On The Ball | Enigmatic Paul Pogba is floundering when he should be in his pomp at United. Can he turn it around?

No Manchester United footballer divides fans like Paul Pogba who’s form is a microcosm of United’s – wildly inconsistent.

Though he’s produced spellbinding individual performances, the Parisian has hardly been the talisman in a resurgent team as hoped. The man with 73 appearances in midfield for world champions France isn’t close to being regarded as a legendary midfielder like Bryan Robson or Roy Keane and fan arguments about whether it’s worth sticking with Pogba have been prominent for years.

But Pogba was a substitute in all of those games. He played 21 minutes at Newcastle, 23 in Paris and eight at Everton last weekend. The 27-year-old came off the bench in more games than he’s started this season, despite being available for every match. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer made a bold decision to drop him after he had started the first three league games (two defeats), but Pogba could hardly dispute the decision after he lost too many 50/50s and was outplayed in a 1-6 defeat to Spurs by Ndombele and Hojbjerg in the middle. He also gave away a slack penalty for Spurs’ sixth.

Solskjaer’s predecessor Jose Mourinho certainly felt obliged to play Pogba and said so to a fan who spoke to him in Manchester the day after 2018’s Sevilla defeat, but the pair’s relationship would sour and it’s easier to sack a manager rather than a player.