Well, that didn’t take long, did it?
France opened their World Cup campaign in Kazan on Saturday morning with a game against Australia. Broadcast by the BBC, this was also Mark Lawrenson’s first co-commentary appearance of the tournament.
As is often the way when Lawro is behind a microphone, his name was soon trending on Twitter – largely due to an early attempt at humour from the former Liverpool defender.
Later on during the first half, the 61-year-old also managed to anger many viewers with his criticism of France’s Manchester United midfielder, Paul Pogba.
More specifically, criticism of Pogba’s hair. Lawrenson suggested the 25-year-old should concentrate on his football instead of changing his hairstyle regularly.
https://twitter.com/MatchoftheDave/status/1007935003760750592
There we have it, just over half an hour into France's first game and Lawrenson is the first to go in on Pogba's hair.
Held out longer than I thought.
— Jack Rosser (@JackRosser_) June 16, 2018
Mark Lawrenson saying Pogba needs to concentrate on his football and not his haircuts what is it with these old pundits thinking a haircut is a big deal lmao
— scribe (@_amrxi) June 16, 2018
Lawrenson confirms pogba isn't allowed to get his Hair Cut #WorldCup
— Peter Croden (@Peter_Croden) June 16, 2018
Mark Lawrenson with a proper brexit comment about Pogba needing to 'concentrate on his football' not his haircut
— G (@gmann98) June 16, 2018
Can't wait to hear the sound of disgust in Mark Lawrenson's voice when Pogba and Griezmann start doing Fortnite celebrations #WorldCup
— Rich Fay (@RichFay) June 16, 2018
34:33: Mark Lawrenson declares Paul Pogba needs to “concentrate on his football” instead of his hair. Fantastic analysis. #WorldCup
— KiΞRAN (@kieranhepworth) June 16, 2018
Mark Lawrenson saying Pogba should concentrate on football rather than his haircuts, even though he’s the one that’s talking about it and Pogba is just getting his hair cut 🤷🏻♂️
— Simon Breeze (@Simon_Breeze) June 16, 2018
This, of course, isn’t the first time Pogba has been on the receiving end of criticism from someone in the media about his hair. It was even touched on by host Mark Chapman and Phil Neville – on pundit duty for the BBC – prior to the game starting.
Pogba had the last laugh as he bundled over an 80th minute goal in France’s 2-1 win.
