The Season Thus Far-
Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho had recently confirmed in an interview Paul Pogba had been injured, after picking up his injury. The news had come as a massive blow to the Red Devils, who were trying their best to beat their domestic rivals Manchester City and at that point of time, were more or less even with them.
Pogba arrived at Old Trafford last season for a club and world record fee of €105m and made a huge impact helping the club win the EFL Cup and the Europa League. United are unbeaten so far this season and are on a good run of form, but they will surely miss Pogba in their midfield as he has been one of their most influential players since his arrival.
Speaking to reporters, Mourinho said, “It’s not an injury that I can have the hope I have with [Antonio] Valencia or [Phil] Jones. I have the hope to see them in training.”
“Long-term injuries, I don’t speak about them. Ibra, Pogba, Rojo, I don’t think about these players.”
“We have to train and make decisions after training, but I hope some of the players who couldn’t play in Moscow, maybe not all of them, but some of them [will be back].
“Some will be out. From all the injuries we had, I hope that I can have some players available.”
United, however, came away from Russia with a good result against CSKA Moscow on Wednesday night beating the hosts 4-1 and overcame lowly Crystal Palace 4-0 on Saturday without Pogba. But Mourinho knows that he will miss the French midfielder for a few more competitive games.
The 24-year-old central midfielder limped off the field with a hamstring issue against Basel during their Champions League encounter. Pogba is now expected to miss at least six weeks of football action and faces a race against time to meet fierce rivals, Liverpool in the Premier League.
Mourinho has Marouane Fellaini, Ander Herrera, Nemanja Matic and Henrikh Mkhitaryan at his disposal but the Portuguese boss recognizes the importance of Pogba, especially his dynamism in midfield.
Pogba is a top box-to-box midfielder who can control the game with his passing attributes and defensive work. This season, the former Juventus man has taken his game to another level, scoring goals and creating abundant chances for his teammates.
Editor’s View: The Key Points-
Though Pogba is a top top player, he has still failed to help his team put up a title challenge in the league this far. Though, Manchester City’s top form has a real reason for that too, yet, it can’t be ignored the fact that the Frenchman’s price tag would demand more from him. The incredible win rate that United are displaying with Pogba in their team is a top stat, yet we must not forget that last term, they finished fifth in the league and if they did not win the Europa League back then, they might have not really qualified for the Champions League this term.
Another factor is that, his form has also dropped at crucial times for the Red Devils, which has cost them some big games, which they might have wanted to win and put pressure on their rivals. At the end of the day, no one will bother about what you have done in the past, all that matters is what you do in the present and though the midfield superstar helped his team win titles last term, this season has been nothing great thus far.
For some reason, the Pogba at Juventus was much more mightier than the one we see at Old Trafford today. Maybe, it’s just me or maybe, something is different.
