Souness: Pogba challenge was a ‘leg-breaker’

Graeme Souness has branded Paul Pogba’s challenge on Ruben Neves in the build-up to Mason Greenwood’s winning goal on Sunday a ‘leg-breaker’.

The Sky Sports pundit claims that the Frenchman – long the subject of his ire – should have seen red for the shin-high challenge during the 1-0 victory.

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“It is a foul,” he told Sky Sports. “Pogba doesn’t make any contact with the ball whatsoever. He made contact with the shin and the shinguard.

“How is it not a foul? That’s a leg-breaker. The referee is not blind-sided by anything, he’s two metres away from it. Whether Neves goes down immediately or doesn’t go down, that is immaterial. That is a leg-breaker. Look how close he is.

“That referee has deemed that not to be a foul. That’s impossible for anyone who knows anything about football to say that’s not a foul. He’s two yards away.

“He’s nowhere near the ball. It’s more than worrying. It’s alarming when a so-called senior referee doesn’t see that as a foul.”

Roy Keane agreed it should have been a foul, saying: “The real frustration for Wolves is that they’ve played really well and still lost the game. It rubs salt into the wounds. We all like the physical part of the game, but today I think that was a foul.

“Usually, when a poor decision is made we talk about the referee’s position but [Mike Dean] is in a great position. There was contact and I think it was a foul. Their biggest frustration is that they’ve lost the game.

“If he gives that as a foul, not one Manchester United player would’ve complained. Most fouls come from a bad touch, and Pogba took a bad touch there. He’s chasing after it but I think Neves could’ve been a bit smarter.”

Pogba himself dismissed talk of a foul, saying: “My view is, this is the Premier League, it’s a 50-50, every weekend you have this happening and today it was a question.

“If it was a foul it would be a foul. It was 50-50, I need to see it again but I don’t touch him.”