Paul Scholes on why Pogba isn't replicating Juve form: He's too 'cocky'

Paul Scholes believes he knows why Paul Pogba isn’t performing at the standards he set while at Juventus and implied the French World Cup winner is unable to control games in the way a player of his calibre should.

Scholes says that while in Italy, it was the players around Pogba that elevated his game to a higher level that he can’t reproduce at Manchester United.

The midfielder has come under intense scrutiny this season with his inconsistent performances contributing to United’s rocky start to the season. Pogba’s turbulent relationship with manager Jose Mourinho has also not helped matters, which lead to Mourinho taking the vice-captaincy from him.

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And the United legend – who won 11 Premier League titles, three FA Cups and two Champions League titles at Old Trafford under Sir Alex Ferguson – says that it is Pogba’s “switching off” which often costs him.

“He does some of the best things in games, a great pass or dribble, a great touch or dribble,” Scholes told an exclusive interview with ESPN .

“Then, five minutes later, he’ll do one of the worst things like his brain has switched off, like it’s all about him because he’s just shown everyone how good he is.

“That becomes easy to play against because you know that cockiness will come. Against Wolves , he showed a great touch to [set up] Fred but then the next minute he’d given the ball away in midfield, which led to a goal. That sums him up.”

And Scholes thinks that the calibre of player Pogba is surrounded by at United isn’t helping him, as he was joined by much better, much more experienced stars at former club Juventus.

“We never saw that at Juventus , but [Pogba] was a smaller fish there,” he continued.

“Look around that team, with [Gianluigi] Buffon, [Andrea] Pirlo, [Leonardo] Bonucci, [Giorgio] Chiellini, [Claudio] Marchisio: great experienced players.

“I loved that team, especially Pirlo and the way he was so relaxed as he controlled the game.

“Pogba was part of a great team but he’s come to United where he’s got nobody to control him like he had at Juventus.”