Manchester United stalwart Michael Carrick could be the key to Jose Mourinho solving the Pogba problem

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Michael Carrick should have been enjoying a career farewell at boyhood club Newcastle United.

The relegated Magpies were ready to bring home the player who left Tyneside at 16 and the out-of-contract Manchester United midfielder had decided the move was right for him and his young family.

Jose Mourinho - having long since made up his mind on the future of Bastian Schweinsteiger - intervened and decided that the veteran anchorman was deserving of a place in his squad. Club officials were instructed and Carrick signed a one-year extension.

Michael Carrick celebrates with Timothy Fosu-Mensah after scoring on Wednesday night

Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho is still working out how to utilise Paul Pogba

The France international has cut a frustrated figure at times during his return to United

It could yet prove the best decision the Portuguese boss has made.

For while Mourinho could not see it during a run of three straight defeats to Manchester City, Feyenoord and Watford - when Paul Pogba did his own thing and Wayne Rooney did, well, nothing - the answer to his problems was sat behind him in the dugout.

If Pogba and Rooney are the problem, then Carrick is the solution.

His man-of-the-match return to action at Northampton on Wednesday - his first appearance since the Community Shield on August 7 - was a timely reminder for a manager whose judgement appears lost right now.

Carrick must start against Leicester this weekend, and it is Rooney who should make way.

Pogba is not going to mature into a disciplined deep-lying midfield player overnight. And in any case, why would Mourinho want to mould his world-record signing into John Obi Mikel?

Carrick, 35, put in a man-of-the-match performance on Wednesday against Northampton

Carrick was all over the pitch at Sixfields, here's his pass map (left) and touch map

While he is still a raw bundle of energy and chaos - and undoubted ability - let him run around like a kid in a playground (as Jamie Carragher put it) in a more advanced role where it will hurt the opposition, and not his own team.

For that, Rooney - whose presence continues to undermine the progress of club and country - must be dropped. And, on the evidence of this season, he should have no complaints.

But the key to all of this is Carrick. He never was quick or a great galloper of ground, so the notion of his 35-year-old legs having gone is a non-starter.

Manchester United captain Wayne Rooney continues to struggle for form this season

Carrick, who had been at United for a decade, impressed at the Sixfields Stadium

Pogba (left) could feature in a more advanced role with Carrick holding in the midfield

At present Pogba has put in plenty of endeavour but is struggling to do everything himself

Carrick, though, is sharper in the mind than any of his Old Trafford team-mates. He is the player who can dictate from deep in the manner Marouane Fellaini simply cannot - and Pogba cannot yet.

He doesn’t run around, yes, but that is because he knows where to stand in the first place. And that is what United need - a cunning and dependable presence in the centre of the park.

Andrea Pirlo did not enjoy his very best years until his mid-30s, and Carrick has the same intelligence to be able to exploit that experience and, arguably, make himself even more effective than he was in his younger years.

The former England international has spent a majority of the season on the bench

In an age of possession for the sake of possession, Carrick is not a midfielder who will make a pass simply to enhance the stats. Every ball is either the source of something bigger or an incisive probe upfield. Note how many times he passes forward, finding team-mates who populate those pockets between midfield and attack. He assists assists, his pass having invariably been the one that changes the tempo and tone of an offensive effort.

If that player he picks out is Pogba then all the better, for at present the France midfielder is trying - and failing - to do everything himself. He needs help. He needs to be rid of defensive responsibility. Let him play the free role in behind Zlatan Ibrahimovic - that is far better than playing a free role in front of his own back four. It is there that he will flourish.

For all of this to happen, however, Pogba, Mourinho and United need one man. It is Michael Carrick who can save their season.

Goals from Carrick, Ander Herrera and Marcus Rashford gave United a 3-1 win on Wednesday