Gary Neville might have other players on his mind right now, but four months ago all his attention was focused on one man. Indeed, back in August, Paul Pogba was the talk of football. Manchester United had just made him the most expensive player in history; what could we realistically expect of the Frenchman?

“For £89m, Pogba will be ­expected to win big games,” Neville said upon the midfielder’s return to Old Trafford. “He has to grab games by the scruff of the neck and win big games of football. Those are the types of games that he has to influence.”

The pundit will have had particular “big games” in mind – the Manchester derby, Liverpool, Arsenal, European ties. A midweek fixture at a struggling Crystal Palace would have been at the end of a rather long list. And yet Pogba’s performance in Wednesday’s victory at Selhurst Park was precisely the “big game” United needed him to dominate right now.

In terms of stature, Jose Mourinho’s side will face more daunting opponents with far greater quality than Alan Pardew’s men. That much is obvious. But this was about more than that. This was about United battling adversity to claim victory. This was about securing first consecutive league wins since August. This was about one player stepping up when the rest did not. This was about Pogba.

The other Neville quipped in August that the 23-year-old “was not going to dominate a game on the ball” like Xabi Alonso or Paul Scholes, but Pogba was the authoritative figure in defence, midfield and attack at times. This was a different kind of dominance; he was everywhere at Selhurst Park, passing, tackling, shooting, inspiring. He was the driving force behind a crucial win.

No player had more shots (four). No player created more goalscoring chances (four). No player completed more passes (93). No player had more touches (122). No player engaged in more duels (21). No player made more clearances (six). No player proved themselves capable of conjuring a decisive, game-changing moment more than the man with a well-taken opener and effortless assist for the winner.

This was not a Manchester derby at the Etihad Stadium, nor a Champions League knock-out tie at Old Trafford. Pogba’s time and chance will come to stamp his authority on such grand occasions, but this was just as important for United. A 1-1 draw, another lead thrown away, would have rendered the victory over Tottenham almost meaningless. Instead of one step forward and one step back, this United side are finally finding their feet. At the centre of it all is an in-form Pogba.

The temptation would be to belittle his performance – the world’s most expensive player should be expected to dominate such fixtures every week. But this was the first occasion on which Pogba, in the words of one Neville, was able to “grab a game by the scruff of the neck”. After four long months, he finally won a match for United.

Matt Stead