Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer hints at new roles for Paul Pogba
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer says he is prepared to play Paul Pogba in three different roles after his 'excellent' performance in Manchester United's 5-1 dismantling of Cardiff.
Pogba provided assists for Ander Herrera and Jesse Lingard as United scored five in a Premier League game for the first time since Sir Alex Ferguson's last match at West Brom in May 2013. France international Pogba started two of Jose Mourinho's last six United matches but was restored to the XI by Solskjaer, who gave Pogba his United Reserves debut in 2009.
United switched to a 4-3-3 at Cardiff, where Pogba was positioned on the left of a midfield trident and supplemented by Ander Herrera and Nemanja Matic. Although that is Pogba's preferred role, Solskjaer suggested the 25-year-old could switch to deeper and more advanced roles in the future.
"There'll be different solutions to different problems that the teams cause us," Solskjaer said. "But Paul is capable of playing as an eight, as a 10, as a six. So he's got quality to play many positions and today I thought he did excellent.
Solskjaer spoke effusively about academy graduates Pogba, Lingard and Marcus Rashford on the eve of the match and Lingard struck twice while Rashford opened the scoring at Cardiff. Anthony Martial, the other forward in United's front three, was also on target and Solskjaer was delighted with how the forwards collaborated.
"Yes, they've progressed," Solskjaer noted. "Jesse was a little kid. Today he's a man. Paul is obviously a World Cup winner so they’ve progressed since I coached them and the link between them, the last goal when Paul slips Jesse through, was fantastic.
"I'm pleased with all of them, every single one of them, but of course it's a threat [to have such players]. When you've got Martial and Jesse Lingard down either side, Rashford up top with Paul supporting them, it's exhilarating to watch and as long as we keep that standard up we'll keep up picking points.
"When you're a Man United player, you want the ball and that’s only of the things you say to them: 'Go and get on the ball’. But in some periods we were too congested, four or five players on top of each.
"So when we get to work a little bit with each other and understand that we can trust each other to do a job, then we can have a little bit more distance and we might even improve.”