Manchester United are taking the right step at the right time in terms of the game to secure Champions League football next season.
Saturday’s 5-2 win saw them stretch their unbeaten run to 16 games, with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer also running three consecutive Premier League victories as head of United for the second time.
Mason Greenwood, Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial and Bruno Fernandes have all stolen the opening titles in that race, in particular the latter who has been credited with changing the fate of United since his arrival from Sporting CP in January.
The Portuguese director has scored seven goals and recorded six assists in just 14 appearances for the Reds and as a result has already become a huge fan favorite.
However, this immediate and massive impact on the club has sparked much discussion about how both he and United star Paul Pogba would have appeared on the same team when the Frenchman returned from injury.
Pogba was obviously injured during Fernandes’ first two months in the club, which means that both players were available for selection within the same team after restarting the Premier League last month for United’s trip to Tottenham.
He was on the bench for that game but has since started each of United’s four games. In particular, however, there was an obvious change in his role among the starting 11 in those games, mainly to welcome people like Fernandes in front of him.
In every game, Solskjaer sided in his favorite 4-2-3-1 with Pogba used primarily to the right of his double pivot. Where the World Cup winner has previously been used in this role, it has been used primarily on the left and sometimes in a more advanced position.
The differences in its positioning on the pitch between last season and since the restart are highlighted in the heat maps below. Last season was used as a comparison due to the lack of minutes in this campaign due to an injury.
(Image: Twenty3)
In this deeper position on the right, Pogba was forced to adopt a more altruistic and disciplined role. This, at least at first glance, meant that his performances have been quite insignificant – he hasn’t scored yet and has only managed the assist since the restart.
However, United was probably under the radar facilitator, doing much of the important work for the team which does not always translate into a positive statistical result for itself.
An example of this is below in the build-up of Martial’s massive strike against Bournemouth.
Here, Pogba took an advanced position after Fernandes went down deep to try and get the ball.
As the ball is passed on to Nemanja Matic, Pogba is shortened to create a pass angle, but also to pull out defender Nathan Ake.
Going deeper, Pogba’s movement drove Ake away from the position and distracted the interest of Dominic Solanke who is looking at the Frenchman behind him. This means that United can get the ball out where it is in a favorable 2v1 scenario.
The good work of Pogba was not done however. Then he makes another run in the box that forces Ake and Solanke to follow him again. This opens the window for Martial to cut in and shoot his efforts towards the target.
Fernandes, of course, is credited with this assist, but Pogba’s movement from the ball is just as important.
While Pogba’s influence has been in many ways more subtle since this reboot, much of this has been planned, with the 27-year-old seemingly happy to give up his success for the good of the team. This is in contrast to what is often described about French in the media.
Through his four reboot starts, he only attempted six shots. This boils down to an average of just 1.8 hits per 90, which is much lower than the past season average of 2.51 per 90.
The Frenchman has been presented with many opportunities to take shots, however it seems that assisting others has often been a priority for him.
An example of this came in the game against Brighton. A ball enters the penalty area and is removed from Pogba’s path lurking outside the penalty area. With few defenders around, he can get back in shape to fire a shot for the first time towards the door.
However, instead he takes a touch and dribbles the ball forward, luring the defenders before letting go of Fernandes who shoots his efforts in the bottom corner.
Although his assisted return of one after the restart seems insignificant, the shooting assistance map below, which traces every step he has taken that has resulted in a shot in the last four games, indicates that he continues to create a wide range of efforts to his teammates. In the visualization, we can see examples of short acute passages or more impressive balls directed from deep areas in the penalty area.
(Image: Twenty3)
All of the above underlines the importance of Pogba since he returned to the United States.
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While his teammates stole the headlines, he forced to take on a less prominent role within the team in order to welcome Fernandes and others, but still continued to have a positive impact on United’s success.
This is a testimony not only of his skills and versatility in the field, but also of his character and commitment to the collective cause. Solskjaer, like many United fans, will be happy with what they have seen so far from the midfielder in his new role.
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