In Manchester United‘s 3-0 win against Stoke City Paul Pogba played a vital role, creating two goals to take his assist tally to nine for the season.
By setting up both Antonio Valencia and Anthony Martial, Pogba became the league’s joint-highest assist-maker of the season so far alongside Manchester City duo Leroy Sane and Kevin De Bruyne.
Pogba and De Bruyne are often compared, playing similar roles in their respective systems. But while the Belgian has already been tipped to win the Player of the Year award at the end of the season, his United counterpart has received criticism for a perceived lack of influence on his team.
The numbers, however, show Pogba is as important to United as De Bruyne is to City and Jose Mourinho’s side have struggled without their Frenchman when he was out for 10 Premier League games through injury and suspension.
But who is posting the bigger numbers this league campaign so far? We’ve taken a look…
By setting up both Antonio Valencia and Anthony Martial, Pogba became the league’s joint-highest assist-maker of the season so far alongside Manchester City duo Leroy Sane and Kevin De Bruyne.
Pogba and De Bruyne are often compared, playing similar roles in their respective systems. But while the Belgian has already been tipped to win the Player of the Year award at the end of the season, his United counterpart has received criticism for a perceived lack of influence on his team.
The numbers, however, show Pogba is as important to United as De Bruyne is to City and Jose Mourinho’s side have struggled without their Frenchman when he was out for 10 Premier League games through injury and suspension.
But who is posting the bigger numbers this league campaign so far? We’ve taken a look…
Round one: team-play
(passing, defensive actions and tackles)
In the heart of their respective midfields, both Pogba and De Bruyne
are expected to control the game from deep and contribute in defence and
attack as part of a team.
The number one aspect of the midfield game
is passing and only three players have made more passes than De Bruyne
this season, with the Belgian completing 1,362 of his 1639 attempted passes in 23 games – an accuracy of 83%.
Meanwhile Pogba has completed just 752 of 890 having missed 10 games of the season, the Frenchman does have a higher accuracy, with 85%.
A higher percentage of Pogba’s passes have also moved play forward compared to De Bruyne: 66.9% to 59.9%.
Defensively, De Bruyne has attempted more tackles than the United midfielder, with 88 contested challenges to Pogba’s 40 but when the averages are taken into account, the Frenchman once again shines.
Averaging 3.81 tackle attempts per 90 with a completion rate of 40%, Pogba has had more success in winning the ball than De Bruyne, who has reclaimed possession cleanly through just 36% of his attempts.
And Pogba also averages more defensive actions per game, two to De Bruyne’s one.
With his striking hairstyles and dance moves, Pogba has been known for his personal flair but his style translates to the pitch too.
Meanwhile Pogba has completed just 752 of 890 having missed 10 games of the season, the Frenchman does have a higher accuracy, with 85%.
A higher percentage of Pogba’s passes have also moved play forward compared to De Bruyne: 66.9% to 59.9%.
Defensively, De Bruyne has attempted more tackles than the United midfielder, with 88 contested challenges to Pogba’s 40 but when the averages are taken into account, the Frenchman once again shines.
Averaging 3.81 tackle attempts per 90 with a completion rate of 40%, Pogba has had more success in winning the ball than De Bruyne, who has reclaimed possession cleanly through just 36% of his attempts.
And Pogba also averages more defensive actions per game, two to De Bruyne’s one.
Round two: flair
(take-ons and through-balls)With his striking hairstyles and dance moves, Pogba has been known for his personal flair but his style translates to the pitch too.
The Frenchman has attempted 46 take-ons in the Premier League this season, at an average of 2.62 per 90, 72% of which have been successful.
Pogba was held back before the arrival of Nemanja Matic this summer, the Serbian’s presence having enabled Jose Mourinho to loosen the Frenchman’s reins by freeing him of certain defensive duties.
However, City rival De Bruyne has had more success than Pogba in beating opponents, completing 79.59% of his 49 take-on attempts, averaging 1.79 per 90.
Creating moves from deep, no player has attempted more through balls than De Bruyne’s 24 this season, averaging 1.04 per game. Pogba has attempted nine at an average of 0.69 per game, having made 10 fewer appearances.
One of the more important stats for some, both Pogba and De Bruyne have played big parts in their respective sides successes so far this season.
Scoring three goals in 13 games so far this season, Pogba averages 0.24 goals per 90 minutes. This is only slightly bettered by De Bruyne, whose six goals have come at a rate of 0.27 per 90.
But the biggest swing is the assists, with Pogba’s nine coming in significantly fewer games than De Bruyne’s.
Pogba was held back before the arrival of Nemanja Matic this summer, the Serbian’s presence having enabled Jose Mourinho to loosen the Frenchman’s reins by freeing him of certain defensive duties.
However, City rival De Bruyne has had more success than Pogba in beating opponents, completing 79.59% of his 49 take-on attempts, averaging 1.79 per 90.
Creating moves from deep, no player has attempted more through balls than De Bruyne’s 24 this season, averaging 1.04 per game. Pogba has attempted nine at an average of 0.69 per game, having made 10 fewer appearances.
Round three: end product
(Goals and assists)One of the more important stats for some, both Pogba and De Bruyne have played big parts in their respective sides successes so far this season.
Scoring three goals in 13 games so far this season, Pogba averages 0.24 goals per 90 minutes. This is only slightly bettered by De Bruyne, whose six goals have come at a rate of 0.27 per 90.
But the biggest swing is the assists, with Pogba’s nine coming in significantly fewer games than De Bruyne’s.
Playing just 13 games this season, Pogba has an average of 0.72 assists per 90 while the Belgian, who has started every game this season, averages 0.41 per 90.
Pogba’s assists have come from fewer goalscoring opportunities created, with 33.3% of his 27 chances having been converted. De Bruyne’s nine assists have come from 68 created chances, at a 13% success rate.
They cannot, of course, create a total picture and in having been available for a greater portion of the season, his Belgian counterpart can be argued to have had a greater impact on the course of the current campaign overall.
Feel free, then, to make your case in the comments section below – should you find yourself to be a bigger KDB fan, you’re in good company, with Bayern Munich boss Jupp Heynckes recently declaring him Europe’s standout player.
In any case, while De Bruyne and City may be running away with the Premier League, Pogba should be in with a chance of finding himself on the Player of the Year shortlist and included named in the PFA Team of the Year.
Pogba’s assists have come from fewer goalscoring opportunities created, with 33.3% of his 27 chances having been converted. De Bruyne’s nine assists have come from 68 created chances, at a 13% success rate.
Final verdict
With better results in his end product and team impact through passing and defensive metrics, despite falling slightly behind in flair, Paul Pogba can reasonably claim to have had the better season so far on an individual level based on the statistics used above when you average them out per 90 minutes of game time.They cannot, of course, create a total picture and in having been available for a greater portion of the season, his Belgian counterpart can be argued to have had a greater impact on the course of the current campaign overall.
Feel free, then, to make your case in the comments section below – should you find yourself to be a bigger KDB fan, you’re in good company, with Bayern Munich boss Jupp Heynckes recently declaring him Europe’s standout player.
In any case, while De Bruyne and City may be running away with the Premier League, Pogba should be in with a chance of finding himself on the Player of the Year shortlist and included named in the PFA Team of the Year.
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