Football
The sense you get from the top of Manchester United is that their
spending is now done until next summer. The strategy when it comes to the
January window is only to act if an opportunity unexpectedly becomes available
and the solitary transactions in the past two winters have been Juan Mata
(£37.1m) and Victor Valdes on a free. Nothing feels different this time around.
And so it is that the missing United component in a Manchester
derby performance which offered substantial grounds for encouragement must come
from within. Which is to say - on-field leadership at the back of the team
which allows United to deal with the threat they are facing. The man who can
deliver it – and who has most to learn from a sobering Manchester derby
experience – is Paul Pogba.
The £89m has been paid and though we all know very well what he
delivers on the ball, we will now learn more about his ability to be an
organiser and the core of the team’s intelligence: what the Spanish like to
call the centro neuralcico (brain centre).
Positionally, Pogba struggled on Saturday. As Michael Cox states
in an excellent analysis, he was caught ahead of the ball when City won
possession back and that left Marouane Fellaini exposed as Pepe Guardiola’s
players drove ahead at pace.
Pogba won’t have been the first new United defender to find his
first big challenge a difficult one. Patrice Evra famously described the
experience of playing City akin to being “in a washing machine” after his debut
against the same side in 2006 and lasted 45 minutes. Sir Alex Ferguson pulled
him out of the fray at half time and as Evra later described it: “He told me
off, told me to sit down, watch English football and learn.” Evra went on to be
one of the great leaders of the United defence, adored by Old Trafford for his
intelligence, passion and drive.
The money paid out for Pogba needs to buy the same qualities.
Mourinho complained after the game that his defenders had ignored his
instructions by playing to “the first station” – by which he meant: passing the
ball straight and short out of defence to a midfield which was then pressed out
of possession. But a side with a leader at the hub of the team would not allow
that to happen twice.
A leader would have been commanding United to go long to Zlatan
Ibrahimovich and so beat the press.
Pogba is a mere 23 and he will have far easier games than
Saturday’s to develop his immense talent. He knows now that the Premier League
is bigger than him, not vice versa.
Ian Herbert
But what Mourinho will also be looking for is a Pogba who will
command the space in front of the defence and know instinctively when to stay
and go – because that decision is fundamental to facing Pep Guardiola’s sides.
That was precisely the area of the field that worried Ferguson
when United played Barcelona in the 2009 Champions League final in Rome. Rio
Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic were at an age when their preference was to defend
the space. But Ferguson always felt that with the threat in front of the
defence it was imperative to be more dynamic and to get into that area Lionel
Messi occupies. Barcelona eclipsed United than night.
In an earlier generation, Ferguson looked for a way of dealing
with Steve McManaman in the 1996 FA Cup Final against Liverpool. McManaman was
a difficult customer because he floated behind the forwards and was difficult
to pick up. Ferguson described years later how Eric Cantona had suggested that
Roy Keane be dropped in front of the back four to deal with him. Ferguson’s
willingness to hear Cantona and employ what he suggested spoke for the quality
of his man management.
Pogba is a mere 23 and he will have far easier games than
Saturday’s to develop his immense talent. He knows now that the Premier League
is bigger than him, not vice versa. The fascination will be in watching if and
how it helps him and his game to grow.
Credit: The Independent
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