Rio Ferdinand takes aim at Paul Pogba following the playmaker’s post-Leicester comments | OneFootball

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Man Utd News

·19 October 2021

Rio Ferdinand takes aim at Paul Pogba following the playmaker’s post-Leicester comments

Article image:Rio Ferdinand takes aim at Paul Pogba following the playmaker’s post-Leicester comments

Manchester United collapsed at the King Power Stadium over the weekend as Leicester City ran riot to halt the visitors’ 29-game unbeaten Premier League away streak.

Despite grabbing an early lead through Mason Greenwood’s long-range effort, the Red Devils eventually fell to a 4-2 defeat to slip to sixth in the Premier League standings.


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Frustrated with his side’s lacklustre showing in the Midlands, Paul Pogba went public to urge his teammates to step up every aspect of their game.

“We deserved to lose,” the playmaker told BBC. “To be honest, we have been having these kind of games for a long time.

“We have not found the problem, conceding easy goals, stupid goals. We need to be more mature, play with more experience and arrogance in a good way. We need to find something – we need to change.

“We need to find the right mentality and the right tactic. Stick with it and resolve the problem.”

Although his words were not far from the truth, Pogba’s comments did not go down well with former United hero Rio Ferdinand, who delivered his verdict on the Frenchman’s statement.

“I don’t know – it doesn’t sit well with me when I see that,” Ferdinand told the FIVE podcast.

‘I’ll be honest, if I was in a changing room and a teammate said I wouldn’t be happy.

“I’d be straight in asking him what he meant, what does this mean?

“Unless I actually agreed with him, but I just think Pogba is an honest guy – that’s what I like about him.

“He’s very passionate – he wants to win. That says to me that there’s a frustration, an underlying frustration within the camp there. He’s not hiding it – he can’t hide it.

“Normally you get bog-standard answers [in post-match interviews], but there he said a few things that pose questions.”

United’s embarrassing loss to Leicester has deepened the crisis at Old Trafford, leaving Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side with a single win in five competitive matches.

The Red Devils will take a break from their Premier League struggles to entertain Atalanta in a must-win Champions League fixture on Wednesday.

After recording a win and a loss from their opening two group stage outings, the English heavyweights will look to take all three points and Atalanta’s place at the Group F summit.

A potential victory over the Italian high-flyers would set United up nicely for their upcoming Premier League encounter against bitter rivals Liverpool at Old Trafford.

While the three-time European Cup winners are winless in their last three league games in a row, the Merseysiders remain the only English side yet to lose a top-flight game this term.

It will be a daunting task for United to get back to winning ways in the Premier League, especially considering they have failed to win any of their last two league H2Hs as hosts.

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