As Manchester United bowed out of the Europa League last night, it was with a whimper rather than a bang.
Losing both legs of the tie with an aggregate score of 5-3, the games will give Sir Alex lots to think about. We were handily out played by an Athletic Bilbao side who played fast slick passes when in possession of the ball and ferociously pressed and pressured us when not.
There were few positives to take out the game last night, Rooney continued his goal scoring run with a wonderful curling effort but just as exciting for me was the performance of Paul Pogba.
On his 19th birthday the midfielder stepped into the cauldron that was the San Mames and put in a good performance with all the circumstances considered.
He looked composed and refused to allow himself to be hurried by Atheltic Club, which is more than can be said for a few players last night.
Pogba is a work in progress, whilst very raw you can clearly see the ability he has. Mark this one down as another impressive cameo.
embedded by Embedded Video
YouTube Direkt
goog awesomenes
got a great feeling about this guy..
he is a player we are looking for more than five seasons…great potential midfielder..but still we need two more midfielders (technically gifted)
I reli enjoyd watching dis guy play. He was sooo full of confidence nd composure I tink fergi shud do evritin to keep dis dud
The boy got confidence. For me he is d only positive from d match
The boy is a talent and we need him to sign a new contract soon. He will hopefully continue to get experience from the bench. It’s difficult to start him because every game now is important. The Wolves game is massive and Carrick will play alongside Scholes probably. I would say even Tom Cleverley will struggle to start games now.
The pre-season tour will be big for Pogba though because that is when he will be fully integrated into the first team squad. He will play matches in pre-season and next season he will start the games. He is confident and plays with intelligence which is important. He doesn’t over do things to impress. Bilbao was not an easy game to come into but he did very well.
Paul Pogba did very well against Bilbao, and it was his birthday as well, so it was a nice present to get him on the pitch. He has talent but he needs to remain with Manchester United to fulfil his full potential. The midfield has reached a stage whereby it is being freshened up and Pogba is part of the process.
Next season we will be looking at bring Paul Pogba through and getting him more matches. He doesn’t require a loan spell because he has developed physically strong already. He needs to keep growing and working on his game, but the next 18 months will be massive. He will grow, gain experience and get better in the next few months,
I hope he doesn’t get struck down with injuries like Cleverley and Anderson have this season. The most frustrating aspect of this season has been those two being injured and not dominating the centre of midfield like they did at the start. Anderson is still only 23 but his injury record is really bad. He has not played enough football in his Man Utd career. He hasn’t managed to play 20 Premier League games in any season of his 5 years.