Ole Gunnar Solskjaer insists Paul Pogba has shown signs he is nearing his optimum again despite costing Manchester United in their defeat to Arsenal. Pogba clumsily conceded a second-half penalty on Hector Bellerin and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang converted to seal Arsenal’s first win at Old Trafford since 2006. Pogba shone in the Champions League wins over RB Leipzig and Paris Saint-Germain and Solskjaer feels the World Cup winner’s form has been harmed by injury and illness issues over the last year.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said “Every player is frustrated himself and is disappointed after a defeat and we need consistency from every one of our players, That’s what we want. Paul has been going through a difficult period with an (ankle) injury last season and COVID now, he’s working up to full fitness, but we’ve seen plenty of positives lately and hopefully that will continue. Any situation, you’re a fit lad and Paul knows in that exact instance he could’ve dealt with it better and he’s held his hand up. But that’s how it is in a game of football, it’s high-tempo intensity and the fitter you are the more you can do, and that goes for every footballer around the world. The results can sway the whole picture so many times, Sometimes there are fine margins in games, we have had some good games where we’ve not got the result we deserved, these two (wins against PSG and Leipzig) have shown quality we have but we are not going to get too far ahead of ourselves. We look forward to the next game as Harry [Maguire] says as well, keep working to get that consistency. Us at our best level we can beat anyone and that’s how we need to go into every game.”