Paul Pogba can be the answer to Manchester United’s problems if played in a midfield three

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Whether it was by accident or by design, Jose Mourinho appeared to hit on something with Manchester United's most-welcome New Year’s Day win at Goodison Park.

It should be the first rule of football management - play your best player in his or her best position - yet we have seldom seen Paul Pogba deployed as part of midfield three since he arrived at Old Trafford and it is rarer still for him to be given the license to do more than “stroll about”, as another midfielder called Paul might put it.

However, with Romelu Lukaku left out in order to “follow protocol” and Zlatan Ibrahimovic struggling to recover from what could still be a career-ending injury, Mourinho was left with little choice on Monday.

One of his wide forwards - either Anthony Martial or Marcus Rashford - would need to move up front. Jesse Lingard would, in turn, have to shift wide and given Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s struggles for form, the No 10 role would need to become a No 8.

In short, Mourinho was forced to play a 4-3-3 instead of his customary 4-2-3-1 at Everton and a by-product of this change happened to be Pogba putting in his best performance of the season to date.

It was not an instant success. United’s attacking play was as static and one-dimensional in the opening 45 minutes as it was for the entirety of the three uninspiring draws that preceded Monday’s win. At times, the football on display was not only reminiscent of those stalemates against Leicester City, Burnley and Southampton but of countless other drab affairs under Mourinho’s predecessor.

Louis van Gaal never had an £89m powerhouse to rely on, though. From throwing his arms out in frustration at Nemanja Matic's sideways passes in the first half, Pogba started to pull the strings in the second and eventually ran the show from the left-hand side of central midfield.

His reward was two assists, one for Martial’s breakthrough and another for Lingard’s follow-up, but Pogba's four shots should have resulted in at least one goal of his own. This end product from his new position was matched by an all-round display of powerful running, elegant passing and intelligent movement. Altogether, it was hard evidence in support of those who claim Pogba is a ‘complete’ midfielder.

It was also a performance that simply would not have come about if Mourinho had played Pogba alongside Matic at the base of midfield and yet Mourinho has rarely played Pogba anywhere else this season. Even last year, when the United manager flitted between formations more and 4-3-3 made intermittent appearances, his preference for two deep-lying players and a No 10 was clear.

It was still the midfield set-up he would use most during that first season in charge and in many games, notably the Europa League final, it produced results. This structure rarely extracted the best out of Pogba though. The Frenchman can sit deep at the base of a midfield and spray passes around as well as many other players but he can also offer more to an attack that often looks formulaic and lacks variance.

Much of United’s forward play during this recent mini-malaise has revolved around shooting from range and as welcome as this Goodison Park win was, it nonetheless came courtesy of two spectacular strikes from distance that, on other days, may have sailed wide or struck the upright. Of United’s 21 attempts at goal, just three came inside Everton’s area. Two of those were from a certain marauding central midfielder who is not afraid to provide a penalty box presence if given permission to do so.

The strongest argument in favour of retaining the 4-3-3 and keeping Pogba further up the pitch, however, is the problems it solves among the rest of the forward line. Lingard has played well as a No 10 since he was handed an opportunity to impress there by Mourinho but at Everton, he showed he can maintain his productive form from out wide.

United’s other options on the flanks are all struggling for consistency but, as mentioned, both Martial and Rashford can play as lone centre-forwards. Mourinho does not seem to completely trust either to lead the line but if he makes a leap of faith in either of his young forwards, he would be able to give Lukaku some much-needed rest at an opportune time of the season.

The plan rests somewhat on Ander Herrera turning around his own questionable form, and the unavailability of both Marouane Fellaini and Michael Carrick also makes packing central midfield a gamble, but the pay-off could be worth it. On New Year’s Day, Pogba showed what 2018 could bring for both him and United if Mourinho finally starts to play to his best player’s strengths.