The Pog days are over
‘Pogba’s not Messi…he doesn’t get free rein’ is the headline in the Daily Mail. And for that we can all truly be grateful, because we were labouring under the illusion that Paul Pogba IS Lionel Messi. Thank you for the clarification, you now have all of our attention. Proceed.
Martin Samuel (of course) writes:
‘Yaya Toure was naming his best XI this week. He picked a three-man defence, with Andres Iniesta the holding midfielder. His right wing-back was Leroy Sane, his left wing-back was Thierry Henry. Lionel Messi and Sergio Aguero were in central midfield, so he could accommodate Didier Drogba and Samuel Eto’o up front.
‘Toure is one of those who understands why Paul Pogba would be devastated at being asked to defend. Maybe he’d like to manage Manchester United.’
Okay. We’re taking the long route, clearly. Though equating a man picking an imaginary XI from his former teammates with choosing an actual Manchester United side really is quite extraordinary. Go on…
‘Pogba is offering ringing endorsements of Ole Gunnar Solkjaer, privately and publicly, now he is free of defensive shackles. His brother Mathias, a third-tier footballer in France, was even more direct.
‘The problem was Jose Mourinho right down the line,’ he said. ‘I know my brother, you tell him, “Go – go play”, the rest he will do.’
‘Go play. The emptiest words in football’s lexicon. Messi can go play. Cristiano Ronaldo can go play. Most of those in Toure’s XI could, too.
‘Pogba? He’s a central midfielder. There has to be discipline and responsibility in his game, or the team falls apart. There will be times when he must track, or defend. If Solskjaer is winning hearts and minds at Manchester United with empty promises about just going out and playing, it is a matter of time before he comes unstuck.’
We suspect that Solskjaer has not simply told Pogba – or any other Manchester United player – to just ‘go play’. Indeed, Samuel’s Daily Mail colleague Chris Wheeler writes in the very same edition of the newspaper that Manchester United’s goal against Tottenham (made by a wonderful pass from Pogba) came from ‘a tactic United had worked on to exploit the space behind Tottenham’s marauding full-backs during a warm-weather break in Dubai’.
‘It almost happened at Wembley on Sunday. The result and performance were a triumph for Solskjaer but he will know that with better finishing from Tottenham in the second half he could have lost – and part of the reason was Pogba decided to just play.
‘There were 43 minutes gone when Tottenham lost Moussa Sissoko. Until that point he had been keeping a steady eye on Pogba, but within a minute of his departure, the Manchester United man played the pass of the game to put in Marcus Rashford for United’s goal.
‘Without a defensive midfield detail to guard him, it seemed Pogba might run riot in the second half – instead he as good as knocked off. He barely tracked back, he lost the ball in positions that launched Tottenham counter- attacks – and David de Gea ended up saving United.
‘There were some outstanding, dutiful defensive performances to earn three points, but Pogba’s was not among them. Yet after the game he was lauded, and lauded Solskjaer in turn, too. Increasingly, we hear United’s players want the caretaker to get the job. No doubt they do if the mantra is go play.’
Pogba was indeed lauded. In the Daily Mail in particular, where his performance was described thus: ‘Hollywood balls are coming off spectacularly, runs beyond the strikers and defends gallantly. Box-to-box display.’
”I had to defend too much before,’ Pogba explained. ‘This is my position. The manager tells me to get in the box and score goals. The best example is Frank Lampard.’
‘Is it? Pogba has 58 goals in his entire career. Lampard got more than that in any three seasons added together between 2004-05 and 2009-10. He also matched Pogba’s total in just the final five seasons of his career, including his time in New York and as a sub with Manchester City.’
But do you know when Lampard did not match Pogba’s total? When he was the same age as Pogba, which would surely be the fairest comparison. Samuel has made ‘Pogba has 58 goals in his entire career’ sound like an insult, ignoring the very small matter of the Frenchman only actually being 25. So how many goals had Lampard scored by the age of 25? That would be 55.
It’s also worth mentioning that Lampard had not won a damn thing by the age of 25; Pogba has won four Serie A titles, a World Cup and four other minor-ish trophies.
‘Pogba has never scored more than eight goals in any league season. Lampard beat that total for 10 years straight. He averaged a goal every 3.07 games for Chelsea; Pogba one every 5.23 for Juventus, even before Mourinho put on the brakes.’
Pogba has not scored more than eight goals in any league season – but he is currently on seven after 22 games of this season so he is on course for a 12-goal season. Which is of course a total that Lampard did not pass until the season after he had turned 26. Before the age of 25 (Pogba’s age), he averaged a goal every 4.79 games for West Ham and a goal every 6.875 games for Chelsea.
