Paul Pogba runs the show as Manchester United emerge from festive slump with much-needed win over Everton

Everton 0 Manchester United 2: Anthony Martial broke the deadlock before Jesse Lingard's fine individual goal made sure of the three points for Jose Mourinho's men

Jesse Lingard scored a sublime solo goal to give United a 2-0 lead (Getty)

Perhaps Jose Mourinho has a point about spending money after all. No matter how poor a team is playing, no matter how many players it is missing, no matter how far it is behind its rivals, if there is a player in its ranks who was once the most expensive in the world, things can suddenly change for the better.

Manchester United looked in danger of dropping yet more points during the first half of this 2-0 victory over Everton, with two spectacular, long-range and much-needed goals eventually coming from Anthony Martial and Jesse Lingard after the break.

It was Paul Pogba who made the difference, however, with a performance worth every penny of his £89m fee. United were lacking in any kind of fluency at first, just as they were in the three stalemates with Leicester City, Burnley and Southampton, but once their best player began to impose himself on proceedings, his sublime vision, intricate passing and intelligent movement brought life to a previously listless performance.

Everton came into this game hopeful of a result against a flawed, weakened and out-of-sorts United but had no answer to Pogba’s virtuoso display as Sam Allardyce fell to a second successive defeat, the second defeat of his tenure so far.

United were forced to change things up front after Romelu Lukaku’s head injury, sustained the goalless draw with Southampton, prevented him from making his first return to the blue part of Merseyside. Marcus Rashford was kept on the bench and Martial started as a lone central striker but in the opening stages, still there was no clear, coherent structure to United’s attacks.

This, combined with Everton’s own struggles for consistency in front of goal this season, made for a drab first half of half chances and few memorable moments.

The most entertainment the opening 45 minutes could muster came when Wayne Rooney took his first corner of the afternoon in front of United’s travelling support, who chanted his name as he approached. The home fans warmly applauded this sincere show of respect, then chortled as the away end serenaded their club’s all-time leading goalscorer with a chorus of ‘you Scouse bastard’.

Martial runs to celebrate his second-half goal (Getty)

Pogba, meanwhile, cut a forlorn figure for much of the first half and was visibily irritated by United’s poor start, but he began to channel his frustration as the half drew to a close. First, he made an intelligent run to latch onto Luke Shaw’s equally-intuitive through ball then sent a dangerous low cross into Everton’s crowded penalty area. No other team-mate was on his wavelength. Pogba decided to go it alone some 10 minutes later, shooting slightly wide of Jordan Pickford’s right-hand post from distance.

The United captain’s team-mates followed his example at the start of the second half as shots from range emerged as United’s attacking ‘Plan A’. In fairness, they did not need to wait too long to see one of their several attempts come off.

Juan Mata went close twice, striking the upright once, but it was Martial who made the breakthrough, striking first-time and magnificently so from just outside the area. Everton had been suffering more and more problems down their right-hand side and after advancing down that flank virtually unopposed, Pogba squared to his compatriot, who lifted the ball out of Pickford’s reach and into the top corner.

Pickford was powerless to keep Martial's shot out (Getty)

It was a sublime finish, one that seemed to break Everton’s resolve. Allardyce’s players spent the period that immediately followed stuck in their own half making desperate attempts to shackle Pogba, whose influence began to grow with each passing minute.

The Frenchman twice went close to extending United’s lead after the hour mark. Pickford saved his first effort, a powerful strike from the inside-left channel after Mason Holgate and Nikola Vlasic had been left for dead. Pogba’s next chance was a much simpler one, but he could not connect with a header from four yards out with the whole of the goalmouth to aim at.

Even so, he was running the contest and United were now dominant. Mourinho’s side could not sustain such attacking momentum forever though and Everton soon enjoyed their first sustained spell of pressure, with Oumar Niasse going close to an equaliser. The Senegalese fired a header in at the near post after Holgate’s cross from the right, but he could only direct it into the side-netting.

Rooney was taken off as Everton chased the game (Getty)

The noise around Goodison picked up and the home crowd called for more but they could not quieten Pogba, who resumed control and then registered his second assist of the afternoon. Lingard was the recipient, taking a pass from his former academy team-mate on the left, cutting inside and then rifling yet another spectacular, long-range strike past a helpless Pickford.

As he and the rest of the United players ran towards the Bullens Road end to celebrate with their supporters, Pogba ran in the opposite direction, his arms spread wide, basking in both his team’s certain victory and his own game-changing performance.

Everton: Pickford; Holgate, Keane, Williams, Martina; Davies, Schneiderlin; Vlasic, Rooney (McCarthy 62), Bolasie (Lennon 62); Niasse (Calvert-Lewin 81).

Substitutes not used: Robles, Jagielka, Sigurdsson, Kenny.

Manchester United: De Gea; Lindelof, Jones, Rojo, Shaw; Pogba, Matic, Herrera; Mata (Tuanzebe 90+2), Lingard (Blind 87), Martial (Rashford 77).

Substitutes not used: Romero, Darmian, Smalling, Mkhitaryan.

Referee: A Marriner (West Midlands)

Attendance: 39,188