Paul Pogba is doing what Ralf Rangnick demanded for Manchester United

Pogba responds to Rangnick

Ralf Rangnick hasn't been shy about telling Paul Pogba how good he is since taking over as Manchester United manager, but when he handed him a return to the side on Friday he also told him he needed to earn the right to become a regular.

The interim manager made no guarantees that Pogba's place in midfield would remain his at the business end of the season and there's a good chance he only kept his place in the team at Turf Moor because Fred tested positive for Covid.

That might give Pogba three successive starts, however, and he built on his promising performance on Friday with a very encouraging performance at Turf Moor.

Pogba was the best midfielder on show in this game and also showed he can offer a similar skillset to Fred. The Brazilian is an excellent presser and while Pogba might not put pressure on in the same way, he won the ball back five times in the first half, the highest tally for any player on the pitch.

He took his goal superbly and produced one excellent flick to Jadon Sancho to set up another promising attack. It was this time a year ago that Pogba was producing his most consistent run of form for United and he seems to have rediscovered those levels, only this time he's doing in a central midfield role.

Against Burnley he played alongside Scott McTominay in a 4-2-3-1 when United were defending, using his height to help defend long balls, but pushed forward in possession to try and turn it into a 4-3-3.

Rangnick was effusive about just how good Pogba had been in training last month and even held an hour-long conversation with the midfielder at Carrington ahead of his return.

The interim manager even floated the idea of Pogba finding form to impress potential suitors this