‘So Pogba is a midfield player. A very fine one, capable of playing a match-winning pass and dominating big matches, but a midfield player nonetheless.
‘He doesn’t get a free rein. He doesn’t get to go play. He has to do his work, and follow his man when necessary — particularly in a team that already includes three forwards in Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial and, when he is fit, Alexis Sanchez.
‘For if Pogba doesn’t do his shift then that attitude will spread and if Solskjaer isn’t prepared to tell him the truth about his role, then he’s not the man for the job. Sir Alex Ferguson didn’t require anyone to just play: not Paul Scholes, not Ryan Giggs, not even Ronaldo.’
A reminder, were it required: Manchester United have won five straight Premier League games under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Pogba has contributed four goals and four assists in those games. We think it might be going quite well.
Cech out this guy
The media has of course concentrated on Jose Mourinho’s comments on beIN Sports about Manchester United and player power, but Mediawatch was more intrigued by his latest ‘tribute’ to himself Petr Cech.
“When I arrived in Chelsea, he was a kid, only 20 years old.”
Pesky facts: He was 22. And he had just reached the Euro 2004 semi-finals with the Czech Republic, earning him a place in the all-star team as the best goalkeeper in the tournament. Not bad for a ‘kid’.
“The goalkeeper was Carlo Cudicini – the season before he was elected the player of the season…”
Pesky facts: He had actually been named player of the season two years before; Cech was signed because Cudicini had missed 12 Premier League games in 2003/04 through injury.
“…and the first game of the season was Chelsea against Manchester United and I decided to leave out our player of the season before, and play a kid that nobody would know how to even say his name because Petr Cech was quite difficult to say.”
Pesky facts: Cudicini had suffered an elbow injury in pre-season so Cech played in all the friendlies in the summer of 2004. Playing the ‘kid’ – who had just been named goalkeeper of the tournament at Euro 2004, remember – was so uncontroversial that it was not mentioned in any match reports from that game.
“After that everything was about him. My influence was zero.”
Pesky fact: The mic has been dropped.
Check out this guy
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has won his first six games as Manchester United manager. You may have heard. But do you know what is better than winning six games as Manchester United manager?
‘Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer WILL move out of the Lowry… unlike Jose Mourinho who stayed there for two and a half years!’ – MailOnline.
‘Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer reveals plans to leave The Lowry Hotel’ – Manchester Evening News.
What a genuine f***ing hero.
Worst capitals ever?
‘Man Utd boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer reveals what he REALLY thinks about Jose Mourinho’ – Daily Express website.
And it turns out he REALLY thinks he is a “fantastic manager”. REALLY.
Slam dung
‘OLE GUNNAR SOLKSJAER has slammed Alexis Sanchez for contributing to his own injury nightmare at Manchester United’ – Sun Online.
And there we were thinking that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was the dullest man in Manchester.
What the hell has he said?
“Maybe in the Reading game at half-time he should have told me to come off because the next 15 or 20 mins were a setback.”
Slammed.
The Big Four
How do you sell a frankly terrible press conference?
‘Unbeaten Solskjaer all smiles after Man United caretaker boss is asked to respond to axed Mourinho after he appeared to take swipe at Pogba.’
Daily Mirror website, we reluctantly salute you. That is some seriously tasty SEO shit right there.
Inside job
Mediawatch is happy (ish) to credit Neil Ashton for refusing to be a hypocrite in condemning Marcelo Bielsa, but we cannot allow his Friday Sun column – billed as ‘the inside track on football’s big stories’ – to pass without comment.
‘To get the gig full-time, Solskjaer will need a transfer strategy and a firm idea on the way forward – making sure they are in the mix at the business end of the season.
‘That was always Sir Alex Ferguson’s target, making sure United had a chance of silverware with a strong finish to the campaign.’
‘Inside track’. As an outsider, Mediawatch had no idea.
Pay rise
Alex Terrell, The Sun Online, January 17: ‘AARON RAMSEY has signed his contract at Juventus after having his medical last week, according to reports…According to Fabrizio Romano, Ramsey has already put pen to paper on a deal thought to be worth over £200,000 a week, including bonuses.’
Alex Terrell, The Sun Online, January 18: ‘AARON RAMSEY will earn £300,000-a-week at Juventus and become the second-highest paid British footballer in history, reports claim.’
To be fair, £300,000 a week is ‘worth over £200,000 a week’.
Recommended reading of the day
Tony Evans goes to Mansfield and Stoke in search of football’s lads
Daniel Storey on Marko Arnautovic