If you are one of those rare mortals bold enough to have your initials shaved into your hair, said initials dyed gold to contrast the otherwise jet-black follicles that occupy the rest of your head, launch your own Twitter emoji, and have said emoji on display on advertising hoardings all around Old Trafford, all on the same afternoon, you are hardly the shy and retiring type.
Such an ostentatious display all at once needs to be backed up with a once-a-season performance on the pitch though, you would think. In fairness to Paul Pogba, his display against Liverpool last Sunday will live long in the memory. Sadly, though, for the Frenchman for all the wrong reasons.
Defensively Pogba was just awful. His comical marking on Dejan Lovren led to the penalty that gave Liverpool the lead. The United midfielder hopelessly lost the flight of the ball before attempting to head it clear with his eyes shut and his arms up. With better delivery from set pieces in the second half Liverpool could have exploited that mismatch more often.
Pogba was also lucky that the referee missed two blatant fouls on Liverpool players that should have resulted in two yellow cards.
Ouloulou suis devenu un emoji thanks twitter for emojing me, let's <br />have fun and kick some ass at <span>#pogba</span> <span>@manutd</span> <span>@Adidas</span> <span>#neverfollow</span> <span>pic.twitter.com/hDNy64AUpt</span>
The first saw him grapple Jordan Henderson to the ground at a corner, UFC style, and the second clothesline Adam Lallana, WWE style, as the winger looked to break into the box after Liverpool had set up a lightning counter-attack, seizing on a loose pass from ... Pogba.
A bad day at the office happens to the best of us. Pogba’s just happened to occur against United’s bitter rivals in their biggest match of the season on a day when he was conspicuous as much by his failings on the pitch as he was by his appearance on it.
Pogba re-signed for United from Juventus last summer four seasons after departing. He had undergone a renaissance in Turin, and his return to Old Trafford for a world-record £89 million (Dh402m) fee represented one quarter of the club’s recruitment under new manager Jose Mourinho that was supposed to herald a new dawn at English football’s most winningest club after the fallow years following Alex Ferguson’s retirement in 2013.
Much was made of Pogba’s performances for France at the European Championship in the summer. He was the ire for much of his countryman’s frustrations but his performances were nowhere near as bad as the flak he copped.
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Didier Deschamps’s constanst shuffling of his midfield and the exceptional form of Dimitri Payet and N’Golo Kante hardly helped Pogba’s cause, but to say he failed to make a mark on a tournament his French team would reach the final of, eventually losing to Portugal, is to ignore his scheming, dribbling, passing and vision that helped get them there in the first place.
So far United have only seen flashes of the brilliance that prompted United to break the transfer record for the 23-year-old Frenchman, but anyone who saw Pogba during his relatively young pomp for Juventus between 2012-16 knows they have a gem on their hands. A gazelle who glides across the pitch, and arguably the best striker of a ball anywhere in Europe.
The alchemy between Pogba and Zlatan Ibrahimovic – another big-name recruit but without a hefty price tag to weigh him down – is close to transforming into pure gold, too. The pair communicate almost telepathically, relying on subtle glances and head movements to indicate what comes next. An elixir guaranteed to bring plenty of goals to this United team.
Pogba is drawn to his totemic teammate, and the Swede probably sees plenty of himself in the young Frenchman’s braggadocio that has long characterised his own career at some of Europe’s superpowers.
If Pogba can summon the sort of outlandish creativity his barber and teammate are capable of on a more consistent basis, United will look back on their exorbitant investment as small change.
[ sluckings@thenational.ae ]
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