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Paul Pogba: Have Man Utd and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer finally found Frenchman's best position?
In 2008-09, Robin van Persie and Frank Lampard were the Premier League’s two most creative players. They each got 10 assists. All of which might be an irrelevant piece of the division’s history but for one detail: Paul Pogba is halfway to that tally after two games.
He is the runaway leader in the assist table, where the five players who got the most last season are all yet to get off the mark.
It reflects two things: that Pogba is in a role where his game has altered, where he is devoting more time to fashioning chances, but also the calibre of finishing that suggests the numbers are flattering. Indeed, Pogba’s expected goals (xG) of 0.82 is actually higher than his expected assists (0.66). That, in turn, is lower than West Ham full-back Vladimir Coufal’s.
The fact that Mason Greenwood has two goals (both assisted by Pogba) with a combined xG of just 0.24 illustrates as much: Bruno Fernandes’ two Pogba-assisted goals had a combined xG of 0.38, Fred’s one of 0.13. Everything Pogba has set up, someone else has converted.
What is Paul Pogba's best position?
But the positional element shows a shift in duties. He has played on the left in a 4-2-3-1.
Two of Pogba’s three assists last season came when he was operating as a left winger, a position he barely occupied for United before Fernandes’ arrival. His shots per 90 minute (2.04) there is lower than in any other position, but the early evidence is that he is more of a provider when used in that role.
Taking more risks, but higher up the pitch
Pogba has completed 58 passes so far, 0.35 per minute. He completed 0.58 per minute last season and 0.57 in 2018-19, often when playing centrally and deeper. His pass completion rate is down, too, at 78.4 percent, whereas in every previous Premier League season it was between 82.8 and 85.3. It is a sign he is being more ambitious in his distribution and operating higher up the pitch.
That is illustrated by where his touches are coming: just 13 (0.08 per minute) in Manchester United’s defensive third whereas last season, it was 0.18 per minute. Only 12.6 percent of his touches have come in his defensive third, whereas last year it was 20.8 percent.
The contrast is at the other end of the pitch: 43.6 percent of his touches are in the attacking third, up from 31.3 percent last year. Some 10.67 percent are in the penalty area now, compared to 4.2 percent.
Pogba has already made nine successful dribbles, a fifth of his total for the whole of last season. He is shooting more, too, an average of 3.29 per 90 minutes is dramatically up on the previous two seasons, though similar to his first two back at United (3.14 and 3.18).
Solskjaer utilising Pogba's strengths
It all suggests a different profile of player: an attacking midfielder as opposed to a defensive one or an all-rounder. In Smarterscout’s model, Pogba as a left winger this season scores 92 out of 100 for attacking output, 88 for passes towards goal and only 57 for ball retention.
Part of the rationale for his reinvention is explained by an FBref table where Pogba only ranks 93rd in the division. But it is for progressive passing distance and the further back on the pitch a player is, the more room there is ahead of him. None of the 92 players above Pogba have begun both games in a front three or four this season. It shows he can make line-breaking passes, finding players in still more advanced positions.
By way of comparison, his nearest direct rivals are Mason Mount, Raphinha, Emile Smith Rowe and Ismaila Sarr: even then the Watford winger’s total of 311 yards is 133 behind Pogba. Last season, the attacking midfielder, winger or forward whose completed passes had travelled furthest forward was Fernandes.
If it suggests Pogba has taken some of the creative duties from his team-mate, it also highlights an aspect of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s thinking: the United manager wants such players to look forward and accepts the trade-off in terms of losing possession.
Can Pogba and Fernandes play together?
In another respect, Pogba and Fernandes are twinned: each has made nine shot-creating actions this season, but one has five assists and the other none.
The Frenchman’s average of 4.94 per 90 minutes is higher than ever before, though not dramatically. It actually puts him 15th in the Premier League, even if, with some others having played a solitary game, the sample size is sufficiently small that he ranks behind Kyle Walker; that will probably change.
But Fernandes ended last season with 4.88 shot-creating actions per 90. It put him fifth, with only Kevin De Bruyne, Jack Grealish, Hakim Ziyech and Mount ahead of him. If Pogba’s assist return is logically unsustainable, perhaps it is not unrealistic to expect him to carry on creating.
Last season Fernandes was the only United player in the top 17 for shot-creating actions per 90. The previous year, he and Pogba were both in the top 10. And as United fell way behind Manchester City for such actions last season – 904 to 1229 – the importance of having twin creators should be apparent.
