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Paul Pogba has failed to score for Man United from the penalty spot for the second straight time in EPL during Sunday’s fixture against Everton at Old Trafford.
The French international faced up to Everton keeper Jordan Pickford in the first half, after United were awarded the spot-kick when Idrissa Gana Gueye collided with Tony Martial inside the box. He then executed a bizarre and slow 28 step run-up, before shooting tamely slightly left of the middle.
Having guessed the right way, the shot height was comfortable enough for English national sie keeper Pickford to get a strong hand on it. However he could only parry the effort back towards Pogba who calmly slotted home and redeemed himself immediately, putting United 1-0 up.
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The goal however, did not take the focus off of the star striker’s missed penalty and questionable technique, which had United fans and social media in a frenzy with discussion.
The comments seemed to focus on how peculiar the whole run-up appears to be and how many more steps he took this time, that his has an air of arrogance about it – and whether this signature run-up is rendering his shot much less effective.
Given how uncomfortably close he gets to the ball before shooting, and the lack of momentum before the ball is struck, it is hard not to agree, you get the impression it is an uncomfortable motion that is far from natural for him.
If his hairstyles are anything to go by, Pogba likes to stand out, and this penalty technique is probably just another means to get people talking about him.
To be fair, he has still managed to put away four of his last six penalties in all competitions, using a similar motion (albeit with less steps taken).
However, the real test would be to see the technique hold up in a pressure situation. He hasn’t yet paid dearly for his misses. But I personally don’t think I would be comfortable with it in the sudden-death part of a penalty shoot-out.
Or to tie a cup game in the 90th minute. I would be re-tweaking the run-up or giving it the boot, and not risk a similar miss in a more important scenario.
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