Manchester United have now lost at home for the third time in four games this season, and the fourth match was a goalless draw. It’s their worst start at home in nearly a half century, and midfielder Paul Pogba has publicly taken the blame for the result today, a 1-0 loss to rival Arsenal.
The Frenchman fouled Arsenal defender Hector Bellerin, resulting in a penalty for the Gunners. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang converted from the spot and Arsenal won at Old Trafford for the first time in 14 years.
Pogba has now conceded a penalty in three of United’s last five home games. He continues to fall well short of the expectations that come with his salary and transfer fee.
“I felt like I touched him [Bellerin] a bit,” Pogba said to the BBC. “I knew I was in the box. I shouldn’t have given a penalty away like that. Maybe I was a bit out of breath, it made me do this stupid mistake.”
“We know it’s a poor performance. Myself, I cannot give a foul away like this. I thought I would touch the ball but I didn’t. [I] cost us the goal today with the penalty.”
This is the first time since the 1972-73 season that United have failed to win any of their first four home games in the league and the result dropped them down to 15th. Although Arsenal were not totally dominant, they were the superior side and today’s result says a lot about both clubs.
You have two true club men trying to rebuild their club, each one of England’s big six, but Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal is clearly further along than Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s Manchester United.
“We have to do better, the team, myself, it starts with me. I will learn from that, I’m not the best defensively in the box, I can work on that,” Paul Pogba continued.
“We also need to do more with the ball creating chances. We didn’t expect to be man for man, but after this we can adapt, we have to find a solution but we didn’t.”
United have been extremely dominant on the road in 2020, pretty much the polar opposite of their home form. The Red Devils are also off to a really hot start in the Champions League, which is again, the inverse of their dreadful domestic form.
Arsenal won a road game versus a big six side for the first time since January of 2015, ending a 29 match drought. They now sit ninth in the table.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank, partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Tribune and SB Nation. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.