Twitter, the go-to place for knee-jerk reactions and hastily conceived conclusions, can be an uncompromising battle ground at the best of times but for a high-profile player who has had a bad time of it in a big game, the minutes after the final whistle can be especially brutal. All the more so when the player in question is a sucker for social media marketing and self-promotion.
So Paul Pogba, inevitably, was not going to escape lightly after his latest listless performance for Manchester United in their 1-0 FA Cup quarter-final defeat at Stamford Bridge on Monday night, when the world’s most expensive player’s struggles were amplified by the relentless brilliance of his compatriot and match-winner, N’Golo Kanté, in Chelsea’s midfield.
“MISSING PERSON. Name: Paul Pogba. Age: 23 years. Last season: At the Barber’s shop,” read one tweet, poking fun at the Frenchman’s disappearing act and curious obsession with changing his haircut every other week, when the minutes spent undergoing another radical dye treatment could probably be put to better use elsewhere.
“A player worth £89 million and Paul Pogba,” read another tweet below a picture of the United midfielder with Kanté, whose £32 million fee is roughly a third of what Pogba cost United.
Even Michael Vaughan, the former England cricket captain, got in on the act. “I think United should have played Pogba …… !!!!!!!” Vaughan tweeted, one of numerous messages that suggested it was easy to forget Pogba had been playing. Another tweet read: “The closest Pogba has been to greatness” next to a picture of him embracing Kanté.
But it is that image, coupled with one of Pogba also laughing and smiling as he hugged Antonio Conte, the Chelsea manager and his former coach at Juventus, moments earlier, that irked even Pogba’s supporters and sparked debate among United fans. Some saw nothing wrong with the sight of Pogba enthusiastically embracing a former manager and international team-mate. Others looked at Pogba, all smiles, and wondered what Roy Keane would have thought, questioning whether the defeat hurt enough and, at the very least, suggesting he could have waited until he was in the tunnel, out of sight.
This is the problem when a player bought for an exorbitant sum is enduring a run of bad form and his team have lost. The spotlight will almost always fall on him, sometimes unfairly, but Pogba does not help himself with his willingness to draw attention to himself with his chameleon like appearance and shameless flogging of Brand Pogba. Moreover, against Chelsea, he did not help himself one bit with a display that was a masterclass in indifference and in keeping with his failure to influence or dominate a big game. Pogba’s critics have had fun comparing his limp, lethargic showing to that of Kanté, who should be exhausted by all that running but, on the contrary, seems to have an exhaustive supply of energy, but they did not need to look that far.
The effort and endeavour of the likes of Antonio Valencia and Ashley Young, Phil Jones and (stamp on Eden Hazard aside) Marcos Rojo, not to mention Marcus Rashford, who ran himself into the ground despite illness, shamed Pogba’s fitful contribution. He could have made a much better job of trying to close down Kanté for his goal, but as difficult as United’s task became with 10 men once Ander Herrera was dismissed after 35 minutes for a second yellow card, Pogba just constantly seemed on the fringes of the play, trotting around aimlessly in circles as the ball routinely bypassed him while team-mates sought manfully to do the dirty work. And when opportunity did knock, he once again fluffed his lines in front of goal, something that has happened too often since the turn of the year, with notable misses against Liverpool, Hull, Bournemouth and others. Pogba's quality should prevail in time at Old Trafford but he is flailing at the moment. He was not signed for his defensive acumen but he is not offering nearly enough going forward.