Paul Pogba’s blunder in his attempt to protect his head, apparently his face, from being the target of an incoming ball hurling towards him at the speed of light, conceded a costly penalty with his ‘awkward’ handball against West Ham, and in a moment of lightness revisiting his pricey fumble, Bruno Fernandes appeared to share a joke over the incident with West Ham’s Michail Antonio as his Man Utd team-mate watched on obviously unamused.
A roving camera caught Pogba.silently watching Fernandes appearing to share a laugh with Antonio at his expense after the France midfielder gave away a penalty for handball as he attempted to get out the way of thunderous get-the-hell outta-my-way- Declan Rice shot just before half-time.
It initially appeared the ball had hit Pogba in the face as he went down, only for VAR to confirm it had hit his arms raised in anticipation of the impact as Antonio subsequently made no mistake to nail the conversion from 12 yards.
As the teams returned to the pitch for the second half, the West Ham attacker who scored the penalty attacker was seen imitating Pogba’s handball incident, which must have seemed funny albeit awkward for the United midfielder in retrospect, Antonio spoke to Fernandes and the pair enjoyed a laugh over the incident.
Pogba was then spotted in the background looking at the duo and appeared far from impressed as he attempted to refocus to make recompense in the second half.
Mason Greenwood eventually did good netting an equaliser for United, who still dropped two points in the top four race as a result of Pogba’s questionable error.
And club legend Gary Neville was unstoppable and scathing in his criticism of the Frenchman as he watched on co-commentary duty on Sky Sports.
Watching the first replay, he said: “He’s in trouble. He’s in big trouble, Paul Pogba.
“He’s in big, big trouble. He’s given a penalty away then pretended it’s hit his head.”
He continued to lambast the Frenchman with disdain as VAR reviewed the footage.
“It’s rubbish from him. Rubbish,” he continued to blast away.
“And to think I felt a little bit sorry for him. I thought he took a whack in the head. Embarrassing.
“I don’t know why VAR are looking at it that long to be honest, it’s a penalty.
“He shakes his head. Is he trying to make out he’s got a bloody nose?
“No brainer, don’t know what he’s looking at, it’s a penathe two United midfielders in the next match? lty.”
I guess it’s simply a case of it being ‘to each his own’. Pogba must have felt protecting his face was apparently more of a priority than safeguarding the club’s interests and pre-eminence!
Just wondering – how would this affect the on-pitch partnership that’s just only started to come along promisingly between the two United midfielders? Ha ha ha ha!!