Peter Crouch is a columnist for Sportsmail

You used to stand in the tunnel, look over to your left and pretty much know for the next 90 minutes you would barely touch the ball.

During the Sir Alex Ferguson years, you would see all those great players – Roy Keane, Paul Scholes, David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, Jaap Stam, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Cristiano Ronaldo to name just a few – and you’d quickly realise why Old Trafford had an aura like nowhere else.

As we waited to go out on Monday night, I didn’t feel any apprehension but I came off after the match with the feeling that it won’t be long before this Manchester United team is challenging once again. Let’s be honest: a couple of years ago, they were miles off the standards required. They were not getting in the Champions League and that is absolutely unbelievable for Manchester United. If you were being ultra-critical, you would call it scandalous that they couldn’t finish in the top four.

For the first 21 years of the Premier League era, Ferguson pretty much guaranteed them entry into the Champions League but the transition since he left has been difficult. They get criticised a lot but, as I see it, Jose Mourinho is building something.

I’ve stated my admiration for Manchester City several times on these pages and the title is theirs for the taking this season. No other team in the country gives you a feeling that they can open up and score three, four or five goals at will. But United are getting back to their best and for all that Liverpool are in outstanding form at present, I reckon Mourinho will guide United into second place at the season’s end. They have got more than enough about them to do that, particularly if they get Alexis Sanchez.

It’s two completely different experiences playing the Manchester clubs. In October when we faced City at the Etihad, we got blown away and some of the passing by Kevin De Bruyne was from another world. Never at any stage did we feel we could get something from the game.

Paul Pogba has got everything and his passing reminded me of Paul Scholes

Many people would have expected us to get a hiding on Monday but the final score didn’t reflect the way the game went. We had a lot of good chances in the first half – I’ve had games at Old Trafford when I haven’t had a shot – and had the potential to put them under pressure.

United may be less expansive but they are solid and, aside from that, they have Paul Pogba. Like his team, he splits opinion but, God, he is class. He’s got so much power, so much strength and speed and I haven’t seen anyone hitting passes like he did since the days of Scholes.

I remember being used in some games as the man to try and stop Scholes. I’d come deep and try to put pressure on him but the task was impossible. Get too close, he’d knock the ball around you and be away. Give him space and he’d ping these 60 and 70-yard passes away into feet.

The way Pogba plays he makes it look easy - there are more gears he can go through

Pogba, in his own way, was doing that on Monday. Yet standing that close to him, I was left with the impression that he still has so much more to give. You can see that he finds playing football so easy and there are definitely more gears in there that he can go through.

He has got everything. The quality of the pass he put round the corner for Anthony Martial was sublime. He could score 20 a season if he had the desire to get in the box like Frank Lampard. If he wanted to, he could sit in midfield and control the game.

Whatever United achieve going forward, Pogba will be at the heart of it. United are definitely getting back to their best and, in a one-off game against City, you could say it would be decided on the toss of a coin. Next year, they are going to go close to the prize they want most of all.

Taking Walcott to the World Cup at 17 killed him

Has Theo Walcott ever lived up to his potential? I was interested to read the debate about a player I know well in Sportsmail on Thursday.

In all honesty, I’m surprised there was even a debate to be had: 397 Arsenal appearances, 108 goals and 63 assists; two FA Cup winners’ medals and 47 England caps. A lot of young lads who are starting out now would kill to have a career half as good.

But Theo has had a problem ever since Sven Goran Eriksson took everyone by surprise and named him in England’s 2006 World Cup squad. Taking him to Germany as a 17-year-old killed him a little bit because everyone expected him to be the next Michael Owen.

Theo Walcott was picked for the 2006 England World Cup squad but never got a minute

He should never have been put in that position. Theo went to that World Cup ahead of Jermain Defoe and Darren Bent, who had scored 18 goals in the Premier League that season. As we all know, Theo never got a minute on the pitch and it almost felt like he had come on work experience.

