“Let’s not get carried away”
Graeme Souness has criticised Paul Pogba yet again.
The Manchester United midfielder has been in sensational form over the last two months, helping Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side shoot back up the table after the dour final months of Jose Mourinho’s reign.
In his last nine games for United, Pogba has scored eight goals and registered five assists – an incredible return for a midfielder. He was also a key part of the France team that won the World Cup in Russia last summer.
However, Souness still isn’t convinced.
Souness, writing in his column for The Sunday Times ahead of United’s game with Liverpool, has urged football fans not to get carried away with Pogba’s impressive form.
The Sky Sports pundit claims that the Frenchman’s display against Paris Saint-Germain – when he was sent-off as United lost 2-0 – should dampen any excitement about Pogba’s impressive form.
“The stats show that United are running more than they were previously, putting in the hard yards for the new manager in terms of closing down and sprinting back, all the stuff that they weren’t doing for Mourinho. I was critical of Paul Pogba, in particular, but was I wrong?
“Look at the difference in him between then and now, and let’s not get carried away either: he never got a kick against PSG, then showed his frustration by lunging at Dani Alves and being sent off.”
So, Souness is effectively dismissing Pogba’s sensational form over the last two months to focus on his shortcomings in one game.
Yet, in the very next paragraph, he goes on to state that Solskjaer should already have been made the permanent Manchester United manager because he has won 11 of his 13 games as caretaker coach.
Souness gives Solskjaer the benefit of the doubt for the PSG result, saying that, regardless of who the United manager was on the night, they would not have beaten the French champions.
He then says that Solskjaer “seems a proper lad.”
“Victory this afternoon would also strengthen Solskjaer’s case for becoming the manager permanently, although I’d give it to him now anyway, as 11 wins from 13 games is title-winning form. The only blemish is a Champions League defeat by PSG, but I reckon that would have happened if Mauricio Pochettino or anybody else had been in charge, as they met a very good side that night. I’ve only met Solskjaer a couple of times, but he seems a proper lad and you want nice things to happen to nice people.”
So, according to Souness, Pogba may have been brilliant in almost every match under Solskjaer, but because he had one poor game in that time, people shouldn’t get carried away.
Yet, fans should get carried away with Solskjaer and he should be confirmed as the manager of the world’s richest club as anyone can do poorly in a match against PSG and the Norwegian seems like a “proper lad”.
One is given the benefit of the doubt for a poor performance in a game because of his overall record. We’re told not to carried away about the overall form of the other because of a poor performance in one game.
