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Manchester Uniteds Paul Pogba will have done himself a favour by his attitude to the Hammers fans following the game on Saturday evening.
Despite scoring a goal which should never have been allowed, he had nothing but praise for the 2000 Irons inside the stadium who hit him with a barrage of boos whenever he touched the ball as a result.
Unlike his boss, Ole Gunnar Solsjkaer, he reckoned the decision to allow play to continue was wrong despite hammering him a shot which was entirely unstoppable.
It unquestionably changed a game in which the Hammers had been well on top for an hour but he appeared to accept it was a wrong decision by claiming he was doing his job in time honoured fashion by playing to the whistle.
And he told the Irons barrackers that he had enjoyed the the pressure they had put on him whilst making it clear he was delighted to see them inside the stadium.
He said: “So good, so good (to see West Ham fans at the game),” Pogba told manutd.com.
He was honest about his goal, acknowledging that Dean Henderson’s kick went out of play. But he insisted he stuck to the age old discipline of playing to the whistle.
“It is totally different. Of course, it’s football but with with the crowd you can feel the love of the fans, so good.”
Pogba had clashed with Hammers captain Mark Noble at the London Stadium a couple of years ago but showedd that had been forgotten by posing for photos with Noble’s son Lenny and giving him his shirt after the game (The Sun).
Nice touch.
Pogba is just as likely to be booed by ManU fans as ours. I cannot understand why he stays with ManU, they are trying to make him into a two way midfielder when he clearly isn’t. He is a world class talent and is miserable with ManU. His action shows that he understands football is a game, that ends after 90 minutes.
Frankly I find that heart-warming. Honesty, integrity, modesty are all good characteristics that have been lacking in our celebrity culture. I hope that these great players in the public eye can talk the talk and walk the walk on these things to show that brutishness, racism, homophobia and bullying have no place here.