Paul Pogba remains calm - 'It's true that we must do better'

As he made his way to the team bus after France's opening game in Group C, Paul Pogba was realistic about his team's performance. Assessing a largely forgettable win over a committed, aggressive Australia, a victory significantly helped by the application of video assistance, Pogba said:

“We must not be too hard on ourselves, but it’s true that we must do better. We hope to do better the next games. But if we win all like that, we'll take it.” Sporting a pair of John Lennon sunglasses, his hairstyle unusually sober, Pogba was in a business-like frame of mind, straight-forward and pragmatic.

“They were very determined and they defended well,” he said of the Australians. “It was difficult to find the spaces between the lines which is our strong point. We did not have many chances of goals as we are used to. Now, we know what to expect duringWorld Cup matches that are never easy.”

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In a team of substantial youthful talent, Pogba remains the focal point of this French side. When he walked through the mixed zone after the game, the surge of reporters seeking his opinion was quite a sight. And, as usual, his name was the most frequently used in the manager’s post-match press conference. Indeed there was a telling moment when a Russian journalist asked the French coach Didier Deschamps about the player’s performance in the game.

“You have been criticised for not getting the best out of Pogba, but he was the best player on the pitch today, what did you say to him to make him play like that?”

Deschamps answer was instructive. He said to the collected French press pack: “Did you hear that? He asked what I did to make Pogba play well.” As he spoke, he sought out eye contact with the several prominent critics who have frequently insisted he is not employing the player properly.

Indeed there is a similar tone to the criticism to that which Jose Mourinho faced last season: this French team, with Pogba at its heart, is dismissed by many as much less than the sum of its parts.

Deschamps himself admitted that against the Australians, there had been a “lack of pace and speed” about the team. Which is odd given the personnel: players like Kylian M’Bappe and Ousmane Dembele are quick enough to challenge Usain Bolt in a straight sprint.

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But watching the French collective labour their way to victory in Kazan, it would be unfair to place any of the blame for the pedestrian pace on Pogba. He was central to the build up to both goals, freeing Antoine Griezmann with a superb pass to win the penalty, then galloping forward to concoct the winner, which may well have been an own goal by the unfortunate Aziz Behich, who seemed to have got the final touch to Pogba’s shot.

“I will be honest,” smiled Pogba when asked the identity of the scorer. “It's a goal for the French team.”

Rather than blaming Pogba, France’s problem seems to stem from the structure at the heart of the side. In a midfield three, the Manchester United man plays to the left of N’Golo Kante, with Corentin Tolisso on the right. But with Kante playing so deep he was practically a third central defender, there was nobody in the middle supplying passes and getting up to support the pacey front line. Which meant instead of probing, France were plodding. One prominent Deschamps critic, alluding to the intervention of the VAR, described the ensuing victory as “Technology 1 Good Football 0”.

Nonetheless, France negotiated a potential slip up and emerged with three points. It is often claimed the mark of a good team is the ability to scratch out a victory even when playing badly. Certainly Pogba did not seem unduly alarmed about the negativity the performance seemed to have engendered among the French travelling press.

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“Critics are always here. That's football,” he said. “When I was little, with my friends, we always used to take the piss out of each other, saying 'you were good, you were bad.' It's [about what happens] on the pitch and I treat the criticism like I did when I was playing on the block as a kid. I never listen to it. I'm having fun and that's the only answer I can give to all those people who criticise me or who think that I'm this or that. It's not a big deal. Everybody has opinions.”