When he’s on song there are few sights as pleasing as watching Paul Pogba play football. On Saturday, in Manchester United’s opening game of the season, Pobga was certainly on it. He spurned a glorious opportunity a few minutes into the first half, when he lifted a shot wide from close range, but the miss only roused him into playing his best football. At the 30-minute mark, Pogba roamed into a central advanced position that had been vacated by Bruno Fernandes, and dinked a gorgeous first time pass to the latter, who had by then darted in behind Leeds United’s backline. The control and finish from Fernandes were unerring, but Pogba’s pass was stuff of genius. When Scott Mctominay had played the ball into Pogba at pace, the Frenchman didn’t need so much as a second-look. He knew where Fernandes would be. But to know what to do is one thing, to execute it is another. Pogba’s execution, on this occasion, was immaculate—the pass had just the right pace, thrust, and spin on it.
Pogba’s range is by now the stuff of legend. Everyone knows that he has an envious, almost nonpareil, passing range. The difficulty has always been in finding the right position for him on the pitch, where he can be excused of defensive responsibilities, but can still use the scope of his passing to the fullest extent. I have written here previously about the freedom that Pogba often seems to enjoy when playing for France. In the recent Euros, where Pogba was often-excellent, he was deployed in a virtually free role. This is just the role that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer found for him yesterday.
“Today we just gave [Pogba] the freedom of roaming wherever you want to go and get on the ball,” said Solskjaer after the game. And it worked. Pogba created not just the first goal for Fernandes, but three others in a 5-1 romp—his curved pass to Mason Greenwood for the second goal was also a peach.
There’ll certainly be other games, against more trying opponents, where Pogba will have to be more conservative. But when the occasion permits it, as yesterday evidenced, giving Pogba a license to roam can make for exhilarating football.