Banter is the juice of football.
This is why we buy data on our devices. This is perhaps the only reason we pay for DSTV’s premium bouquet.
When you see some fix their gaze on their TV sets in both tension and prayer, banter is the only reason why. A chance to laugh at a rival team, who have dropped points is too sweet not to desire.
How much more when it is a rival’s player, who cost a world-record fee and is yet to deliver?
Before the private jet and adidas-fuelled PR stunts, there were the cryptic Instagram posts and Mino Raiola’s mind games. We could have been forgiven if we thought the arrival of the messiah was nigh.
It has been anything but.
Pogba has played in five games and is yet to score or assist. It is almost as if he is pressed down by the weight of the £90million United shelled out for him few weeks ago.
Don’t get it twisted. We have seen glimpses of his abilities. The powerful running, the marvelous close control, the fine passing and even the dtermined tackling. It is all very good for the YouTube showreel, but the reality is that things have not come together for him yet.
Perhaps he has not been given the perfect role in the team. Mourinho deploys him in the 2 of a 4-2-3-1 formation, where he is supposed to sit with Marouane Fellaini and exert control on the midfield. Instead, you find the 23-year-old everywhere. Popping up on the left wing, running beyond opposition defenders and leaving his Belgian partner stranded and the team vunerable to counter-attacks.
It is probably down to Mourinho to either tame his man or provide more discipline behind him as he bombs forward every now and then.
It doesn’t get easier for the Red Devils in the coming weeks. They face Leicester City and Chelsea in their next three matches. It’s time for the real Pogba to stand up.
Rio Ferdinand recalls a conversation with the Frenchman, before he left Old Trafford four years ago.
“He told me minutes before he left ‘I want to be the best player in the world.’ I don’t know if he’ll be the best player in the world, but I think he’ll definitely turn out to be the best midfielder in the world.”
Pogba showed plenty of glimpses in Italy. He was hot and cold in France this summer. And England still awaits his manifestation.
‘Ifreke Inyang tweets via @Ifreke
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