Rio Ferdinand has hailed Paul Pogba after the Frenchman produced an impressive performance on his return to the team.
Pogba had missed 12-weeks of football which consisted of 7 Premier League games. During his absence, Manchester United's form derailed, allowing Manchester City to go eight points clear at the top of the league.
Pogba marks his return in typical style
Jose Mourinho started Pogba as the right-sided central midfielder, partnered with Nemanja Matic, the position in which he thrived upon at the start of the season.
Following Dwight Gayle's early opener for Newcastle, it was Pogba who teased the toon defense with an inviting cross for Martial to nod in and level the score. Manchester United then took the lead moments before half-time, as Smalling climbed over his marker to head in Young's whipped cross. Pogba gave United breathing space in the second half when his run into the box was met by Rashford, permitting the midfielder to finish from close range. Lukaku then sealed the win with a thumping goal that ended his goal drought.
Ferdinand reacts to Pogba's return
Speaking as a pundit for BT Sport's coverage of the Saturday evening game, Ferdinand said:
"On the ball, this guy has got playground tricks," said former United defender Ferdinand.
Ferdinand continued saying:"He does things sometimes that make you think, how did you do that? He’s teasing the defenders [during the build-up to Martial’s goal]."
“That’s what you come to watch. It’s just a tantalising ball for Martial to attack. He then showed the desire to score the goal,” said the 39-year-old BT Sport pundit.
Ferdinand was also keen to point out Pogba's influence on the Manchester United team as a whole, mentioning the static showing that the reds only create half as many chances without Pogba's ability on the pitch.
"When he plays you see he creates things. He's got the personality, the mental strength, and we saw it today with two magic moments," claimed Ferdinand.
Manchester United travel to Switzerland on Wednesday to face FC Basel in the penultimate game of the Champions League group stage.