The midfielder struggled throughout Tuesday’s thrilling Champions League draw, inviting harsh criticism
Former Manchester United stars Paul Scholes and Rio Ferdinand expressed their disappointment with Paul Pogba following the Reds’ 2-2 draw against Atalanta, claiming that the midfielder’s performance was “not good enough”.
United trailed twice in Bergamo but came back to earn a point in the Champions League with Cristiano Ronaldo hitting both equalisers, the last of which came deep into stoppage time in the second half
But it was far from a vintage display from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s charges, and Pogba in particular came in for some harsh criticism.
What was said?
“I thought he took liberties a few times, he was a bit sloppy. Sometimes you just need to be told ‘sharpen up, play one or two touch’,” Ferdinand told BT Sport after the game.
“He needs to be telling himself that he didn’t do well enough. There are not those [critical] conversations going on in our changing room.
“There’s not a player in the world that starts every game perfectly.”
Scholes added: “He needs somebody talking to him all the time, someone there who he totally respects and is experienced.
“He is a really experienced player but he will get to 35 and will be doing the same stupid stuff – stud-rolling the ball and people know it.
“The biggest thing with the player is his concentration – he goes away with the fairies sometimes.
“At Juventus he was excellent and that’s why we signed him but you look at [players around him] – [Andrea] Pirlo, [Giorgio] Chiellini, [Gianluigi] Buffon, an aggressive manager, telling him all the time and he will need that kind of treatment until he is 35.”
The bigger picture
Pogba began the 2021-22 season in blistering fashion, notching seven assists in United’s first four Premier League matches as the Reds came storming out the blocks.
But he has struggled to keep up that early promise, and had started just one of the club’s last five games prior to Tuesday’s return to the first XI.
His future at Old Trafford has also once more come under scrutiny, with Real Madrid and Juventus both reportedly in the chase to sign him on a free transfer next summer should he decline to sign a new deal.
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