Paul Pogba did not last too long at Old Trafford on Tuesday night but it was long enough to tick Graeme Souness off.
The French midfielder has had his ups and downs since joining Manchester United but he ended 2016/17 well and took that form, and confidence, into the new season.
Given the honour of captaining United against FC Basel in their Champions League opener, Pogba tipped away for 18 minutes until a hamstring tweak ended his involvement. Jose Mourinho told reporters, post-match, that he may be without his midfielder for a few weeks.
Souness was not impressed, though, with Pogba’s contribution during his 18 minutes on the pitch.
The former Liverpool manager was on punditry duty for TV3 and he had some harsh truths for the £89.6m midfielder. Souness highlighted a passage of play where Pogba attacked down the right wing, lost possession and remained there for over a minute until United won the ball back and it came out his way.
The Scot feels Pogba should look to teammate Marouane Fellaini, who headed home the opener in the 3-0 victory, as an example of how to be an effective centre midfielder. He commented:
“I want to see Paul Pogba do what Fellaini does.”
Effectively, Souness wants to see Pogba pose a more attacking threat and using his size and strength to win headers in the box. He was not finished there, however.
Describing Pogba as ‘a bit of a YouTuber’, Souness claimed the four-time Serie A winner with Juventus has not won much in the game. Needless to say, the response from fans was swift:
https://twitter.com/BPM_8_/status/907715407506800640
https://twitter.com/StephenFox92/status/907674289553494016
Hard to believe that Souness thinks #Fellaini is a bigger threat than #pogba really @TV3Ireland #MUFC #MUFCFCB
— Alan Sinclair (@Alan7Sinclair) September 12, 2017
https://twitter.com/michaeloh06/status/907708628651663365
There’s rarely a dull moment where Souness and Fancy Dan players are involved.
