Infusion of Pogba at #10 Role Could Make United Dangerous At Last

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There may be light at the end of the tunnel yet as far as Manchester United is concerned. The return of Anthony Martial to full time action has given them a much needed injection of creativity. The move of Marcus Rashford back to his preferred left forward role rather than the #9 role created two of his better displays all season.

When United have had the two together in their preferred roles they have 3 Wins, 2 losses, and 2 draws in the league and a perfect 2 wins in 2 in other comps. That's 11 points in 7 games but just 5 in games without them together. However, it is worth noting that they should have won the game they drew at Wolves and at least drawn if not won their home game against Crystal Palace but for missed penalties. That said, it's part of the game and they have proven since that they are inept at those. Both of them missed from the spot despite being Norwich a couple weeks back.

The light at the end of the tunnel is that Paul Pogba might come back and finally add another piece of creativity desperately needed to this lineup. Fred has also improved considerably in Pogba's absence and has essentially removed Matic from the lineup. A good thing to be sure. Scott McTominay took a leap forward and is now irreplaceable which will make for an interesting month as it looks like he may miss about that much time with the injury he got. But he should be back in December right around the same time Pogba returns. Guessing that Andreas Pereira doesn't come on big for the next 3-4 weeks, it would naturally be his position, rather than Fred's, that may be the best one to put Pogba in. Pogba may be able to finally unleash all the offensive talent he has if he were to be given the #10 slot. Fred and McTominay have worked well actually in the back of the midfield in Solskjaer's preferred 4-2-3-1 formation. If Pogba was launched in the middle of the 3, suddenly you have a really speedy and dangerous foursome in attack and someone actually able to transition the ball from back to front.

United's biggest weakness thus far this season is that they are horrible at transitioning the ball from defense to offense. They are unable to make the incisive pass often enough to spring the attack. This is where they miss Pogba most as he is able to find the man when starting attacks. Which is why he'd make a very interesting #10. If he suddenly sprung attacks with the speed Rashford and James have got up the flanks, it could really create problems for opposing defenses. Fred and McTominay have shown more and more willingness to keep opposition in check as well when United is attacking.

A top 4 finish is improbable at this stage for United. But if this group were to get in sync and avoid injury, they should be the favorite to win the Europa League and thus still manage to get into the Champions League via that route. The problem for them is that we are talking about players who get injured far too easily and there is a major lack of depth beneath.