Priceless Pogba head & shoulders better than Fellaini as Man Utd's midfield struggle

The French superstar has been pilloried by the media and fans this season but he was sorely missed during the derby draw with Man City.


He has been labelled a waste of money with every under-par performance this season, pilloried almost every time he has taken to social media and had his influence in Manchester United’s side questioned at almost every turn.

 But the 0-0 draw with Manchester City on Thursday underlined exactly what Paul Pogba adds to Jose Mourinho’s side. The major problem was that he wasn’t playing.

In a team lacking the likes of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Juan Mata, Chris Smalling, Marcos Rojo and Phil Jones it was noticeable just how much Pogba’s absence in particular stuck out like a sore thumb.

 On a night when United seemed set up for a counter-attacking game, the lack of their £89.5 million man was the biggest difference between a successful night at the office and a frustrating evening left hanging on with 10 men.

Once the game settled down it was City who had the vast majority of the possession and territory while United struggled to get any kind of a foothold.

It was clearly their plan to absorb the pressure and then release their pacey front three on the break, but they were summarily unable to get Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial into decent space often enough to justify the approach.