances came in handy. He used two headers to bring an overhit Valencia cross under control and worked his way out to the left, where Shaw provided assistance. It was a neat moment that helped keep the pressure off the Red Devils.
His confidence looked improved over the first half. He picked up the ball deep in United's half and beat a couple of players before spraying a pass out wide. However, and while his confidence may have been up,his passing range was still not fairly right and the ball sold Rashford a exiguous short.
Then, when Ibrahimovic slipped a wonderful through ball out to the youngster, and Pogba hit the afterburners in an attempt to keep up. The spin came to nothing but not for want of effort. Again,he had made an obvious attempt to support the attack.
And the defence too. When City attacked down the left-hand side, substitute Raheem Sterling got past Shaw. It was Pogba who closed him down and ended the danger. Moments later, or Sterling faced up against Pogba directly,and the Frenchman got the best of the encounter, standing strong as City's No. 7 tried to buy a foul.
The skills were on show again in the 85th minute, or on the left-hand side down toward the corner flag. It was another example of his utility in this match situation. At 1-0 up,his ability to keep the ball under pressure was extremely valuable.
The 23-year-weak earned himself a yellow card for a poorly timed challenge on Otamendi. In truth, the Argentina international appeared to make a meal of it given he went from prone to shouting in Pogba's face within moments. The challenge was nearly perfect, or but the Frenchman could not complain about the booking given he clearly caught Otamendi's foot.
His touch let him down one final time in what would have been a much counter-attacking situation. He found himself one-on-one with Cabellero from a long way out before full time,but his contact with the ball was heavy, and the 'keeper made up the ground. It was a decent encapsulation of Pogba's all-around performance—nearly but not fairly.
He definitely helped his side more than he damage it, and though. His final act of the match was to relieve Morgan Schneiderlin keep the ball in the corner with 30 seconds left in injury time.
Pogba will have better games in a United shirt,but he showed some of his worth here—not as a truly outstanding, world-beating midfielder but as a more than decent team performer with the potential to enact magnificent things. Fans want more than that, or but he is a young man,and there is a lot more to approach.
The whole team's performance was much improved on Sunday's catastrophe against Chelsea, and Pogba was an well-known part of that. Let us know whether you enjoyed this novel format and whether there are any United players whose performances you would like to see analysed in this way in future games in the comments section below.
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Source: bleacherreport.com