80
QQQ Daily Mail, Friday, August 16, 2019Don’t indulge
Pogba, United,
or he’ll end up
like Sanchez
MARTIN
SAMUEL
CHIEF SPORTS WRITER
Manchester United thought they
had bought a world-class forward
to accompany them. Maybe they
thought his presence would be an
inspiring challenge for the
younger members of the squad,
too. A player they could look up
to, who would show what it took
to reach the elite level.T
hAt is why Sanchez
was deemed so valua-
ble. Yet he swiftly
brought his Arsenal
attitude to United. he was a poor
example to the young players, a
negative in the dressing room.
Now he is being encouraged to
leave before the transfer window
shuts in Europe — but, unsurpris-
ingly, no suitors can afford his
wages. What a disastrous transfer
this has been. Its only worth will
be if United learn their lesson in
dealing with Pogba. he is spin-
ning his performances, just as
Sanchez did at Arsenal. It won’t
end well, if he is further indulged.to be in such an advantageous
position. But let’s not kid
ourselves. It wasn’t by giving
everything.
Sanchez got away with it at
Arsenal, too. he lived the easy
life, able to shift the blame else-
where and unwilling to accept
any personal responsibility, even
when it was obvious his own form
had dipped. Everyone saw those
games, and too many fell for it.
the arm-waving, the sulking, the
hunched shoulders, the anguished
expression. Poor Alexis. If only
he had better around him,
what a player he could be.
And people forgot that, at
Barcelona, he did have better
around him and the way that
worked out was he couldn’t
get in the team. he certainly
had better at United.
As was seen on Sun-
day, it is possible to
get a tune out of
Marcus Rashford,
Anthony Martial and
Jesse Lingard, andCELTIC HAVE IT TOO EASY AT HOME
A
LExIS SANChEZ
was indulged too
long. that has
always been the
problem for Man-
chester United. Not that
they started it.
At Arsenal, Sanchez was allowed
to perpetuate the idea that his
team-mates were always to
blame. he was allowed to talk —
or in his case, gesticulate — a bet-
ter game than he was playing.
United are now making the same
mistake with Paul Pogba.
No sooner had Manchester
United’s season started in the
brightest way possible, than
Pogba was up to his divisive tricks
again. ‘Only time will tell — this
question mark remains,’ he said
when asked about his future, now
the domestic transfer window
had closed. So far, so tiresome.
But it was Pogba’s view of his
performance levels that really
caught the eye. ‘I always give it
everything,’ he said. ‘I give the
maximum each time.’
Really? It didn’t look that way
against Chelsea. Pogba (below)
may have enjoyed a decent game,
played a lovely pass for the third
goal, and been the architect of
the fourth, too, but there were
still moments when his work-rate
dipped way below the stated
maximum. In the first half, for
instance, he made a surging run
into the opposition area, and
when the move was intercepted
and Chelsea broke, began a slow
amble back towards his own half.
By the time he strode into
anything approaching a run
— never a sprint — Chelsea
were 30 yards from Unit-
ed’s goal. then that coun-
ter attack ended, too, and
Pogba was in position to
receive the ball and go
again. So it worked
out for the best
and many in
the stadium
wouldn’t even
have noticed
how he cameFootball
Our scout is a top football
expert who attends matches
each week searching for the
next star. He’ll bring you his
verdict in Sportsmail.THE
SCOUT
WHAT HAS HE GOT?
This young centre back did not
surprise me when he made his
Leeds debut so impressively
recently.
I saw him at Brighton’s plush
academy in a game three
seasons ago and was
impressed. Here he was
excellent and, sitting on the
right side of his centre
back colleague in an
orthodox back four,
he showed
impressive
maturity.
An early
interception
where he changed
pace over 10 yards, moved
forward and played an
intelligent angled pass to set
Leeds on the attack.
His task was to mark the
opposition’s main striker, a
physical player, while his
colleague was the spare man
covering for a mistake.
I liked the way that he sensed
danger when a low cross
skipped across the six-yard
box and was grasped by his
goalkeeper. He stayed
alongside him in case he
spilled the ball. His courage
was also not in question.
He put his body in the way of a
fierce shot and twice went
into challenges close to goal
with no fear.WHAT DOES HE NEED?
I would like to see if he can
dominate a big striker in the
air and, although nevertroubled for pace in this
game, he will be tested more
as the season progresses.