The problem was, when he returned, everyone was thinking 'when is he going to live up to this hype?' but it was unfair to think he was going to be like Michael because they were two completely different players.

I remember one day at Southampton, Theo was invited over to train with us. He was only a schoolboy at the time. Harry Redknapp was doing this drill of two-v-twos, attackers against defenders and Theo ripped Claus Lundekvam to pieces with his pace.

We could see when he was young that Walcott, pictured in 2005, was a special player

Harry went ballistic because he couldn’t believe what this kid was doing to an experienced Premier League defender but you could see that day he had something special about him.

He’s intelligent, he makes good runs and his pace is electric.

Everton have done smart business to sign him. People will always ask whether he has fulfilled his potential but, trust me, he’s been a very good player. If he hadn’t gone to the World Cup, maybe everyone would have realised it sooner.

Ronaldinho and my romantic trip to Barcelona

My future wife Abbey didn’t know about the treat I had in store. When we first started going out, I took her away for the weekend to Barcelona and promised her a romantic trip to one of the city’s most iconic destinations.

It’s fair to say she wasn’t exactly bowled over when finding out that the trip was to see Barcelona play Celta Vigo at the Nou Camp! Who said romance was dead? But, as far as I was concerned, it was a night I’ll never forget after watching Ronaldinho.

This was the era when he was on fire, the main man in world football. We got to the stadium early and as the team went through their warm-up, he just stayed on his own. It was so funny seeing him not even attempting to jog but, at the same time, it was mesmerising watching him do these tricks.

Watching Ronaldinho play for Barcelona in the Nou Camp was a night I'll never forget

I was lucky enough to play against him and see his genius at close quarters

His free-kick for AC Milan at Fratton Park helped dump Portsmouth out of Europe

I ended up playing against him a couple of times. The first occasion I only got on the field briefly in two Champions League ties with Liverpool in 2007, when we knocked Barcelona out. The second time, at Fratton Park in 2008, I saw his genius at close quarters.

Portsmouth were leading AC Milan 2-0 in the UEFA Cup with 16 minutes to go when he came off the bench. Ronaldinho ended up causing havoc, bending in a free-kick from 25 yards to launch a comeback and helping his team draw 2-2, a result that knocked us out of Europe.

I also had the pleasure of playing with him once, in a UNICEF game at Old Trafford in November 2015. He’d spent the entire night before out on the town but that didn’t stop him being the best player on the pitch! He announced his retirement this week. What a player.

The week started with terrible news. The death of Cyrille Regis, a giant in so many ways, was such a shock and deeply upsetting.

After he retired from playing, Cyrille began working for my agents, The Stellar Group, and had spent the last 20 years there. Whenever I went to the London offices, Cyrille would always be there, with a smile and a friendly word.

Agents, we know, can have a bit of a reputation but Cyrille was as far away from the perception as could be. He never liked doing contractual work for players, he was more concerned about giving them advice, mentoring and providing the feedback to help them develop.

There are many lads playing the game now who have benefited from Cyrille Regis's help

There are a lot of players out there who owe him so much. Dion Dublin is a good friend of mine and he thought the world of Cyrille for the influence he had on him.

Nathan Dyer, who is now at Swansea, was someone who Cyrille guided.

A lot of the work he did in his retirement will have gone unnoticed but, believe me, there are so many lads who have benefited from his help.

I couldn’t have written this column this week without paying my respects to a fantastic player. Above all, he was a fantastic man.

It has been all change at our Clayton Wood training ground with Paul Lambert starting his reign as manager.

So far you could not fail to be impressed by the work he has done. He is looking at our position with a fresh pair of eyes, he’s got new ideas and he hasn’t been afraid to give us a bit of a kick up the backside — which was needed.

He has come in with a lot of experience and you can’t fail to have respect for someone who won the Champions League as a player. It has been reflected in training: the intensity of sessions has certainly gone up.