Former Manchester United star Paul Scholes has called on Jose Mourinho to sign a controlling midfielder to play alongside Paul Pogba, who he described as “all over the place at times” during the club’s Europa League defeat at the hands of Feyenoord in Rotterdam.
Feyenoord are no Man City, but United made them look so much better than they were.
And for Pogba, the world’s most expensive player, this was another underwhelming performance, the £89 million man outshone by Karim El Ahmadi and goalscorer Tonny Vilhena in midfield.
Scholes, who was watching the game as a pundit for BT Sport, believes Pogba doesn’t have the necessary discipline to command the United midfield yet and runs around like he doesn’t know what position he’s supposed to be playing in.
“It’s been a little bit of a struggle for him so far,” said Scholes. “This, again, wasn’t his best performance. I think it will come. It’s still very early days.
‘I don’t really know what position he’s playing at the minute. Has he got a position? Has he been told to play where he wants? He seems to be a little all over the place at times. I think he’s trying to do too much on the ball.
“He’s trying to beat three or four players. He’s running with the ball. He should keep it simple for now. That’s not the player Manchester United bought. They didn’t buy a Lionel Messi to go and beat five players and stick it in the top corner all the time. They bought a powerful, strong midfield player who can take the ball. He’s got skill, he can pass it forward, he can run.
“If he just plays one-two touch, sticks the ball into Zlatan (Ibrahimovic) and runs, nobody can live with that. He’s got so much pace, so much power.’
“He needs a controlling midfield player next to him. They probably need to go into the transfer market for somebody like that. Michael (Carrick) is capable of it. But they still need that controlling midfielder, who can control where Paul goes and can control a game of football.
“I know he’s (Mourinho) happy with the four players he’s bought but they still need that type of player. A Luka Modric or a Toni Kroos. I think these players are available. I think Paul Pogba would be a much better player playing with these types of players.”
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