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.

Everton vs Manchester United player ratings Show all 22 1 /22 Everton vs Manchester United player ratings Everton vs Manchester United player ratings Joel Robles - 7 out of 10 Emerged with some credit, matching the majority of what a rampant but forward line could throw at him. Getty Everton vs Manchester United player ratings Muhamed Besic - 4 out of 10 Visibly confused by the mere prospect of handling Martial. This was not the day to be making you first go of playing right-back. Getty Everton vs Manchester United player ratings Phil Jagielka - 5 out of 10 Not ‘medically fit’ for this game according to Roberto Martinez. However you want to put it, he was off-the-pace. 2016 Getty Images Everton vs Manchester United player ratings John Stones - 5 out of 10 Hesitated and then moved far too late to meet Fellaini for the opening goal and, in truth, it was one of several moments where the highly-rated centre-half did not look too sure of himself. Getty Everton vs Manchester United player ratings Leighton Baines - 6 out of 10 A restrained, unadventurous performance, but that was largely down to he and his team-mates being penned behind the halfway line. The best of a bad bunch at the back. Getty Everton vs Manchester United player ratings Darron Gibson - 6 out of 10 On the wrong end of a cartoonish moment in the first half, when Rashford was allowed to pick his moment to turn and sprint past him. A creditable performance, nonetheless, given his lack of playing time recently. Getty Everton vs Manchester United player ratings Tom Cleverley – 5 out of 10 Should have made the most of Everton’s second-half resurgence by burying a chance at the far-post. Questions remain over whether he brings any real quality to the Toffees’ midfield. Getty Everton vs Manchester United player ratings James McCarthy - 5 out of 10 Struggled to get a handle on his midfield opponents and, as usual, showed little more than the odd moment of adventure. Getty Everton vs Manchester United player ratings Ross Barkley - 5 out of 10 Everton’s chief outlet on the counter in the frantic late stages but his final ball was found lacking on too many occasion. Getty Everton vs Manchester United player ratings Aaron Lennon - 7 out of 10 One of Everton’s brighter players in their dismal first half, as most of their brief forays forward originated with the winger. He could, however, have offered Besic more support. Getty Everton vs Manchester United player ratings Romelu Lukaku – 4 out of 10 Where was his touch? If the Belgian’s control had been better, he could have had Everton two-up inside the first 15 minutes, and could have notched four by the end of the 90. Those misses seemed to shake him, which explains the lacklustre penalty. Getty Everton vs Manchester United player ratings David De Gea – 7 out of 10 As quiet an evening as Simon Mignolet enjoyed on Wednesday - until the penalty, that is, which was simply not good enough to beat a ‘keeper of his quality. Getty Everton vs Manchester United player ratings Timothy Fosu-Mensah – 6 out of 10 Looked inhibited by the occasion early on, particularly when raised a white flag for his first aerial contest with Lukaku. Seemed to recover but made a clumsy challenge for the penalty. Getty Everton vs Manchester United player ratings Marcos Rojo - 4 out of 10 Gave Deulofeu far too much room for the goal. Still yet to prove he is good enough to play at this level. Getty Everton vs Manchester United player ratings Daley Blind - 5 out of 10 Struggled to contain Lukaku at times, who often found it easy to roll the Dutchman off him. Getty Everton vs Manchester United player ratings Chris Smalling - 5 out of 10 Even he probably does not know why, when trying to block Gerard Deulofeu’s shot, he had both feet off the floor and lead with his right when a left would’ve hooked clear. Ultimately, his own goal didn’t matter. Getty Everton vs Manchester United player ratings Michael Carrick - 6 out of 10 Settled into his usual role of ticking possession over in the middle of the park and rarely looked to do anything more ambitious, save a delightful chip over the top late on for Rashford. Getty Everton vs Manchester United player ratings Marouane Fellaini - 8 out of 10 His delicate clipped finish for the opener complemented an uncharacteristically neat display. His movement for the goal was just as impressive. Getty Images Everton vs Manchester United player ratings Wayne Rooney - 8 out of 10 Masterful, surprisingly, in the first half as he flitted between holding midfield and ‘the hole’. Everton, like the press pack, spent a lot of their time trying to put a finger on where he was playing. They only did late on, once he had ran out of gas. Getty Everton vs Manchester United player ratings Anthony Martial - 9 out of 10 If United were ever to look back on this season fondly, you suspected it would have something to do with the Frenchman. He’s put them into a cup final, he may have to win it for them too. Everton vs Manchester United player ratings Jesse Lingard - 7 out of 10 Lively, neat play to set up his team-mates, particularly the cute backheel to send Rashford through, but lacked composure when presented with opportunities of his own. Everton vs Manchester United player ratings Marcus Rashford - 7 out of 10 Terrorised Everton as part of United’s quick, if not so sharp, attacking triumvirate. Like Lingard, guilty of spurning opportunities.

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)