Pogba Making Progress After Frustrating Start to Euro 2016

There are two ways of responding to criticism and over the past week Paul Pogba has tried them both. On Wednesday, he seemed to aim an up yours gesture at the press-box following France’s second goal in their win over Albania (although he denies it, claiming he was merely celebrating). Then on Sunday he played with a ferocious intensity in the 0-0 draw against Switzerland.

It was entirely reasonable for Pogba to be criticised after the opening game, in which France beat Romania 2-1. Nobody doubts his talents; the issue is how he deploys them. The fault in his game is a tendency too often to try the spectacular, to go for the Hollywood pass when a simpler one might be more effective. That too is related to his relationship to the media, L’Equipe in particular.

L’Equipe’s relationship with Pogba is baffling. For a season they’ve built him up, at times to a ludicrous degree, which perhaps leads him to believe with the national side that he should be winning games almost single-handed. Then, after that poor performance against Romania they were quick to knock him down – on a day when only Dimitri Payet and N’Golo Kante played well. Even then though, he was far from disastrous. He completed 83.3% of his passes for instance and got forward to have two shots, one of them on target. It’s true he was dispossessed twice and lost the ball once with a poor touch but in a hectic midfield that can happen. The issue seemed more one of balance with he and Blaise Matuidi often seeming to replicate roles.

Pogba came off the bench at half-time against Albania, by which time Didier Deschamps had changed the formation from 4-3-3 to 4-2-3-1. In that 45 minutes, he had two shots and completed two key passes, one of them leading to the second goal. L’Equipe gave him a mark of 4/10, which even given their notorious strictness, seemed harsh. That said, he was dispossessed twice and did lose the ball five times with poor touches. His WhoScored.com rating, for comparison, was 6.69.

But against Switzerland, he was transformed. Within 16 minutes he’d had four shots, playing with a panic energy and a clear determination to prove his critics wrong. He hit the woodwork and got two shots on target. He completed three key passes. With Moussa Sissoko rather than Matuidi alongside him, he seemed liberated. His passing accuracy fell to 78.3% but that could at least partly be blamed on the dreadful surface – and, anyway, pass accuracy is only meaningful in context. His more attacking role meant he attempted more ambitious passes.

There was still that issue of losing the ball – he was dispossessed five times and lost the ball with poor touches three – but still it seemed mystifying that a player who got a WhoScored.com rating of 8.19, making him the game's man of the match, only scored a 6 with l’Equipe (although no France player scored higher). No rating system is perfect of course, but it’s not to suggest any impropriety to say it’s understandable Pogba might feel aggrieved. 

The issue for Deschamps now is getting the balance right going forward. They have looked more fluent in the 4-2-3-1, although that’s probably more to do with getting Payet at the heart of things than anything more complicated. Assuming Pogba retains his place, and that he operates as one of the two deep-lying players rather than on the left as he did late on against Switzerland, the question then is who misses out. Given Kante’s form, it’s probably Matuidi who goes, although that still leaves the issue of who plays on the left given how poorly Anthony Martial fared against Albania.

Pogba’s display against Switzerland, even if it didn’t especially impress l’Equipe, should at least ensure he starts in the round of 16.

Can Pogba still emerge as the star of the tournament this summer? Let us know in the comments below