Forget the fact that Paul Pogba had played for Manchester United in the past, it was always going to take time for him to bed back in at Old Trafford.

The fact is that Pogba left United in 2012, still a precocious teen who had yet to breakout of the United youth team.

He had to depart for Italy and Juventus to get that all elusive first-team football.

At Juve, he’d seize his opportunity and became a world renowned star. His stunning performances for ‘Vecchia Signora’ made him a well wanted commodity.

As we all know, Paul would end up back at United in a mega £89m deal.

But things have changed drastically since his first stint at the club.

The club are no longer the swaggering champions they were in 2012. They’re a club in yet another transitional period with David Moyes and Louis van Gaal failing to guide the club back to title winning ways.

While a lot of the first-teamers that were keeping Pogba out of the team in 2012 have departed, not many of his youth teammates have made the progression into the United first team. In fact I think it has only been Jesse Lingard that’s now in the senior team from that youth set-up.

So it’s not as if Paul Pogba was returning to a side that he knew well from his previous time at the club.

The United first team that he walked into this summer have either just arrived at the club or have suffered from seasons of underachieving.

It has taken new boss Jose Mourinho a few months to get the best from his group of players.

Pogba initially looked unsure and confused about his role at the club.

Things look to have changed recently with Mourinho seemingly more settled with his best first eleven.

The French midfielder has looked comfortable in the left-side of a three man midfield. It allows him the creative freedom to venture forward and try and dictate the game from there.

He’s not short of self confidence and that has become more apparent as his form improves. It always seems to help when he has the ever dependable Michael Carrick in beside him. Carrick offers the whole team a calming influence and vital winning experience that connects this side with the Fergie teams of the past.

Against Crystal Palace last night, the twenty-three year old was looking like a conductor setting the tone for his team to put on a tremendous symphony.

He would score one, set-up another and bag himself the man of the match award as United beat Palace 2-1 at Selhurst Park.

A lot of his passes showed superb skill and vision to create something special for his teammates, with Zlatan Ibrahimovic being the main benefactor for Pogba’s keen eye to provide.

I always like players that seem to glide around a football pitch and just ease past opponents. The master of it in my generation was Zinedine Zidane and Pogba also possess these qualities.

It sometimes looks too easy for the French internationalist and that at times means that he loses concentration and will play a sloppy pass, which should have been easy for a player with his calibre.

As his performances have grown and improved, so to has United’s.

Zlatan has been banging in the goals and another new boy Henrikh Mkhitaryan has also started to settle into the life of a Premier League star.

While Paul has done well scoring five goals and creating three assists so far this term, you can see that he can improve further.

Jose would probably prefer it if he could be better in the tackle (he’s already picked up six yellows in the league) and will want a greater passing success percentage than his current 84% average.

But the signs are good that the midfielder is fast becoming the influential, dominant force that forced Man United to fork out £89m to bring him back to Manchester.

if he can continue with this vast improvement then you could possibly see Paul Pogba help lift his side back into the Premier League’s top four!

 

Posted on December 15th, 2016 by scott
Filed under: Article