Graeme Souness tells Paul Pogba he could be a top midfielder – but he doesn’t do the basics right

Graeme Souness is not Paul Pogba's biggest fan

He's been known to unleash harsh criticism on Paul Pogba, but speaking on Monday Night Football tonight, Souness gave balanced, detailed criticisms of the player he believes "could be a top top midfield player". Souness and Jamie Carragher picked apart Manchester United's marking for Chelsea's opening goal on Saturday, when Antonio Rudiger scored from a corner. Pogba was the man tasked with marking Rudiger, but lost his man, allowing him a free header in the penalty area. Highlighting that Pogba was not in a position where he could see both the man he was marking and the corner taker, nor was he close enough to Rudiger, Souness said: "His starting position is all wrong, what you can't afford to happen is for them [the attacker] to get behind you." "He has to be able to see out the corner of his eye, the kicker and the man he's marking and he fails to do that time and time again," he added. "It's not a hard thing to fix, but he's got to want to do it." Souness went on to praise Pogba's piece of skill in a tight area which allowed United to break out into an attack, which eventually lead to Anthony Martial's second goal. "He's got fabulous technique, fabulous athleticism, for me he doesn't do the basics right," Souness claimed. He then emphasised that Pogba must be willing to "listen and learn". "If this boy believes he's the real deal at 25 then he won't get any better," he said.