Is Paul Pogba overrated?

We all know here that Pirlo is arguably the best midfielder of his generation, potentially since Zidane.

He had that rare quality that he would boniffy everything his teammates would do. A bit like a great point guard in nba, giving possessions in the best possible conditions to his mates to maximize their output. Not only that he was also absolute field general in that him alone by position and decisions, could control an entire game. Milan was built around him, Italy was built around him and juventus was build around him.

Now that he went to the usa, juve mid has never looked so bad, this is prime krasic era stuff. And one of the guys who rose according to some to football elite is not looking much better than  past prime madrid era khedira.

Did we get it all wrong (we general) or he is just plain overrated, and he isnt this super complete player described him to be?

Bit confused about this thread. Title says Pogba yet you talk about Pirlo in your opening post.

In any event, Pogba is overrated IMO at least by the price tag. He has the potential to be a great MF, but it´s a way too early to judge. He has the tools and so far has impressed with his development, but the hype, especially from that relatively famous french booster is over the edge.

and re Pirlo yes he was very good, but there is a very similar comparison to Xavi. All the praise you threw at Pirlo can easily be said about Xavi. I think you can get arguments either way as to who was the best of that generation.

I talking about pirlo as an argument as to why we might have looked at pogba for better than he is. But within pirlo around he looks very ordinary. Its easy to hide and to look good in the shadow of a giantbut now on his own he looks like kondogbia

More than Pirlo , I'd say Vidal

Interesting robes why would you say vidal?

For me Vidal was the Juventus key plalyer,he made everything in pitch with his box to box attitude , permitting also to cover defensively Pogba.
then he was a leader, and young players need of this personality around to emerge.
Pogba was loaded of responsibility this year after pirlo,vidal and tevez's departure with even the 10 number on kit ( he is not a 10-esque player, besides ) and so anyone expects he must resolve always the match . The fans and
implicitly even the club with this designation (even we could avoid it with Kovacic, another player who is not a 10 moreover) and he tends to overdo for it ( I remind the Napoli match ). When there were Pirlo and Vidal hadn't this responsibility

I also dnt think he similar to pirlo. Pirlo is one of those greats who looks like he could run a midfield with a glass of red wine in one hand. Caressing ball like lover. Same cannot be said of pogba with pace and physicality

I'm curious as to why you feel that Pirlo is the sole reason to attribute Pogba's success so far. I personally think its due to the way the team was set up last season, starting with 2 industrious forwards in Morata and Tevez + Vidal AM, with Marchisio, Pogba and Pirlo in midfield. I think that's what allowed Pogba to flourish.

Anyways, i'm assuming this thread was based off the Inter game, even if it isn't, i don't think he is overrated (Yeah, yeah i keep laughing at him on chat and jibe it up when he fails, but thats chat ). People are expecting him in midfield to spray and recycle (ala Verratti) or anchor (ala Xabi) or B2B (Matuidi). His mould, at least i think, isn't similar to any of those. He's got half a skillset to fulfill some of those roles, (City game, Pirlo-esque ball to Mandzu) but he isn't well-versed to pull these off consistently. I see him as a pseudo forward playing in midfield tbh.

overrated by whom? are we talking by people on this forum? if we are i'd say he isn't cos it seems there are lots of people who don't fancy him almost as much as there are people who do

by the football pundits and bodies worldwide? no, its not like he's winning a bunch of balon d'ors or getting top 3 nominee mentions. his biggest individual gongs have come at youth level and they were deserved, considering he was a huge part in his country winning the u20 world cup. and besides, i don't hear of any pundits saying people should build around pogba. most of them campaign for him to play on other big teams with other super stars leading the team

overrated by juventus? maybe, but in this case, considering his age its justifiable. any team that wants him knows barring unforeseen circumstances like injuries the guy has multiple years left on his career, and imo hasn't reached his peak yet, he's far from the finished article as many people will point out. but he's closer to matching his potential than many people his age.....the club he's at controls his transfer fee, and to be honest we don't know what he'll be sold for yet, if he indeed is sold, so all our talk about him being too expensive for now is just speculation. its not every time that buying clubs match buy out clauses

i think generally he's rated just fine, i don't hear the media nor even juve fans talking about pogba as some sort of world beater in the prime of his career (there are obviously fan boys, but that's in the minority i think). what i think people admire is the stage at which he's in for his age, having played multiple top league games including a ucl final

I don't think he is overrated, I think the spine of that team left and it will take time to readjust the tactics now that they have different personnel.

So not just Pirlo, but as other posters noted as well- Vidal and Tevez.

It will take time.  I think its a bit premature to start saying he's overrated.

Edit: funniest part of the OP was the mention of Krasic. LOL. Completely forgot he existed. I remember him being touted as the next Nedved on these forums.

Certainly overrated, but it doesn't mean he's a bad player. He'd walk into the Liverpool midfield for example. Still a very good player but certainly not the greatest thing to ever walk the planet like the hype was going around about him.

