Pogba’s not gone to pieces..United is Jose’s jigsaw & it’s his job to fit all the bits together

Mr Marmite.. Love him, hate him, you can’t ignore him

HAS Paul Pogba become a luxury, rather than a necessity, as Jose Mourinho tries to make the jigsaw pieces fit at Manchester United?

Don’t write off Pogba at United just yet – he cost £89million because he’s a fantastic player. But sooner rather than later Mourinho will have to decide if he’s going to build this United side around Pogba and release him as a free spirit or ask him to conform with a formation to get the best out of his forwards.

Last summer I predicted that Pogba would be a star turn in the Premier League this season but we’ve seen his best form only in patches.

I still believe he was a great signing, the type of player United fans expect to attract to the club, but he is not taking games by the scruff of the neck in the way he did for Juventus.

Is it Pogba’s fault or is the manager not getting the best out of him?

If Pogba was playing for City, would we be seeing the best of him?

So far this season he has contributed just three goals (plus 10 assists) yet he scored nine (plus six assists) in the previous campaign and 10 goals (plus 16 assists) in his last season for Juventus.

At Juve he looked world class but he was playing for a team who have dominated Serie A for years. He also had Andrea Pirlo and Arturo Vidal pulling the strings in midfield, so he was keeping very reputable company.

Last season, Pogba looked at his best when United played a 4-3-3 system and his best performance so far in 2017-18 was in a 4-3-3 formation at Everton. But Mourinho claimed his side was set up in a 4-3-3 in the woeful defeat at Newcastle last weekend.

So why are United not getting full value from him?

There is speculation that he is unhappy at being required to play a deep-lying role in midfield instead of making things happen in the final third. Pogba has not completed 90 minutes for United since the 1-0 win at Burnley on January 20, and he cut a disconsolate figure when he was substituted at Newcastle. But he is not the only United player whose form has dipped since Christmas. Pogba (left, with Mourinho) gets the stick but Nemanja Matic, Romelu Lukaku, Marcus Rashford and Ander Herrera – among others – have produced only glimpses of their best football in recent months.

They say Pogba is unhappy at Old Trafford but he didn’t look unhappy to win two trophies last season – and he could win two more this year.

As for speculation that he regrets not signing for Real Madrid instead of United, have you seen the league table in Spain lately? Real are having their worst season for ages.

I still like Pogba as a player and I still believe he can become the heartbeat of Manchester United’s midfield, just like Old Trafford legends Roy Keane, Bryan Robson and Paul Scholes were before him.

But we are at a pivotal moment in the club’s season. The FA Cup, in which they face Huddersfield today, is United’s best bet for a trophy, and they have a tricky Champions League date with Sevilla next week.

This is the time for the real Paul Pogba to stand up, influence big games, and make himself the first name on Mourinho’s teamsheet.

At the moment, if Pogba is not in the side, would United miss his scoring power? Probably not.

Would they miss his energy, his creativity, his set-piece expertise? Maybe – but there is plenty of that in the team.

People are very quick to jump on Pogba’s case because he cost so much money but he is only one piece of a very expensive jigsaw.

It’s time for Mourinho to fit the pieces together.