United seeing the benefit of their dynamic duo’s flourishing partnership

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Pogba and hat-trick hero Bruno Fernandes gave best performance together in the 5-1 thrashing of Leeds In possession

The key to the partnership is Paul Pogba’s knowledge of where Bruno Fernandes is going to run. This does not take hours of analysis – the Portugal midfielder sprints towards the goal when Manchester United get possession of the ball.

For his opening goal, his run started before Pogba had received the ball. Leeds’s risky attacking from a goal-kick had broken down and once Scott Mctominay picked up the loose ball, Fernandes started moving forward. He took a gamble, relying on his United team-mates to keep the ball and find him.

Pogba’s first-time ball – over the Leeds defence – could not be executed by many others in the Premier League and it took Fernandes’s skill to collect and finish a move that required everything to run perfectly in a counter-attack that lasted a matter of seconds.

Off the ball

United were facing the constant running of Marcelo Bielsa’s stamina kings at Leeds, but Fernandes’s sprinting matched their work rate. He was meant to be tired after playing regularly through Project Restart and then going to the European Championship with Portugal, yet there was no sign of this.

When Mateusz Klich had Leeds’s first chance of the game, it was Fernandes

who sprinted back and got closest to him as he got a shot away from the edge of the area. It showed the work ethic of United’s No10, who would be forgiven for asking Fred and Mctominay to cover.

Once United won the ball, his movement took him further forward than Mason Greenwood, who started as United’s lone striker. Pogba also had attacking in mind and should have scored himself when Greenwood sent him through on a counter-attack. But his position 15 yards inside from the left flank suits him to get on the ball and move inside if there is space.

Goal threat

Pogba will get chances in this United team when he is stationed on the left. When the ball is won, United can resemble a 4-2-4 as he and Fernandes move forward and look for their chance on goal. His last Premier League goal was in January, but he looked much more of an attacking threat against Leeds.

He has a long-range goal in his locker, as he showed against Switzerland at the Euros, and with his early miss he actually sent the goalkeeper the wrong way, with his finish only a yard wide after doing everything else correctly.

Fernandes is the benchmark for making intelligent runs between full-back and centre-back, then showing ice-cool finishing. Victor Lindelof found him in this pocket when he completed his hat-trick.

Creative force

Pogba’s position on the left gives United the best of all worlds, without the responsibility of the Frenchman being one of two central midfielders. Gary Neville, the former United captain, has been outspoken on the subject, saying that Pogba does not have the discipline for that role.

In his current role he can still receive the ball in deep positions, as he did for Greenwood’s goal after United had cleared a corner and gained possession. Pogba’s pass between Pascal Struijk and the Leeds goal was an early contender for pass of the season, inch-perfect for his team-mate to run through on goal and finish.

In this system, Fernandes is the finisher rather than the creator. Even when Fred got on the scoresheet, Fernandes was directly behind him looking to latch on to Pogba’s cutback. Pogba’s team-mates appreciated his service, singling him out in the celebrations.

Defensive impact

This is perhaps the area of the game where Pogba could improve. He gets overtaken by Fernandes sprinting back to help his defence. Yet as an attacking midfielder, Pogba also knows he has cover and positions himself to spring forward. Would Ole Gunnar Solskjaer want him preoccupied with defending? That could take away something from his game and the partnership that troubled Leeds.

When Luke Ayling equalised for Leeds, he moved forward past Pogba and was given the room to take aim. At this stage of his career, it would be unfair to expect changes in Pogba’s game to make him more defensive minded.