White (above) seems calm and
has a poise which suggests he
has an inner confidence.
Replacing Leeds legend
Pontus Jansson is a big task
but he looks well up for it.
Strangely Brighton have just
recruited two central
defenders, Adam Webster
from Bristol City and Matt
Clarke from Portsmouth.
But in doing so they have
given this player the chance
to make his mark elsewhere.
Consistency will be the key.
He has served a loan
apprenticeship at Newport and
Peterborough so he can now
show it was a useful pathway.BEN WHITE
AGE: 21 CLUB: LEEDS (ON LOAN FROM BRIGHTON)
POSITION: CENTRE BACK VA LU E : £2.5M2018-19 APPS: 15 GOALS: 1
CELTIC were not the only
significant name to exit the
Champions League at the
qualifying stage this week.
Porto were eliminated, Basle,
too. And while neither are the
current champions in Portugal
or Switzerland, like Celtic, they
have benefited from long,
recent periods of dominance.
Celtic have won eight Scottish
titles on the turn, while Basle
have won nine of the last 12 in
Switzerland. Only Porto and
Benfica have finished top in
Portugal since 2001-02, with
Porto winning 10 of 17.
Meanwhile, the most
consistently dominant team in
Europe — BATE Borisov now
on a run of 13 straightBelarusian titles — did not
even make it this far,
eliminated in the previous
qualifying round.
The absence of domestic
competition makes a team
soft. CFR Cluj, who beat Celtic,
are the strongest force in
Romanian football right now
with back-to-back titles, but
Liga 1 has produced four
different champions across
the last five seasons. A
consistent challenge keeps a
club sharp. It may also explain
why Paris Saint-Germain have
been unable to crack the
Champions League, or why
Bayern Munich’s threat has
diminished since they took
charge in Germany.SPORT IN BRIEF
UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE
3RD QUALIFYING ROUND 2ND LEG
ABERDEEN ....(0) 0 RIJEKA .......(2) 2
Agg: 0-4. Loncar 10, Colak 32
RANGERS .....(2) 3 MIDTJYLLAND. (0) 1
Morelos 14, 49 Evander 72
Ojo 39 Agg: 7-3.
TNS FC ........(0) 0 LUDOGORETS.. (2) 4
Swierczok 36, 77
Agg: 0-9. Lukoki 42, Biton 90
WOLVES ......(0) 4 PYUNIK .......(0) 0
Pedro Neto 54
Gibbs-White 58
Ruben Vinagre 64
Jota 87 Agg: 8-0.
÷CRICKET
1ST TEST MATCH — Galle, New Zea-
land 249 (83.2 overs, L R P L Taylor
86, M K P A D Dananjaya 5-80, R A S
Lakmal 4-29), Sri Lanka 227-7 (80
overs, B K G Mendis 53, A D Mathews
50, A Y Patel 5-76).
T20 BLAST - NORTH GROUP — Derby,
Leicestershire 149-7 (20 overs) v
Derbyshire 94 (18.2 overs). Leices-
tershire (2pts) beat Derbyshire by 55
runs. Emirates Riverside, Worces-
tershire 117-7 (20 overs), Durham
114-6 (20 overs). Worcestershire
(2pts) beat Durham by 3 runs.
P W L T NR Pts R/R
Lancashire......... 10 6 1 0 3 15 0.90
Worcestershire 10 5 3 0 2 12 0.39
Notts ................... 9 4 3 0 2 10 0.76
Leicestershire... 10 4 4 0 2 10 -0.41
Durham .............. 10 4 5 0 1 9 -0.25
Derbyshire ........ 10 4 5 0 1 9 -0.25
Warwickshire ..... 9 3 4 1 1 8 -0.47
Northants ........... 9 2 4 0 3 7 -0.15
Yorkshire ............ 9 1 4 1 3 6 -0.38
SOUTH GROUP — The Kia Oval, Sur-
rey 163-8 (20 overs), Sussex 137-8 (20
overs). Surrey (2pts) beat Sussex by
26 runs.P W L T NR Pts R/R
Sussex ................. 9 6 1 1 1 14 0.86
Middlesex .......... 10 6 3 0 1 13 0.72
Kent.................... 10 6 3 0 1 13 0.10
Gloucestershire 10 4 3 1 2 11 0.10
Somerset ............ 9 5 4 0 0 10 1.01
Hampshire .......... 9 3 5 0 1 7 -0.16
Surrey ................ 10 3 6 1 0 7 -0.41
Essex ................... 9 2 4 0 3 7 -1.16
Glamorgan ........ 10 0 6 1 3 4 -1.75
÷GOLF
D+D REAL CZECH MASTERS
(Albatross Golf Resort, Prague,
Czech Republic) — 1st rnd (GB &
Ire unless stated, par 72): 64 — G
Green (Mal); 65 — E Van Rooyen
(SA); L Slattery; 66 — J B. Hansen
(Den); H Leon (US); K Reitan
(Nor); C Shinkwin; K Koivu (Fin); E
Molinari (It); 67 — R Karlsson (Swe);
J Scrivener (A); L Johnston; D
Fichardt (SA); B Wiesberger (Aut);
T Pieters (Bel); 68 — K Samooja
(Fin); R Wattel (F); A Pavan (It);
B Easton (SA); Z Lombard (SA); S
Lee (Kor).
