After a summer full of rumours and speculation – the deal has finally been completed. Paul Pogba is once again a Manchester United player, with the Reds paying the biggest transfer fee in history to bring the Frenchman back to Old Trafford.
United vice-chairman Ed Woodward deserves praise after some tough negotiating with Juventus, while the Reds’ marketing department will no doubt be relishing the fact that the club have secured the services of the most marketable young player in football today.
However, with the transfer fee comes expectation and José Mourinho will definitely be under pressure to get the best out of the midfielder while getting United back into Premier League title contention at the same time.
Pogba is definitely one of the best midfield talents of his generation, but he is a player that needs the right balance around him to thrive at the moment – unlike the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, who can change games at will even though their teams are underperforming.
So, the question now is: will Mourinho shoehorn Pogba into the 4-2-3-1 formation United have mostly deployed in pre-season, or will the Special One adapt take a leaf out of his own book and play 4-3-3, the formation that was so successful during his first spell at Chelsea?
4-2-3-1:
At the moment, it’s looking more and more like Mourinho will start his reign at Old Trafford by playing 4-2-3-1, with a plethora of options for the Portuguese manager to choose from up top.
With Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Henrikh Mkhitaryan joining an already stacked United attack with the likes of Wayne Rooney, Anthony Martial, Marcus Rashford, Juan Mata, Jesse Lingard and Memphis Depay, it is all but likely that the Reds will have to play three attacking midfielders behind Ibrahimovic, therefore leaving two spots in midfield to fill.
Pogba will occupy one of those spots, with a defensively-minded midfielder alongside him – whether it be Michael Carrick, Morgan Schneiderlin, Daley Blind or even Marouane Fellaini. However, here’s where the problems begin if Mourinho ultimately decides to start with this formation and they were evident when Pogba played in this system with France at Euro 2016.
Pogba played alongside Blaise Matuidi (a far more superior player to the likes of Carrick and Schneiderlin) in the knockout stages of the tournament and struggled to make an impact in the early stages of the first two knockout encounters, despite scoring a bullet header against Iceland in the quarter-finals. The defensive responsibility placed upon him by Didier Deschamps seemed to shackle him and it was only until the second half of the semi-final against Germany that Pogba started to shine, playing a superb assist for Antoine Griezmann’s second goal.
4-3-3:
That was only because Deschamps decided to change France’s shape, having started with a 4-2-3-1. With Pogba and Matuidi being overrun in the midfield by the German trio of Emre Can, Toni Kroos and United man Bastian Schweinsteiger, the French manager decided to bring N’Golo Kante on to bring some semblance of control back to Les Bleus. It worked.
With Kante taking over most of the defensive responsibilities from Pogba, he was freed from his shackles to do what he does best – driving forward to join the attack and play the perfect final ball, which he did for Griezmann’s second goal.
Pogba has also thrived in a three-man midfield for the past couple of years at club level as well – since his arrival at Juventus, both Antonio Conte and Massimiliano Allegri have both played 3-5-2 formations with three men in midfield. Although the Frenchman has been deployed as the deepest of the three, he has spent most of his time as one of the advanced two, with the likes of Andrea Pirlo, Arturo Vidal, Claudio Marchisio and Sami Khedira alongside and behind him.
And last season was Pogba’s best season yet in Turin. The Frenchman ranked in the top 20 in Serie A for goals, shots, assists, chance creation, through balls, tackles and successful dribbles, as Juventus romped home to a fourth consecutive Serie A title. Those stats tell you everything you need to know about Pogba – he is slowly evolving into the complete player.
However, the main question now is – do United have the quality of players to complement Pogba? If you want to use Pogba as the main driver of play and complete creative freedom in a midfield three, you’re going to have to balance it out with two players that can defend well. Although the likes of Schneiderlin, Carrick and Fellaini are all competent at defending, they all have weaknesses that can be exploited pretty easily.
Starting with a midfield trio also means that one of the front four will have to be sacrificed. With Ibrahimovic also certain to start, it means that Rooney is most at risk at being dropped – even though he is the Manchester United captain.
Roy Hodgson didn’t take that risk at the Euros – instead putting Rooney in the midfield trio as England infamously crashed out against Iceland in the round of 16, but it is a role that Rooney has expressed interest in playing as he winds down his career. Although Mourinho has emphatically ruled out his captain playing deeper under his management in public, he could yet change his mind.
Conclusion:
Big things will be expected of Pogba immediately, given his enormous price tag, but those lofty expectations may have to be tempered a bit, as United don’t yet have the quality of midfielders to complement the Frenchman, unlike Juventus.
However, if Mourinho wants to get the best out of Pogba at present, his best bet is to play three in midfield, even if it means sacrificing Rooney or even shoehorning his captain in the middle of the park alongside the most expensive player in football history.
Comments.
Loading comments…