Jose Mourinho's Man United have promise with Herrera and Rashford

Manchester United played their best half of football at Old Trafford for years last Saturday, with four goals against champions Leicester helping Jose Mourinho's men to a 4-1 win, avoiding a third successive league defeat in the process. 

It was exactly what was needed and the pluses were many. Paul Pogba had his finest game yet in United's first team. His regular midfield foil in Mourinho's preferred 4-2-3-1 formation has yet to be found, but Ander Herrera is making a decent fist of it. The versatile Spaniard is tenacious, covers a lot of ground, tackles and passes well. Being in love with his job does him no harm either. He's a fan on the pitch -- a football obsessive. At 27, he should also be at his peak.

Herrera came on at half time in the 2-1 defeat to Manchester City in the derby on Sep. 10, after his side had been outclassed in the opening 45 minutes. The former Zaragoza and Athletic Bilbao midfielder put in one of the more creditable performances and while he didn't feature in the following week's 3-1 defeat at Watford, he did play 90 minutes at Northampton, scoring one and assisting another in the 3-1 win. Herrera is enjoying himself. He feels that in Mourinho, he has a coach who immediately understands what kind of player he is and what he can offer United.

Though Herrera didn't go as far as Angel Di Maria and ask Louis van Gaal: "So why did you buy me then?" in the face of the restrictions placed on him on the pitch, he was one of many frustrated United players during the Dutchman's tenure.

Mourinho also made it clear to his players from preseason exactly what he thought a United team should be -- one that attacks, dominates, entertains and, crucially, wins. That's exactly what the players wanted to hear, but realising a vision is harder to achieve, as Mourinho has found out so far.

Van Gaal does not appreciate the criticism from Mourinho about his players suffering a hangover from his coaching, but most of the current players will concur with their new boss. They're enjoying training for the first time in two years. For Herrera, this was always going to be the biggest season of his career, a make-or-break for him at one of the biggest clubs in the world. He wants to be a regular, not a peripheral player while at his prime.

Herrera is popular with fans and his teammates, but as Gary Neville asked at the weekend, can he stand out for United against the biggest opponents? United play Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City (again) in the next month.

Or in the words of one United legend last term: "Herrera's alright, he's neat and tidy, but is he good enough to play central midfielder for a United side winning titles?"

Thanks to Mourinho, he's getting a chance to prove that he is, competing with Fellaini for a role which the lesser-spotted Michael Carrick, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Morgan Schneiderlin all had hopes of playing.

In front of Pogba and Herrera, Juan Mata had another good game on Saturday, scoring the best of United's four goals following a brilliantly worked team effort. Mata played in his preferred position, a role Wayne Rooney has occupied behind Zlatan Ibrahimovic for most of this season. United's players found out that Rooney was dropped in the prematch team meeting at the Lowry Hotel. It's what the fans wanted and it's for the best as his form has suffered. It may never come back, but it's for his manager to try and find a solution to how to use his best-paid player and captain.

United played at a faster tempo without Rooney and having the ability to blow the champions away when they click shows the vast potential in Mourinho's squad. Doing that on a consistent basis is the challenge. Fans often hark back to the glory days under Sir Alex Ferguson, but there were plenty of times when the football was flat at Old Trafford too. 

At least the four goals, the first time United have scored that many in the first half since a crazy 4-3 win at Reading in December 2012, brought the ground to life -- though the chant of "Who are ya?" from some home supporters was cringeworthy, especially coming from a fan base with a brilliant repertoire of songs. They're Leicester City, the champions of England. And they had as many Manchester United youth graduates in their lineup -- Ron-Robert Zieler, Danny Simpson and Danny Drinkwater -- as United.

One of United's was, of course, Marcus Rashford. He's now scored 12 goals in 25 competitive matches since his debut seven months ago. No other first team player comes close to that since February.

A year ago, he played for United's youth team in the UEFA Youth League, scoring in a 1-1 draw at home to Wolfsburg. United deliberately held him back and played him in youth teams, for, in the words of coach Paul McGuinness: "He could have been pushed to play in the Under-21s, but he would have been against better players where he wouldn't have the same type of practice or confidence, so we kept him in the U18s where it was easier for him to practise. We had him practising free play in the cage, too, as he focussed on goalscoring."

That process was aimed at lifting his confidence, the idea being that he'd move into the U21s (now U23s after recent changes to the league format) this season.

He's played as a winger, midfielder and No.10, but his pace following a growth spurt, combined with his size and technique, saw United switch him to centre-forward. United's coaches worked on his finishing with him and gave him a model to study how players received the ball in different ways.

"Marcus started to see our model and how it was working for him. He started giving us feedback and saying: 'Did you see [Sergio] Aguero do that turn? Did you see [Luis] Suarez?'" explained McGuinness.

"The highest priority on the check list was for him to run behind the defence. He always had to be side on, on the shoulder, like [Ruud] van Nistelrooy. We'd even tell him to stand offside like Van Nistelrooy. Marcus is a very good learner and he started to do it."

It worked and when an injury crisis last February meant Rashford got a chance in the first team far sooner than expected, he was primed to score. He didn't stop and now he's worked his way into a position where fans want him to start in United's strongest XI.

Saturday was his second start of the season and his first win following the late 1-0 victory he secured at Hull as a substitute. It's a bumpy ride, but there's evidence Mourinho's United is developing its identity.

Andy Mitten is a freelance writer and the founder and editor of United We Stand. Follow him on Twitter @AndyMitten.