Paul Pogba wants a transfer somewhere, anywhere, that isn't Manchester United — The Warm-Up
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Updated 08/12/2020 at 12:41 GMT
We're used to Paul Pogba's agent stirring things up at Manchester United, though this time it all sounds very final. Neil Lennon, on the other hand, is still somehow clinging on by his fingertips and staying put in his job at Celtic. And there's World Cup qualifying just around the corner. That's exciting.
Paul Pogba of Manchester United in action during a first team training session ahead of the UEFA Champions League Group H stage match between Manchester United and RB Leipzig at Red Bull Arena
Image credit: Getty Images
Paul Pogba Is Not Happy
Paul Pogba is a wonderful footballer. He can do things with a jumped-up pig's bladder that make defences collapse and crowds gasp: he can score goals, he can make goals, he can break games wide open with one swing of his lanky right leg. He should be one of the most thrilling, exciting, interesting footballers in the world.
As such, it is a small tragedy that his presence in all of our lives has become so painfully, desperately boring.
But it's not The Warm-Up's world; we just live here. It's Mino Raiola's world, and so Pogba lives not in ooohs and aaahs but in transfer rumours, in this on-rolling saga of misery and woe. He's dissatisfied. We're dissatisfied. Everybody's dissatisfied. Here's Raiola:
Paul is unhappy with Man United as he is no longer able to express himself in the way that he would like and as he is expected to. Paul needs a new team, a change of air […] I think that the best solution for both Pogba and Man United is that he goes in the next transfer window. If not, the Old Trafford club know that they risk losing him on a free transfer as it is not Paul's intention to extend his contract.
Is he going to get his move? That likely depends not on United, whose purchase of Van de Beek now looks like sensible insurance against just this development, but on whether any club that might be able to afford him can afford to take the chance. Because it will be a chance, we should be clear about that: there's still talent there, egregious and generous talent, but consistency of form or fitness has long been absent.
Let's hope something gets done. Partly because it's a shame to see talent wasted, and partly because that will give everybody a year off from the relentless grind of the rumour mill. And that goes for Pogba most of all. If we're bored of all this, he must be absolutely sick of it.
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Neil Lennon Is Still Employed
Celtic are winless in five. They are 13 points behind Rangers, albeit with two in hand; they've scored 10 fewer goals while conceding 11 more. And, fun fact: since losing the Old Firm derby on October 17, Neil Lennon has more votes of confidence (two) than Celtic have wins (one).
But all those votes of confidence mean he still has his job. Why? Let Celtic tell you:
The Board has carefully considered the current circumstances and the challenges that we are faced with, not least the pressure on the management and players to deliver the tenth championship in a row that is so important to us all. Equally important is to continue to operate according to our Club’s values. The Board has come to the conclusion that our collective objective is best served by continuing to support Neil and his team as they seek solutions for those challenges.
I suppose you can see the logic there. Lennon is — oh, hang on, there's more.
Neil has the support of the players and staff at the Club. He understands the pressure and the environment. As his outstanding record as a manager, captain and player demonstrates, he knows what it takes to be successful at Celtic and he has delivered success with many of the current squad of players, who understand his method and approach.
Okay. Knowing what it takes is one thing. Being — wait, hang on, we're still going.
Whilst it has been suggested that it is time for a change, at this stage in the season the Board believes that Neil and his management team are best placed to turn the team’s performances around and lead us on to success. The Board continues to work closely with Neil and his team to support them as they seek to do so and progress will be reviewed in the new year.
They go on, too, on and on, but we've run out of space. Spot of advice, lads. Less is more. Otherwise it starts to sound a bit like the people you're really trying to convince, deep down, are yourselves.
The World Cup Is On The Way
And we have the European qualifying groups to prove it. You can find the full details here but the Warm-Up, in the interests of making our future selves look silly, has some predictions.
First, the seedings this time around means we don't have a real Group of Death. We reckon there's the potential for a couple of Groups of Dreadful Hangovers, though. That Denmark, Austria, Scotland, Israel group, for a start. Somebody's losing to the Faroe Islands and getting in a whole heap of trouble.
We've checked the almanac and it's about time that Turkey were good again. They will finish above the Netherlands, who will go through three managers in the campaign and end up with Ronald Koeman back in charge.
Belgium, if they concentrate and keep things tight at the back, might take a point off Wales.
And finally, England. They will lose away to Hungary but will still top the group comfortably. They will not be particularly exciting to watch. You will see that goal, that San Marino goal, that Davide Gualtieri goal, a lot.
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IN OTHER NEWS
We decided not to write about the VAR happening again because we're nice like that. Besides, Southampton's first goal was much more interesting. Some header, and some cross. There's a real chance that if James Ward-Prowse keeps this up, Southampton might become that rarest of rare things: a team that are actually good at corners.
RETRO CORNER
See? Told you. Although honestly our favourite thing about the whole debacle was Jonathan Pearce's commentary on the radio, which isn't online so you'll have to imagine it. In one long, glorious, flowing sentence: "Welcome to Bologna on Capital Gold for England versus San Marino with Tennent’s Pilsner, brewed with Czechoslovakian yeast for that extra Pilsner taste, and England are one down."
HAT TIP
Here's the Guardian's resident Spanish expert Sid Lowe explaining that Barcelona, who look completely stuffed, are in fact completely stuffed. It also includes fascinating details from Cádiz coach Álvaro Cervera on just how his side overcame their notional betters.
It is hard to avoid the feeling that it’s over, that their league season is finished, except maybe a fight for the top four. It’s not just that the gap is big; it is that the team is bad and the club worse, the slow decline accelerating. There is an inescapable sense of dysfunction and disintegration at every level, an institutional crisis with no immediate solution, not even with presidential elections in January. Whoever comes in has a huge task ahead of them and no resources with which to undertake it.
COMING UP
Manchester United head to the picturesque German city of [checks notes] Red Bull knowing that a draw will send them through to the last 16 of the Champions League, but a loss will almost certainly knock them out. Nobody has any idea what's going to happen, least of all United. Should be fun.
Ben Snowball has the support of the players and staff at the Warm-Up. He understands the pressure and the environment. And he will be here tomorrow.
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