I mentioned it before but even when Pirlo and Vidal were around the games I saw of him he never looked that great (to me). Like he is a good player yes, maybe even a very good player but nowhere near "elite" or potentially a top 10 player in the world...at least to me.

Vidal made everyone look better, he was all over the place closing down taking the ball away, he can help link the offense, then make the last pass or finish with both feet. Pogba is a beast in france, maybe he plays better in the two man pivot. He definetly didnt show up until the 60 something minute today.

Pui divirtente che utile

Pirlo the best midfielder of his generation? Like Xavi didn't exist?

free_cat wrote:Pirlo the best midfielder of his generation? Like Xavi didn't exist?

they didn't peak in the same period. and he might have been better.

On topic, Pogba is overated. He is not an 80 milion footballer. But he is very good and can be a world beater, and today's market, he'll go for a ridiculous sum.

Absolutely. Like I said before, throw a monkey between Pirlo and Vidal and it'll look like prime Zidane.

People nowadays just jump to conclusion very, very fast. A guy scores two penalties and two tap-ins and suddenly he's better than the most technical player in the history of the game. A guy scores three games in a row and some people start comparing him to young Messi.

Pogba has been criminally overrated, generally by either French people or Juventus fans. He is talented, but no way near the level of hype some people make it out to be. The guy is playing like crap week in and week out now. Wait for him to make an assist or score a goal and you'll see people here touting him as the next *insert legend name here* for the umpteenth time.

free_cat wrote:Pirlo the best midfielder of his generation? Like Xavi didn't exist?

different opinions also exist .

here we go again with the " french like to overrated their players " narrative

you guys have no clue .

The Demon of Carthage wrote:Absolutely. Like I said before, throw a monkey between Pirlo and Vidal and it'll look like prime Zidane.

People nowadays just jump to conclusion very, very fast. A guy scores two penalties and two tap-ins and suddenly he's better than the most technical player in the history of the game. A guy scores three games in a row and some people start comparing him to young Messi.

Pogba has been criminally overrated, generally by either French people or Juventus fans. He is talented, but no way near the level of hype some people make it out to be. The guy is playing like crap week in and week out now. Wait for him to make an assist or score a goal and you'll see people here touting him as the next *insert legend name here* for the umpteenth time.

this is exactly why i don't think he's overrated. it seems a lot of people share your point of view  on gl (based on the pogba vs thiago thread), and there are also a lot who like him (mainly juve and french fans, though to be fair to them, i'm not sure they've called him the next *insert legend name here*). based on that i'd say it evens itself out...@ least on gl. the transfer fee is another thing entirely, there's been a hike in prices of players...if martial could go for what he went for, you can bet juve are going to do what they can to make max dollars. as i said i don't think the media nor pundits have hailed him as this guy who you build your team around. if he's not getting ballon d'or top ten nominations (he was ranked 22nd last year) then i'd stray away from the term overrated

just cos a few fans may champion a player like their lives depended on it doesn't mean the player's overrated, it just means one is probably giving too much attention to such fans, their impact actually overshadows reality. and pogba hasn't been championed nearly half as much as some other players i've seen on this forum, where we even use imaginary explanations to crown players e.g. if this team was built on player x he'd average 50 goals in a season, or if player x moves here he'd win ballon d'or, or my personal favorite "assists to assists for goals and player involvement" lol

He's acting like he's some scrub because the deal between him and Barca is already agreed. This way it will be easier for Juve to part ways with the player... he just simply doesn't care anymore as he knows he won't be there next season.

Might be slightly overrated, but not much. He just needs motivation.

Pogba is overrated in my eyes even when Pirlo and Vidal were there he would make mistake after mistake and no one would say shit almost like people don't recognize the mistakes, then bam one decent move and people go crazy....Typical flair player just with a bit of a buffer to any criticism thrown his way.

@nichabr couldn't have said it better myself, i have said this before even when pogba hype was at its peak, he doesn't do enough outside of dribbles and a nice shot, but footy fans nowadays love acting like experts and can only speak in exaggerated terms, any little piece of flash= top 10 player, best youngster of their generation, etc... hyper bold.

a lot of posters on here, need to learn how to rate individual performances properly, and then maybe you lot cut down on thread like these.

Pirlo was definitely the most important Juventus midfielder of the past several seasons. Irreplaceable in his characteristics.

I can't help but agree, he's been a ghost this season. He was given the #10 and was supposed to be the 'guy' on this team but apart from a few glimpses of skill and the Manchester City game, which was his best performance, he hasn't impacted games the way many of us expected him to.

That's always been my criticism of him, he fades in and out of games too much. Yesterday against Inter I don't think he touched the ball for the first 15 minutes. Did nothing of note in the first half, then in the second half went on a run and ate 4 Inter defenders like they weren't there and then grew into the game more and more, and was more involved as Juventus was pressing... of the 3 Juventus midfielders who started in Marchisio, Khedira and Pogba, he was certainly the worst of the 3 but overall, first half was terrible, second half was promising