Play Gibson Or Lose Pogba? A Simple Choice.
It’s simple right? Paul Pogba being the midfield saviour we need should easily find a place in front of the awful Darron Gibson?
Whilst John Bains’ blog doesn’t break it down in terms as crude as this, the title says it all and this was the overlying feeling most had.
Pogba is apparently stalling on signing a new contract due to lack of first team chances, something that perplexed many fans.
We’ve all seen Pogba in some capacity, be it the outstanding highlights you can now find of him on YouTube, live in the flesh, the cameos he has made for the first team or at reserve level on MUTV. It is undeniable he is capable of brilliance, we have all seen it but on Wednesday we and he got a sharp reminder of footballing reality.
The game has changed.
In this day and age players are expected to be fully fledged stars by 18/19, it is the reason people were writing off Nani a few seasons ago. Players are no longer afforded time to develop properly because of the emergence of young prodigies who against the odds are able hold their own when thrown into the deep end.
It is then expected that all talented youngsters should be able to do so, completely ignoring the fact that people let a lone players develop at different rates.
There was an expectation that Pogba would be the player to solve our midfield problems. He clearly has the ability, but truth be told in his first team cameos this season he hasn’t displayed this.
Firstly let me say this isn’t a knock on Pogba, it is quite unrealistic to expect an 18 year old to step into central midfield and become some sort of general. It is often stated that the position is one of the hardest positions to play so to thrust all of our hopes onto him is being quite unfair.
I agree with Sir Alex’s tactic of gently easing him into the team, it allows him to become familiar with not only team mates but also the routine. Having him train with the first team, including him in match day squads and travelling parties even if he doesn’t make it into the starting XI or onto the bench serves a purpose (even if it does act as a teaser to us as fans!) and if he does remain with us it will benefit him in the long term.
I think you’ll find Pogba is stalling just like every other footballer because he wants more money!