da blaze casino： When Manchester United signed Paul Pogba for a world-record transfer fee, they must have known that if he didn’t perform straight away, he’d be seen as a disappointment. The same thing goes for Jose Mourinho. It’s Mourinho who is taking the flak for his young midfielder right now, but who knows how long that will last.
da aposte e ganhe： Is the problem that Pogba simply hasn’t yet found his niche? Or is the problem down to what Mourinho is asking him to do?
Over on the other side of Manchester, it’s been Yaya Toure in the media firing line over his work rate and general performance levels. Yet on his day, he’s unstoppable. Like Mourinho, Manuel Pellegrini’s 4-2-3-1 deployed Toure alongside Fernandinho as a part of the two or in the middle of the three at various points of last season and the season before.
Pellegrini’s rigidity in sticking to a two-man midfield put Toure in a similar position to Pogba. The Ivorian was deployed in various locations in a 4-2-3-1 as Pellegrini seemed of the opinion that Fernandinho and Toure could overpower most three-man midfields. Perhaps Mourinho feels the same about Pogba and Fellaini.
But the position in which Toure found himself last season is the one Pogba now finds himself in: he is chastised for roaming forward and forgetting his defensive duties, but utterly lost if told to stay back.
So maybe he just hasn’t found that niche just yet. After all, Jose Mourinho isn’t the only coach to have found it difficult to get the best out of Pogba in the same system.
In the EURO 2016 final, Pogba was deployed in a holding role alongside Blaise Matuidi as Didier Deschamps hoped that by asking Pogba to be disciplined, he could keep his defence protected whilst allowing Antoine Griezmann to roam in behind the striker.
The result stifled Pogba, who floated around the centre circle like a horse in captivity, not really understanding why he was there or what he was doing.
Earlier on in the tournament, France played with a midfield three to get the best out of Pogba. In the end, however, it was perhaps a straight choice between getting the best out of Pogba or tailoring the system to suit Griezmann. It may seem like a tough choice, but Griezmann will probably be on the Ballon d’Or podium in January. Pogba won’t.
So maybe the problem goes a little bit deeper than finding the best position for Pogba. Maybe the problem is Jose Mourinho, and maybe it’s more complicated.
A year and a half ago, in February 2015, Mourinho was still managing Chelsea and taking them towards the Premier League title. They faced Paris St-Germain in the Champions League, and lost in extra time after a David Luiz header. The first leg of that tie, at the Parc des Princes, is interesting because of the mark it may have made on Mourinho.
PSG’s main attacking threat, however, wasn’t Zlatan Ibrahimovic. It was Matuidi. With Edinson Cavani playing on the left due to Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s presence in the middle, it was Matuidi who took on the role of a central midfielder-come-left winger.
Bursting out of the centre of midfield to help out Maxwell on the left, he allowed Cavani to drift into the middle. This, in turn, allowed Ibrahimovic to do what he does best and drift slightly wider to pin himself to the full-back, where he finds mismatches and dominates. Cavani’s presence in the centre even led to a headed goal for the Uruguayan. The assist from a Matuidi cross.
Was Jose Mourinho marked that night by Matuidi’s ability to turn up on the left and be a threat from wide areas? Was he impressed by the Frenchman’s energy, the fact he could show up on the left whilst ensuring that Chelsea weren’t able to dominate the midfield, too? Is this why Paul Pogba is showing up in similar positions for United this season?
If it is, Mourinho seems to be trying to deploy Pogba in a similar role to Matuidi at PSG, but he also seems to be ignoring the fact that Matuidi could perform that role because he had two midfielders alongside him. Usually, Thiago Motta and Marco Verratti would provide tenacity and culture alongside him. On the night PSG played Chelsea, it was David Luiz who played in the defensive midfield role.
The key factor probably isn’t Matuidi, however, it’s Ibrahimovic. Perhaps by playing Anthony Martial on the left, Mourinho is setting his side up for the same sort of attacking system that saw Ibrahimovic score 113 goals in 122 Ligue 1 games at PSG.
Pogba’s problem so far this season may well be the fact that he’s being asked to curtail some of his most deadly instincts, and looks undisciplined in terms of his tracking back. But even against Watford, Pogba looked uncomfortable in a three-man midfield. That points to a problem settling into a new tactical role, rather than a positional role. The problem is probably more complicated than where Pogba plays – it’s to do with Jose Mourinho telling him how to play.