Paul Pogba, Anthony Martial Criticised by Ex-Manchester United Star Paul Parker

Former Manchester United defender Paul Parker has called on current star Paul Pogba to show more respect to the quality of his team-mates and suggested Anthony Martial still needs to improve.  

Parker, a former right-back for the Old Trafford club, discussed both players at length in a column for 888sport (h/t Steve Bates of the Daily Mirror). Talking Pogba first, he claimed the Frenchman needs to show faith in the players around him.

“The problem is that he’s not playing with the same calibre of players that he had at Juventus so he’s trying to do too much and holds onto the ball too long,” he said. “He never had so many touches of the ball at Juventus because maybe now he feels he doesn’t have the players around him who he respects.”

Parker added, “Maybe if he kept it more simple and began respecting the people around he’d do more instead of just flashes.”

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The former United man also said that Pogba should be scoring 15 goals a season as well as grabbing 25 assists to justify the world-record fee the Red Devils paid to secure his signature from Juventus in the summer.

The comments are at odds with those recently made by Jose Mourinho about the player. The United boss suggested the £89 million transfer fee will eventually be deemed to be “cheap” for the player.

So far this season the 23-year-old has bagged four goals and three assists in the Premier League; per Squawka Football, he’s been one of the most creative players in European football, too:

As well as Pogba, Parker also spoke about Martial’s recent form and suggested he doesn’t show respect to his team-mates in a different way to the midfielder.

“I still don’t think he does enough and gives the ball away cheaply,” he noted. “When he does he then doesn’t respect the people around him by working hard trying to get it back again or putting himself in a position to stop opponents progressing.”

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After shining in his debut season at Old Trafford, Martial hasn’t been guaranteed a spot in the starting XI this term under Mourinho. However, he’s done well in recent appearances and since arriving at the club has been one of the most reliable goalscorers in the squad, per OptaJoe:

Pogba played alongside some wonderful midfielders at Juve, including Andrea Pirlo, Claudio Marchisio and Arturo Vidal. They were players not only of a superior quality to those available to Mourinho at the moment, but figures who allowed Pogba to scuttle forward and influence the play.

Martial, meanwhile, is still only 21, so it’s no surprise there are raw facets to his game. Some will hold him to the standards he set last season when he was new to the league and one of the team’s go-to attacking threats. But there’ll be plenty of oscillations in form before he eventually reaches his absolute peak.