⚽⚽⚽-Hapless Man Utd display highlights Pogba's importance

The France World Cup winner made a surprise return following injury and illness but his presence alone was not enough to prevent his side slipping up
Manchester United are too predictable and need Paul Pogba to stay fit.

Chelsea reinforced their spot in the Premier League's top four as Frank Lampard outwitted his former leader Jose Mourinho in a masterful tactical performance.

Manchester City put in their best performance of the season against an overwhelmed Leicester City.

Goal  breaks down how the key coaching decisions impacted the weekend's action...



1) Another hapless Man Utd performance highlights Pogba’s importance
There wasn’t much new about Manchester United’s defeat at bottom club Watford, but as the pattern of their matches becomes ever more predictable, surely it is time the board question whether Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is capable of steering the club in the right direction.

A damning statistic - under the Norwegian United have won 73 per cent of the Premier League games in which they have had less than 50% possession and 36% of those they have held more than 50%.

It isn’t hard to work out what tactics to deploy against them. Watford inevitably sat deep and absorbed pressure in a simple 4-5-1 formation, with Nigel Pearson’s defensive coaching over the last week paying dividends as the hosts easily shut down Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial.

Counterattacking quickly down both flanks, Watford then took advantage of Rashford and Daniel James’s high starting positions; Ismaila Sarr and Gerard Deulofeu were a constant threat.

If there is a lesson for United it is that Pogba must start every game from now until the end of the season, no matter how undisciplined his positioning can be and no matter how much Fred is improving.

In the 26 minutes Pogba was on the pitch United had 10 shots compared with seven in the first 64.

His long-range through balls and clipped passes in behind stretched the defence, giving Solskjaer’s pacey forwards a chance to stretch their legs even against deep-lying opponents.

2) City switch the play superbly but Rodgers fails to respond to Mahrez threat
Manchester City produced arguably their best performance of the season so far on Saturday courtesy of high-energy possession football that used a numerical advantage in central midfield to quickly move the ball from one flank to the other.

Leicester City were dragged too far to the right, and when Man City switched the play, Riyad Mahrez was left completely unmarked.

The Algerian dominated the match, scoring the first and playing an important role in the second and third goals thanks to his manager’s tactics.

Pep Guardiola’s use of a 4-2-3-1 with Bernardo Silva deep alongside Ilkay Gundogan ensured City had numerous short-passing options in the middle of the park, particularly with Kyle Walker inverting into central midfield and Kevin De Bruyne staying narrower than he has on many occasions this season.

Leicester were suffocated, and - passing with a good tempo - City took advantage of the visitors’ failure to either press high or drop deep.

By hovering somewhere in between, Leicester were too open, although things could have been different had Brendan Rodgers given Harvey Barnes instruction from the touchline.