÷RUGBY LEAGUE
BETFRED SUPER LEAGUE
LEEDS ........ 20 ST HELENS ... 36
Leeds — T: Myler, Handley 2, Newman.
G: Martin 2.
St Helens — T: Grace, Naiqama 3, Z.
Taia 2. G: Percival 6.
P W D L F A Pts
St Helens .............26 23 0 3 842 383 46
Warrington .........25 15 0 10 670 449 30
Hull .......................25 15 0 10 593 636 30
Wigan...................25 14 0 11 583 497 28
Salford .................25 13 0 12 680 541 26
Castleford ...........25 13 0 12 570 516 26
Catalans D ...........25 13 0 12 509 634 26
Leeds ...................26 10 0 16 576 610 20
Wakefield ............25 9 0 16 519 656 18
Huddersfield .......25 9 0 16 519 670 18
Hull K R ................25 9 0 16 482 687 18
London Broncos..25 8 0 17 448 712 16÷TENNIS
WESTERN & SOUTHERN OPEN
(Cincinnati, Ohio) — Men’s 3rd
rnd: A Rublev (Rus) bt (3) R Fed-
erer (Swi) 6-3 6-4; (9) D Medvedev
(Rus) bt J Struff (G) 6-2 6-1; (11) R
B Agut (Sp) bt M Kecmanovic
(Ser) 6-1 6-2; R Gasquet (F) bt D S
Schwartzman (Arg) 7-6 (8-6) 6-3;
Y Nishioka (Jpn) bt A De Minaur
(A) 7-5 6-4; (16) D Goffin (Bel) bt
A Mannarino (F) 7-6 (8-6) 6-2.
Women’s 3rd rnd: (1) A Barty (A)
bt A Kontaveit (Est) 4-6 7-5 7-5; M
Sakkari (Gre) bt (9) A Sabalenka
(Blr) 6-7 (4-7) 6-4 6-4; (3) Karolina
Pliskova (Cz) bt R Peterson (Swe)
7-5 6-4; V Williams (US) bt D Vekic
(Cro) 2-6 6-3 6-3.
÷TODAY’S ACTION
SKY BET CHAMPIONSHIP
Huddersfield v Fulham .......... (7.45)
Live on Sky Sports Football
BETFRED LEAGUE CUP 2ND ROUND
Motherwell v Hearts ............. (7.45)
Live on BT Sport 1
CRICKET — 2nd Test Match—day
3 of 5: England v Australia (Lord’s,
11am). 1st Test Match—day 3 of 5:
Sri Lanka v New Zealand (Galle,
5.30am).t20 Blast - North Group:
Lancashire v Warwickshire (Emir-
ates Old Trafford, 6.30), Northamp-
tonshire v Leicestershire (North-
ampton, 6.30), Nottinghamshire
v Derbyshire (Trent Bridge, 6.30),
Yorkshire v Durham (Emerald
Headingley, 7pm). South Group:
Essex v Glamorgan (Chelmsford,
7pm), Hampshire v Surrey (The
Ageas Bowl, 7pm), Kent v Sussex
(Canterbury, 7pm), Somerset v
Gloucestershire (Taunton, 6.30).
MOTOR CYCLING — British Super-
bike Ch’ship rd 8 (Cadwell Park).
RUGBY LEAGUE — Betfred Super
Lge (7.45): Wigan v Warrington.