Man United drew their previous Premier League game against Burnley and since West Ham United won their match, the Hammers have moved up to the fourth spot while United have slipped out. The Red Devils had a really poor second half on Tuesday night and Paul Pogba and Harry Maguire have been singled out for criticism for the 1-1 draw.
Ex-United keeper Peter Schmeichel has claimed that Paul Pogba had a really poor outing at Turf Moor, despite him scoring a wonderful long-ranger in the first half.
‘I said before the game Pogba played fantastic on Friday night. If Pogba plays like that we want to keep him, we desperately want to keep him,’ Schmeichel told Premier League Productions, as quoted by Metro.
‘But he was completely out of the game today and you can’t have players doing that.
Not the result we wanted, but happy to be back on the scoresheet again 🔴 #MUFC pic.twitter.com/LXqnVufpaT
— Paul Pogba (@paulpogba) February 8, 2022
‘That’s not good enough for Man United. At Man United you’ve got to have a very, very high low-level and at a minimum you’ve got to perform to that.
‘You’ve got to have this type of urgency and understanding of when you need to push forward to get the goal you need.’
Paul Pogba isn’t the only player who has come under the line of fire since Rio Ferdinand has blasted club captain Harry Maguire for yet another poor show at the back.
‘The goal was poor on Harry’s part. I’m sure behind closed doors he will take responsibility but he doesn’t need to come out here and go crazy about it, they need to iron it out,’ Ferdinand said on BT Sport.
‘I think the challenge he made just over the half way line, he’s lucky to stay on the pitch. I feel the striker is running in on goal there.
‘It’s a performance I’m sure he’ll want to erase and get into the next game as quick as possible but these things happen.
Is Harry Maguire the worst £80m spent of all time?😂 pic.twitter.com/FF4xqSi8AG
— PurelyFootball®️ (@PurelyFootball) February 8, 2022
‘This season you’ve definitely seen that, whether that’s a hangover from the Euros physically and mentally I’m not sure.
‘There hasn’t been the consistency you expect from a player of his stature.’
Will Paul Pogba and Harry Maguire be dropped against Southampton?
Next up, Manchester United take on Southampton in the Premier League and there’s a massive chance that one if not both of them are dropped to the bench.
Victor Lindelof has done very well alongside Raphael Varane, whenever he’s been given the chance and many pundits have urged Ralf Rangnick to bring him back into the side, in place of Harry Maguire.
Maguire has been really poor this season and dropping him to the bench should do no harm especially after the performance which Maguire dropped on Tuesday night.
But there’s very little chance that Paul Pogba will be dropped since Fred is currently out with COVID and the Frenchman will any day be a better option than Nemanja Matic. Fred and McTominay have done really well under the interim manager and if the Brazilian was available then undoubtedly he would have started against Southampton.
He’s expected to come back to the squad sometime next week so Paul Pogba will hold onto his place in the starting line up, alongside McTominay and Bruno Fernandes.
