#2 Pogba’s performance and early injury
Paul Pogba who seems to be buckling under the gauntlet of the ‘World’s Most Expensive Player’ tag, but he was perhaps one of United’s better players in the first 30 minutes of the game, but mind you United were very poor. The midfielder has attracted intense criticism from football fans across the world over the course of his first 4 months back playing for Manchester United.
Whether it is his failure to adapt to the rigors of Premier League football or his “disappearance” in games throughout this season, or if it is, in fact, a case of burnout after the Euros as his France teammate Hugo Lloris pointed out, Pogba has simply been below the level of performance many expected of him.
He has shown flashes of brilliance at times and has even scored 3 goals but this is not the same player that played so exceptionally well for Juventus. In this game, he showed glimpses of starting attacks and battling in midfield for the ball but failed to do anything noteworthy or create any significant chances and was injured after 26 minutes.
He tried to play on despite the knock but eventually had to limp off after 30 minutes to be replaced by Zlatan Ibrahimovic. The severity of his injury remains to be seen but here are some United fan’s thoughts with some suggesting that this was a good thing.
