Erik ten Hag has prioritised discipline and brought strict rules back to Manchester United this season and his decision to allow Paul Pogba to leave last summer appears to have been vindicated.
Pogba has been dropped from the Juve squad for their crucial Europa League match at home to Freiburg on Thursday due to disciplinary issues. It comes just weeks after Pogba’s return to fitness after not playing a match for 297 days.
The Frenchman came on as a late substitute in Juve’s 4-2 derby Serie A win over Torino on 28 February, the first time he had featured for his new club and his first match since limping out of United’s four-goal loss at Liverpool in April last season.
It is fair to say that the central midfielder’s return to Turin after six years away has not gone to plan, with continued fitness problems – alongside him being one of the highest-earning players in Italy – calling into question the Bianconeri’s judgement on signing him.
Two appearances from the bench have seen the 29-year-old slowly integrate himself into Allegri's setup. His absence on Thursday was first reported by Gazzetta dello Sport less than eight hours before kick-off, as it soon emerged that Juve boss Max Allegri had received the backing of Juventus officials with his decision to drop Pogba from his squad.
United do not appear to have missed Pogba, with the summer arrivals of Casemiro and Christian Eriksen transforming the club’s midfield – alongside the loan addition of Marcel Sabitzer – with the club now enjoying more success on the pitch than in recent seasons.
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Pogba was one of a dozen first-team squad players to leave Old Trafford last summer with Ten Hag giving his blessing to the club not to even offer him a new deal. It was believed that the club’s resources could be much better used on other players, while Pogba did not have the qualities that the Dutch manager admires.
Ten Hag has reinforced discipline at United this season, with the number of first-team player exits from last season’s squad mish-mash in double figures while he has brought in a half-a-dozen new signings to transform the mood.
The Dutchman’s discipline could be seen when he dropped star striker Marcus Rashford for the New Year's Eve trip to Wolves due to sleeping in and missing a team meeting. This was not a serious offence but it was a breach of Ten Hag’s squad rules, and his message was telling.
Rashford has been United’s best player this season and benching him showed that no player was above the manager, while the boss also had the awareness to know this would prompt a positive reaction from the striker. The England international netted the winner at Molineux and has been unstoppable in the weeks since.
