Penalty saga unmasks bigger issues at Man United: Richard Buxton

Egotism continues to get in the way of ethos for Manchester United.

At a time when they need to be ruthless, the Red Devils remain rudderless.

Paul Pogba reignited a debate which deserves to already be a foregone conclusion, after his side's 1-1 draw with Wolverhampton Wanderers yesterday morning (Singapore time).

He should be nowhere near penalty-taking duties. Marcus Rashford should.

The statistics speak for themselves: One has a 100 per cent conversion rate from 12 yards for both club and country, while the other has now missed four spot-kicks in the English Premier League over the past 11 months alone.

Yet Pogba was allowed to make the decisive call.

In sweeping aside Rashford, the World Cup winner exposed United's Achilles' heel.

They have continually indulged him ever since a world-record move three years ago and effectively rendered him autonomous, despite Jose Mourinho's best efforts in the first half of last season.

Pogba is not solely to blame for the shambles which ensued at Molineux.

United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer must also bear a degree of responsibility for his own lack of decisiveness. He effectively told the 26-year-old to carry on regardless as one of United's two penalty-takers.

The Norwegian spent large parts of the summer disarming Pogba, in a bid to stop an oft-repeated threat of pursuing a "new challenge" away from Old Trafford becoming realised.

Hindsight suggests that he should not have wasted his energy.

Pogba may not have edged any closer to a dream move to Real Madrid, but that is more down to the Spanish side being unable to offload Gareth Bale than acts of candour on Solskjaer's part.

Staying at United actually risks becoming more damaging to their hopes of securing a Champions League return than an increasingly hypothetical transfer to the Bernabeu ever could, after sacrificing early back-to-back EPL victories for the sake of his personal agenda.

RESPECTABLE RETURN

In the grander scheme, four points from a potentially difficult start to the new EPL campaign constitute a respectable return for Solskjaer, especially given a poor record at Molineux.

But United cannot afford to be caught slipping, with the margins for error set to become even more pronounced over the coming weeks and months.

Arsenal have succeeded where they failed in recording consecutive wins, while Tottenham Hotspur are threatening to again be in the mix.

Dropping two points can quickly become a worrying habit rather than a rare occurrence, as Mourinho discovered in his own war of attrition with Pogba last term.

Solskjaer's challenge is now to avoid the same fate of his predecessor by preserving United's relaid foundations. His summer of change has already produced tangible signs for optimism.

In fielding the club's youngest starting line-up for almost 2½ years against Wolves, they played with the same verve and intensity shown in dismantling Chelsea on the EPL's opening weekend.

Anthony Martial, too, added to the early feel-good factor by reaching a half-century of goals in 14 fewer games than Cristiano Ronaldo managed during his own Old Trafford career.

Rashford again became a perfect foil for the France international to open the scoring.

If Solskjaer remains intent on building on his solid groundwork and emulating Sir Alex Ferguson, he needs to follow his mentor's lead and finally hold Pogba to account.

Failure to do so will cost United a place at the European top table again.