PAUL POGBA MUST “wreck” Jose Mourinho’s head with his flashy tricks and sub-par performances, according to former Chelsea and England midfielder Frank Lampard.
Pogba has struggled to live up to his £89 million transfer fee at United, and has sparkled only intermittently this season.
While the France international, who will represent his country at the World Cup this summer, has scored six goals and provided 10 assists thus far this season ahead of the FA Cup final against Chelsea, he has also frustrated with a perceived lack of end product at times.
And Lampard believes Pogba, whom he believes is a better player than he was, needs to start asserting his authority on games more often, as he has all the attributes required to be the complete midfielder.
“I don’t know what Pogba is. He makes bad decisions but then does fantastic things which must wreck Jose’s head,” he said at the Football Writers’ Association (FWA) event.
“Mourinho tried to embarrass him out of it and I worry Pogba did not get it. Pogba is naturally more talented than I was, he would run all over me and has better feet, but there’s no point dribbling in your own half.
“All that ‘flick and roll of the studs’, I’m not an advocate of that. A lot of young players see it on YouTube and think it’s amazing but I don’t like it. He has delved to that side too much.
“His numbers are not good enough, he progressed at Juve but there’s another progression he has to do. He should be getting 15 goals a season and dominating games, because he has everything.”
United beat Tottenham 2-1 in a topsy-turvy semi-final to reach the FA Cup final, while Chelsea defeated Southampton.
Neither side truly impressed in the Premier League, with United finishing second, 19 points behind Manchester City, while the Blues failed to qualify for the Champions League, finishing fifth, five points behind Liverpool.
Chelsea lost 3-0 to Newcastle on the final day of the season, and such results have led to intense speculation over the future of Antonio Conte, who is expected to leave the club this summer.
Nevertheless, Lampard believes the Blues must win the trophy and set aside any kind of ill-will regarding the Italian’s situation.
“We know the requirements at Chelsea, and (winning) it would put a gloss on a season that still has questions over it,” he added.
“Neither side (Chelsea or Conte) comes out of it with a load of glory. The players should want to win it for him and the club, no matter what.
“I played for managers I didn’t particularly like but you put it to the side.”
Lampard was speaking at FWA Live, organised by the FWA and William Hill at the Landmark Hotel London on Thursday May 17.
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Excellent analysis of all the pieces of the jigsaw of moves leading to great tries
Great analysis as always. What an atmosphere yesterday. Delighted for Sexton and Healy!!! What a Six Nations send off
@Kenneth O Connor: Healy not getting a run was disappointing and strange
@Noel Lynn: He did… only about 4 minutes but he did play.
Yesterday(and last week) should put to bed any doubt about Conan’s value. Every bit as effective as Doris imo.
@Gary Donlan: doris level ahead
@Gary Donlan: I’m a big, big fan of Conan – he’s an outstanding player – but I’d have to acknowledge that Doris is at the very top of the global tree. And he has so much more to grow, being so young. Arguably a future World Player of the Year nominee, if not winner.
I see lots of people saying how England really used line speed yesterday to get in Irelands face, that’s not what happened at all. England played a soft drift defence, not putting too much pressure on the first carrier / passer, and not committing too many men to the breakdown, opting to be more disruptive and messy rather than look for turnovers. It was an interesting tactic and one that threw a lot of the Irish players off, particularly Furlong who takes the first pivot option quite often. Ireland will need to learn how to adapt to it by World Cup, I can’t imagine South Africa or France would try it, they would trust their line speed, but I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Scotland or even New Zealand thought about using it.
Great analysis there. It shows really how intelligent this group are. Dorris, JVF,, Aki, Sexton, Hansen running subplots and dummies lines and how they build a try 3 phases out. To have so many on the same page is extraordinary and as Farrell said, they will get a lot better over the next few months with more time collectively in camp.
Roll on the WC
It was squeaky bum time for much of the game. England gave it everything. Ireland found a way to win. Work done with decoy runners is magnificent. Enjoy, upwards and onwards to France
That was some offload by Conan for sheehans try.
Sheehan is a pure speed merchant
@Gary Galligan: He’s a 4×4 at full speed.
On the strike plays which Ireland use we have seen a few of these in this 6 nations I believe they have only used a small number of these in this 6 nations and there are many more which they had no need to use and they are been reserved for the later stages of the world Cup.
I would imagine when Farrell and his team review this game they will be a little concerned. Obviously the short term gain here, winning a grand slam, is brilliant. But there was a lot of pressure going into the game and we did not handle it well. Ultimately a red card may have won it for Ireland and whether you agree or disagree with the card the nature of it shows it can how easily happen under current rules. (There was at least 1 red card possibility for us that was missed by the ref and TMO). This team will ultimately be judged on how it performs in the World Cup. When they meet Scotland on the 7th of October it will more than likely be a knock out game. The pressure on them will easily be as intense as yesterday, probably more so. They will need to be a lot better. If we don’t make it out of the group, this Grand Slam will lose a lot of it’s shine. Of course hopefully by the time we meet Scotland SA will have 2 losses so it won’t matter :)
@Pud: OTOH, the experience of yesterday, a real pressure cooker, will stand to them. Plus, those guys played a lot of intense rugby over a short period of time. Some were definitely not at their best, following injuries (Furlong, for example, looked rusty; Henshaw wasn’t fully up to speed; Ringrose in and out). Farrell took some risks, playing guys like Porter, VDF, Keenan, Hansen and others to their limits (Keenan looked tired yesterday, as did others). The player management plan for the RWC needs to cater for the interactive effects of physical endurance and how it affects mental/emotional resilience. I’m pretty confident they’re on top of that. And again, all the players will be better for the experience of this 6N.
@Pud: South Africa then Scotland…followed by France or New Zealand…three massive banana skins….I don’t think if we are stopped before semi final, yesterday’s outstanding achievement will be diminished….cruel world cup draw.
Herring sealed victory over the All Blacks with a similar try in the third test .. hooker is definitely a position we don’t need to worry about… bench again made the difference yesterday
Murray Kinsella, single handedly helping other teams work out Ireland!!