11 Mar 2018 22:03:07
The biggest bonus for me about the victory on Saturday was that we found a way to win and find a formation and selection that works when pogba doesn’t play. In the games earlier in the season when he got injured we were shockingly laboured and slow in our transition from defence to attack. Lukaku’s hold up play is key and mata’s Creativity helped us with pogba not playing. Great to see and credit to Jose and the players. Dare I say Jose is looking less depressing and seems more relaxed and happy in his role as united manager.

1.) 11 Mar 2018
11 Mar 2018 22:54:08
Park - I can't believe I'm saying this but I think there's an argument that if Jose wants to play 4-2-3-1 we might have a more balanced and effective team if Pogba doesn't play in the big games, especially now we've got Sanchez. I had a feeling his absence yesterday might not have been the disaster we all feared.

I think now we've got Sanchez we can afford to have two defensive midfielders and Pogba's absence won't be felt so strongly.

Don't get me wrong Pogba is an amazing talent, he's my favourite player and we'll still need his creatively against teams that surrender possession and defend deep but in the big games he simply has to be more disciplined and do his job for the team when deployed in a two man midfield. He can't keep vacating the midfield and leaving Matic isolated.

2.) 11 Mar 2018
11 Mar 2018 22:57:48
Loved Jose's post-match reaction on Sky, said something along the lines of 'i don't care what they (pundits) say' camera then proceeds fo Souness' incredibly bitter face, so satisfying😂😂😂!

3.) 11 Mar 2018
11 Mar 2018 23:20:24
Danny, interesting question you raise about Pogba, but I think you may have gone a bit too far. It is one thing to say we can play well without him, but I think saying he should be left out of big games is too much, given his talent. Not sure if that is what you meant.

But tactically you raise a very important question. Pogba has not been disciplined enough defensively as a DCM in the 4-2-3-1. So the question remains: can he develop that discipline against stronger opponents or should Mourinho develop him as the #10? I still think he is a more natural central midfielder than a #10. But he needs to straighten himself out soon, since he looks far more interested when we have the ball than when we don't.

4.) 11 Mar 2018
11 Mar 2018 23:29:17
Interesting and valid point Danny. If it's going to be 4231 in the big games then it has been shown repeatedly that pogba is not the right man to play in that two.

5.) 11 Mar 2018
11 Mar 2018 23:47:53
Danny my thoughts exactly mate. Pogba is a supreme talent and I feared we would struggle but we looked very balanced yesterday. In previous weeks Sanchez and pogba have occupied the same spaces on the pitch and it hasn’t really worked. I think it’s a good problem to have and I think Jose has potentially found a way to to set up in big games now. Playing two defensive midfielders gave us a solid base to work from which we haven’t had in a lot of games this season.

Scholes it was hilarious Souness is such a salty bitter man. He never has anything positive to say about united and Jose mocking him was hilarious. Dare I say this is the first time i'm seeing a bit of the old Jose from his first spell at Chelsea. It’s not always pretty but we are very resilient and for the first time in years I felt connected to this united team. Win our next two games and anything is possible.

6.) 12 Mar 2018
12 Mar 2018 07:48:03
Zidaniel - Sorry I'm not saying he should be left out only that an argument could be made and your right one good result doesn't mean we're better off without him but he must find a way of influencing the big games.

I've always had the feeling that Jose preferred formation is 4-2-3-1 but he's changed this regularly, in my opinion mainly due to to not having a consistent No 10 and arguments raging about Pogba's best position.

I get the impression that now we've got Sanchez he might just have settled on 4-2-3-1 with Sanchez as his No 10.

Jred has posted a few times that maybe Pogba and Sanchez play in similar areas and Park has just posted similar. At first I didn't buy it but from the few games in which they've played together they both roam around the pitch looking to get on the ball which causes us all kinds of problems defensively especially if you add Mata and Lingard into the equation.

In a 4-3-3 Sanchez has often dropped deep occupying Pogba's position on the left and it hasn't quite worked just yet. Maybe this is just teething problems?

Maybe a settled formation might be good for Pogba. No more excuses, no more debates, no more question marks about his role. This is your position now do your job for the team otherwise somebody else will.

It's very early days yet and we beat Chelsea playing 4-3-3 although I argued at the time it was more of a 4-3-1-2 so who knows.

I just wish we could get Pogba playing more consistently and put all this to bed. There is no doubt we're a much better team with an in form Pogba in the lineup.

7.) 12 Mar 2018
12 Mar 2018 12:08:25
I agree with that, Danny, I see Pogba learning to play the def center mid role in the 4-2-3-1 and the left center mid in a 4-3-3. One issue is him being disciplined in the first case, and secondly he and Sanchez not getting in each other's way. Both problems are very solvable, in the big picture.