Paul Pogba is a wonderful footballer. So wonderful, in fact, that he once commanded a world record fee back when transfer fees were simply mad, rather than the hallucinatory sums they have become just two years later.

But something strange happens every time Pogba has a bad game: he gets criticised for certain issues that keep popping up. One is his disposition to neglect the defensive side of his game. The other is his supposed inability to put his stamp on games.

The first question to ask is whether or not this is actually true, and the second will then be to figure out how to actually solve the problem.

Incidentally, they are fair complaints. Pogba does often appear to neglect the defensive side of the game, but mostly because he is a superb attacking player who naturally likes to bring his team forward. He is the link between defence and attack and as such is a player who will naturally drift forward towards his attackers who he wants to support.

So perhaps not so much neglecting his defensive duties and more a style of play issue - if it’s an issue at all - but you can see how some might interpret it as a lack of back-tracking.

The second point, though, is simply a strange one. Pogba gets criticised when United lose or draw. In that case, he’s clearly failed to put his stamp on the game. But why criticise him for failing? Why not point out where he should improve?

But the problem doesn’t appear to be Pogba, though. It appears to be his manager.

Sometimes you can criticise a player for looking lost or ineffective, even not knowing what he’s supposed to be doing on the pitch. At times, when Pogba doesn’t play well, these are the criticisms he might be getting. And yet, you have to wonder how much of that is a lack of instruction, or an issue stemming from the balance of the squad.

So far this season, Jose Mourinho has played in a defensive manner, certainly in the biggest games. And part of that defence-first football has been an unwillingness to take risks. Pogba has been the chief victim of that strategy. When you don’t trust your team to control the game, then you don’t trust your midfielders on the ball. Consequently, Pogba has been asked to play on the counter-attack, and so when most of his touches come during speedy breaks where he’s always looking to play the ball forward to pacey attackers, how is he supposed to actually control games?

What this comes down to is Jose Mourinho’s inability to get the best out of his biggest asset, and when Alexis Sanchez - who has played the first half of the season in an Arsenal team who have struggled majorly at times - has no shots on target for the first time this campaign, you have to ask whether the United boss is simply not getting the best out of his most important players.

There will always be criticism when things go wrong, and despite defeat to Tottenham on Wednesday night, United have still been beaten only twice since October in the Premier League. There is clear room for improvement, but things perhaps aren’t as bad as they might seem after a defeat like that.

Yet if Manchester United are to improve, surely Jose Mourinho has to find a way to allow his best and most creative players a chance to actually thrive.

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