Manchester United In Crisis: The Amazing Stats That Show Paul Pogba Is Ineffective Compared To Chelsea Midfielder

It was a golden opportunity for Manchester United's premier players to stand up and be counted on Monday night, but yet again they wilted under the beaming lights of Old Trafford as Jose Mourinho's side lost 3-0 to Tottenham Hotspur, and things are far from rosy at the Theatre of Dreams.

Romelu Lukaku's glaring miss in the first half is sure to take centre stage as the United post-mortem takes place today, but yet again Paul Pogba's ineptitude in the middle of the park just showed that all is not well with the French international.

Returning to the north west of England as a World Cup winner, Pogba was expected to carry on with the sort of inspired performances he produced for Didier Deschamps in Russia, as the 25-year-old helped France lifted the biggest trophy in world football, but instead of using that tournament success as a catalyst to sore into the "World's Best Footballer" category, Pogba's displays on the pitch have been as shoddy as United's defensive line-up this season.

He may have handed the captain's armband back to Antonio Valencia, but Pogba has to be United's driving force, and show leadership by his will to take the game to the Red Devils' opponents, but instead he was non-existent for most of the game against Spurs - as he was in United's 3-2 defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion two games ago - and Pogba was often seen trying to start attacks from his own half instead of trying to dominate the central areas and feed the likes of Lukaku and Jesse Lingard.

Comparing Pogba's shambolic display last night against Jorginho's stunning performance for Chelsea in their 2-1 win over Newcastle United on Sunday just shows that Pogba is lacking, and these statistics make sorry reading for United fans.

During the 90 minutes in Monday's defeat to Spurs, Pogba only touched the ball 66 times and made a meagre 43 passes, of which 34 successful.  Compare that to the stunning statistics that Jorginho produced for Chelsea where the Italian midfielder touched the ball 186 times and made a mind-blowing 173 passes.  Of the 173 passes a staggering 158 were successful, which was only eight successful passes shy of an all-time Premier League record, which is held by Manchester City's Ilkay Gundogan.

Nearly three times as many passes show that Jorginho's ability to get on the ball is far superior to that of Pogba, and while United fans could argue that Chelsea had to contend with a defensive-minded Newcastle United side, unlike themselves who had to play potential Premier League title contenders Spurs, it's the manner in which Pogba struggles to locate space on the pitch to receive the ball, and while he maybe carrying out instructions from Mourinho, United fans are used to watching the likes of Paul Scholes, whose willingness to get on the ball and create is second to none.

A more glaring statistic that highlights Pogba's poor display is that he lost possession 21 times, with Jorginho losing the ball twice less at 19 times during their respective 90 minutes, while four entries into the final third and six entries into Spurs' penalty box shows that Pogba's lack of drive is holding United back.  Jorginho amassed 26 final third entries, entering Newcastle's box five times during the Blues win.

So, those damning stats just show that Pogba is struggling since his World Cup heroics, but will Mourinho be brave enough to drop the so-called "star man" at United when they head to Burnley on Sunday afternoon.