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1st February 2018
04:46pm GMT

Dier moves the ball onto Eriksen, who is allowed to take it on the half-turn after eluding Sanchez. The Chilean spotted the danger but spotted it late. He then makes a major error in judgement.
In the image below, you can see that Sanchez, chasing the ball in that incessant, tenacious style that has become synonymous with his play, makes the mistake of leaving Eriksen free in favour of closing down Alli. Realising this, the Spurs midfielder pokes the ball through Sanchez's legs and back to Eriksen.
While Sanchez was at fault, though, he can be aggrieved that Pogba failed to block the path to Eriksen. In addition, it should have dawned on Lingard to drop five yards deeper and occupy the space Eriksen is about to turn into. Failing to do so allows the Dane to pick out Trippier on the right, thus leading to the goal.
Spurs' quick thinking and fluid movement caused United myriad problems but Mourinho's men struggled to muster up a meaningful response in the second half.
While it's unfair to apportion blame exclusively on Pogba, the Frenchman was guilty of straying from his base position too often, thus leaving Nemanja Matic exposed. The idea behind Mourinho's 4-2-3-1 at Wembley was for Pogba to initiate United's counter-attacks from deep, much like he did away to Arsenal in December in a thrilling 3-1 win.
As an exceptionally gifted individual, there is a certain expectation that Pogba can fit into any formation but he seems to struggle with bolstered defensive responsibilities. Against the lower teams in the league, Pogba is afforded more freedom to roam forward without fear of exposing Matic because, bluntly put, sides near the bottom of the table don't offer the same counter-attacking threat.
At Juventus, he established himself as one of the most exciting emerging talents in the world as part of a trio that saw Andrea Pirlo as the deep-lying playmaker and Claudio Marchisio the tenacious ball-winner. He isn't surrounded by the same type of players at United but his inability to follow tactical instructions legitimises Mourinho's anger. He doesn't get subbed off often but when he was hooked after 63 minutes for Juan Mata, it wasn't at all surprising.
The key now, especially with Marouane Fellaini widely tipped to be moving on and Michael Carrick set to retire, is for Mourinho to invest in the kind of all-action midfielders United need to unshackle the Frenchman; someone like Roma's Radja Nainggolan or Arturo Vidal of Bayern Munich, two players the club have been linked with in the past.
But, as previously stated, it's not purely down to Pogba. Lukaku once again failed to turn up against a top-six side while Sanchez's influence in the game waned after initially offering flickers of promise in the opening 20 minutes.
Perhaps the sheer gulf between Spurs and United can prompt Mourinho into action. Saturday's visit of Huddersfield to Old Trafford would be a good game in which to experiment. However, Mourinho hasn't always seemed entirely willing to show tactical flexibility. After Wednesday's derisory display, he may need to change that.Explore more on these topics: