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It is unclear exactly when Graeme Souness was first openly critical of Paul Pogba but such has been the volume and variety of barbs since it has been labelled by some as an ‘obsession’.
In September of 2016 – just a matter of weeks after Pogba re-signed for Manchester United from Juventus – the former Liverpool heavyweight was questioning the midfielder’s footballing intelligence: “Does he have a football brain? He has still to develop his football brain.”
Soon after, he continued on this theme saying: “I don’t see him having a great understanding of the game.”
It should be stated at this juncture that this article is absolutely not about how good or bad a footballer Paul Pogba is. There is ample evidence out there to suggest he is far more high-yielding than he is given credit for just as some of the fault-finding flung his way is justified too. Let’s leave it there.
Returning to the topic at hand, further criticism courtesy of Souness of Pogba’s ability and impact at Old Trafford duly followed and trust us when we say that there isn’t time or room to highlight each and every one plentiful as they are in number.
At least here though – if looking for small mercies – the famously surly pundit was concentrating his ire at the French star’s performances. Granted at times he went for the man instead of the ball such as when he described the World Cup winner as ‘a YouTuber’ or when he insisted it was a ‘bonus’ that United’s most talented player was suspended for the Manchester derby. By and large though, in Pogba’s first full Premier League season Souness was mainly disparaging of the end product rather than the man responsible for it.
Last term however it all seemed to get a little personal, not to mention a touch strange.
In September 2018 he used his Times column to spew out a series of unsubstantiated castigations. “Pogba plays for himself, it’s all about how cool he looks, showing us how clever he isâ€. “Perhaps we’re now seeing the selfish player Fergie didn’t fancy the first time round?†he concluded.
Around the same time as this sharpened studs-up challenge the opinionated Scot was also wondering aloud whether “he treats football as a bit of a joke” and speculating too “if he trains properly every day. That is a stab at the dark at something that could improve.”
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Two months later he was at it again, laying into the 25-year-old following a 3-1 defeat at Anfield where United were abysmal. With this being the last days of Mourinho’s reign there was plenty to get stuck into yet Souey concentrated his aim squarely on Pogba despite the rather pertinent fact that the player had not played any part in the mismatch, residing on the bench throughout: “Pogba must be thinking: ‘Surely I’m better than Marouane Fellaini? Surely better than Nemanja Matic? But if he had a better attitude he’d be better than any midfielder in the Premier League.”
The Liverpool loss proved to be Mourinho’s coda so again there was much to discuss in the days that followed. Souness though, now true to type, only had one person on his mind. “He really needs to have a close look at himself,†he chided with an overt insinuation that the player was to blame for the Portuguese coach’s exit. “”I never see him come off and think, he has put a shift in today. I see a player come off a football pitch that has done nice things, but as many good things as he has done, he has done equally as many bad things by giving the ball away, not tracking players, not doing the things proper players do.”
So in summary: Paul Pogba is ‘not a proper player’. He has a bad attitude. He is selfish. He lacks intelligence. He doesn’t train properly (there is precisely no evidence of this).
This is not a character assassination. This is closer to a vendetta.
What is more, it is an increasingly predictable one-sided feud that has not gone unnoticed by Souness’ Sky Sports colleagues. Last October, Jamie Redknapp essentially called out his punditry pal saying his regular reproval of the player was ‘unfair’ adding, “I think we talk about him too much at times.â€
‘We’ being the operative word because it is not just Souness at Sky who appears to have a significant problem with the player in question. In December when Pogba put up an admittedly cheeky dig at his former boss Mourinho’s departure (or at least it was widely perceived as such) an enraged Gary Neville responded by tweeting ‘You do one as well’. ‘Do one’ in Mancunian vernacular means ‘get lost’. It’s fair to say that Neville was in a wholly negative mood when he tweeted that.
This week meanwhile a missed penalty against Wolves prompted a lengthy on-air diatribe that was so fierce it bemused even his friends. Andy Cole said of it: “I get on well with Gary Neville, but when people start talking about treachery and all that… come on, this is a sport. Let’s get real. We love football but when we start talking on those levels, he left me scratching my head a little bit.â€
Neville was not alone incidentally in condemning an errant spot-kick in over-the-top fashion as illustrated by the tweet below.
There is much more too – of course there is – when it comes to Sky Sports personnel getting personal, only like with Souness’ 2016/17 treatment of United’s record signing there simply isn’t room or time to highlight them all. What we can state in a general sense is that whenever Manchester United are involved in a live game it feels like Sky purposely make it ‘The Paul Pogba Show’. They speak about him prior to kick-off and they discuss him after, even when, like the Liverpool game, he isn’t playing that day.
Check out which team have “the best defence in the Premier Legaue” in the video below…
As we have witnessed before and as we have witnessed again this week this sustained and unedifying isolating of an individual can lead us down some truly abhorrent paths. It feels extremely unjust to claim that Souness or Neville’s constant barracking of Pogba was in any way responsible for the disgusting racial abuse the player received after the Wolves game.
But then we think back to the media witch-hunt of Raheem Sterling that first began when he moved from Liverpool to Manchester City. Like Pogba, Sterling was isolated from his colleagues. He was held up as the personification of modern football’s ills. Then we think back to when Sterling was assaulted outside his club’s training campus by a man who kicked him on four occasions and then unleashed a particularly sinister racial slur. We think back too to the Chelsea supporter accused of racially abusing the winger at Stamford Bridge last season.
Would these hateful instances have occurred if Sterling had received the same impartial media treatment that so many of his peers enjoy? We don’t know for sure. And yet in our heart of hearts we do. The media has an influence on the public and a direct bearing on broadly held opinion. That is undeniable.
Just as we know in our heart of hearts what motivates Souness and Neville to lambast Paul Pogba with such regularity. It is little short of absurd to suggest there is any racial element anchoring their views. For the former Pogba has come to epitomise – rightly or wrongly – the modern mores of a 21st century footballer whereas Souness epitomises the old-school with the values inherent within. As for Neville his passionate opinions are grounded in a passion for his club.
Yet still they must take some responsibility for what took place this week. Because when you negatively and regularly caricature a person in front of millions of people you make them a target. And it’s common sense to acknowledge that not all of those millions of people will be free-minded or non-prejudicial.
Sky need to readdress their ‘obsession’ with Paul Pogba. Because right now it is beginning to edge towards a decidedly uncomfortable ethical line.