Manchester United’s midfield remains inadequate – Paul Pogba must assert himself

What is the significance of Nick Powell? The question has taxed many sharp minds over the years, and in a Manchester United context, the answer is usually: “With United trailing in Wolfsburg and poised to go out of the Champions League, Louis van Gaal brought him on for Juan Mata thus completing the worst substitution of all-time”.

But Powell is also significant because after United signed Owen Hargreaves in May 2007, they did not sign a midfielder until Powell arrived from Crewe in July 2012. They were fairly successful in that time, it’s true, winning three titles and one Champions League, but as the team aged, they became increasingly reliant on their defence and attack.

Then, in 2013, Alex Ferguson retired, and since then, United have been largely useless in all areas of the pitch – David Moyes’ classic proclamation that they needed to improve in “a number of areas, including passing, creating chances and defending” was as true and amusing at the start of 2020 as it was when he said it, in 2013. But the arrival of Bruno Fernandes gave the club fresh impetus, and with Nemanja Matic’s form improving alongside him, there were many – Ole Gunnar Solskjaer among them – who believed that when Paul Pogba returned from injury, United would have a midfield that wasn’t just the middle of a field, and a combination that could match the best.

The last few games have shown this to be the nonsense that it always was. Though Fernandes is a superstar – a shattered superstar, but a superstar nevertheless – the other two are the same players that always were.

Against teams who do not press and who do not get enough of the ball to attack, Matic is more or less adequate, standing in front of the back four before finding a player more likely to do something effective. And the ruse has even worked against better teams, where he can block off runs and passing lanes and hope those players in front of him muster enough moments to win.

But when put under pressure, his passing lacks accuracy, imagination and penetration, meaning Pogba is United’s only route up the pitch in central areas. So if he is off his game – as he was against Southampton, and in every match since – his team struggles. It does not matter how good your forwards are if they are getting hardly any quality service.

This problem has not escaped the likes of me, so we can be sure that it has also not escaped Pogba, who has a fine football brain. It is possible that, after nearly a season out of the game, he is suffering physically, but the lack of urgency he has shown over the last fortnight is not new and threatens to define his United career. Under José Mourinho, it was possible to feel sympathy for him, an artist in a team of blacksmiths with a manager seeming to wind him up on purpose. But he is no longer his team’s best or sole decent player, which is to say that he is more or less out of excuses.

His performance against West Ham was extremely troubling. First, he conceded a penalty in an inexcusable manner – if he didn’t fancy heading a howitzer, he could simply have ducked and allowed the ball to go wide – and then he failed to react with the kind of inspirational affront that his team needed.

Time after time, Matic found himself on the ball deep inside the West Ham half, clueless as to what he should do next, while Pogba skulked on the periphery. This was and is strange, because Pogba is an outgoing character and dressing-room leader, who knows exactly how good he can be. Yet he does not seem to demand the ball, and the lack of urgency in his use of it are failings that are brought into sharper focus by Fernandes’ persistent invention.

Perhaps Solskjaer’s preferred 4-2-3-1 formation is partially at fault; perhaps Solskjaer has told Pogba he must help guard the back door, when really, he should be running box-to-box in a 4-3-3, a tweak which would allow Scott McTominay to replace Matic and do likewise. But Pogba must also take responsibility for himself, judging when it is safe to push forward – most of the time – and ensuring that it is he who is entrusted with playing key and killer passes, not Matic.

Though United have a fair chance of making the Champions League without solving these problems, they have absolutely no chance of becoming good unless things change. In the immediate term, bringing McTominay in for Matic and telling him to run, not sit, might help; signing someone better than Matic would most definitely help. But, starting on Sunday and continuing for evermore, Solskjaer must also find a way of getting Pogba to assert himself, or else people will start asking what the significance of him is too.