A Tale of Two Pogbas (Manchester United vs St. Etienne)

In The Presence of Mine Enemy

Welcome Back, Glory Hunters!

This is my first post in a while, well, since my first post... which was months ago. I could give you plenty of reasons for the delay, but the main reason is just who I am as a person.

Now I have got to say that I am furious about last night's match. You might ask me, why? We had our problems, obviously, but we still won 3-0? The reason is because I honestly do not see enough improvement between this side and the one I furiously mashed my keyboard about back in November. Now allow me to lay out my poorly constructed opinions from my armchair in classic rant fashion.

This match was supposed to have a lot of drama, as we could see the two Pogba brothers meet in a passionate competition on the pitch. The hype built for this match up indicated an exciting game, which it sometimes was. Periods of rapid counter attacking from both sides dispersed by periods of  sloppy plays... from both sides. If one word could describe this match, that word would be a "mess".

Zlatan carries Herrera, as well as the team, on his shoulders.

Manchester United started off well at first, keeping the great majority of the possession and scoring a fortunate goal off of Ibra's deflected freekick. As with previous matches, United did not have to defend much, because we had the possession and were on the front foot. After about thirty minutes, however, St. Etienne decided that they also like playing football. When St. Etienne was able to get the ball into United's third, they found incredibly large gaps left by the lack of any defensive midfielder and Antonio Valencia's high position.

I have said this many times, but Herrera a deep lying midfielder does not make. He's got some decent positioning and great communication skills, but little to no ability to tackle or make physical defensive plays. I have also said this many times; Fellaini a decent footballer does not make. He is incredibly static, not technically gifted by any stretch of the imagination, lacks positioning sense in many situations, and is sloppy at anything having to do with defense (or attack for that matter). Fellaini is useful to knock down a ball or grab a spice from the top shelf of a cabinet, but that's about it (his hair also makes a useful duster, for those hard to reach spaces).

Not the defensive midfielder we deserve, but the one that we need... Or at least the one that can play when Carrick is resting.

The lack of a defensive midfielder leaves yards of space between the defensive line and the midfield, space where St. Etienne played with impunity at many points. Also, without a defensive midfielder for cover, the centerbacks were often forced to come out of position to apply pressure on opposition players without anyone covering the space they left behind. Had Blind been in defensive midfield (and Fellaini on the bench), we would have looked much more comfortable during the times when St. Etienne were on the attack. Blind has good positioning sense, decent in a tackle, the stamina of Forrest Gump (minus the pace), and an amazing long and short pass. He has his flaws, but he could make a defensive midfielder that would meet specifications. This would also allow us to bring the young Luke Shawalker back into the fold (I know he's not the greatest leftback, but the potential is definitely there).

Use the force, Luke..

These issues were further compounded by Antonio Valencia's high position, who was exhausted from sprinting back and forth based on who had the ball. When United finally did get the ball back due to good tackles, poor quality in final balls from St. Etienne, or just pure luck, United were, at times, hard pressed to escape pressure in our third due to having no support for the defensive players in the face of St. Etienne pressure. There were few to no outlets far too many times, leading to many turn overs in our own third and throughout the pitch.

When United got back into rhythm and entered back into St. Etienne's third of the field, there was, at times, a lack of movement and energy from players in support of whoever had possession. Our attacking players were often too spread and static except for a few exceptions such as Mata, Zlatan, and Martial making some good runs. Also, our players need to polish their final ball and their finishing. That's all I have to say about that.

Martial was one of our better players this match.

Paul Pogba ended up being one of our best attacking players. While many times he was sloppy and gave away possession, Pogba ended up providing United with the most options going forward. He is a vital creative presence in this United side.

At half-time, Lingard came on for Fellaini. This was a good tactical choice, as United looked more fluid going forward. The space was still left in defense and St. Etienne continued to make good use of it on the counter, but United still manage to hold the lion's share of possession during the match. Jose Mourinho criticized the players for relaxing (Mourinho pls), which is true, but the tactical choices he makes on the teamsheet also directly affect how the team plays. With this same formation and line-up, against a more quality attacking side, United would have been punished badly. We were really saved by some poor quality finishing from St. Etienne and good makeshift defensive work from Smalling and Bailly.

The addition of Rashford to the game also helped United's energy and movement on the attack, but at times we looked disorganized. Who was playing in what position at what time? This led to some obvious confusion for both St. Etienne and our own players, who sometimes struggled to build plays and connect passes.

Bow in the presence of the Zlattrick.. Or is it the Threebrahimavic?

If any positives can be taken out of this game, it is that Zlatan Ibrahimovic, despite moving as quickly as a tectonic plate, is still an amazing striker who will always get you goals. Rashford and Martial both looked good, especially Martial who reveled in a more direct attacking role. United also made  challenges often and all over the pitch, which also hampered us due to the amount of fouls given away and yellow cards issued. We continue to dominate possession and games. If we could clean up a lot of the sloppiness in our overall game, we would begin to start looking like a Champions League team again. More importantly, we could boot Arsenal and Liverpool out of the top four, and is there anything more satisfying than that?

No. No there is not.

See you next week (maybe), Glory Hunters!