5 Truths: Believe the Ibra hype, Manolo the man, Messi a blessing and a curse

Back in January, Zlatan Ibrahimovic said it took him three months to conquer England.

It was typically hyperbolic from the enigmatic Swede but believe the hype. At 35-years-old, he has hit the back of the net 26 times this season. That would represent a remarkable achievement for a player south of 30. For someone aged 35, it is bordering on unbelievable. Conquered England, indeed.

United could finish the season with three trophies and if they do, well, they will be indebted to the Swede. If they don’t they will still be indebted to the Swede as no other United player has breached 10 goals.

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To the 'no value in the January transfer window' brigade, say hello to Manolo Gabbiadini. Five goals in three games is a pretty handy return for a forward who cost a paltry £14 million.

Paltry? Yep. Aston Villa parted with £12 million for the services of Scott Hogan during the winter window. With the greatest respect to Hogan that is ludicrous. There is value in the January transfer window, clubs just need to be willing to look for it and take a risk. Southampton are willing and able to do both and consistently reap the associated rewards.

And in Gabbiadini they appear to have struck gold again. He scored two goals of the highest calibre against United and was only denied a hat-trick by an errant offside flag. Throw into the mix his excellent all round play and the Saints look as though they have a player on their hands.

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A winning mentality – that intangible factor that turns average teams into good ones and good ones into great ones. And this United team seem to have it. However, rewind just a few months when they were shipping late goals on an almost weekly basis and getting hit for four by Chelsea, and that Manchester United side looked to be sorely lacking in said intangible.

They now look a side transformed; there was almost an air of inevitability as the League Cup final drew to a close. Whisper it but it felt like United of old. Winners by nature of being United, and Jose Mourinho must take huge credit for that transformation.

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When Barcelona needed him, Lionel Messi once again stepped up. The Argentine superstar prodded home at the death at the Vicente Calderon to secure a hard-fought 2-1 win that sent Barcelona top of the table (possibly temporarily).

However, Messi represents a blessing and a curse for Barcelona; his utter brilliance papers over the cracks but ultimately those cracks remain. The consistency of Messi’s dominance has allowed long-term structural issues to fester and, truth be told, this Barcelona team needs an overhaul.

The worry is while they have Messi, they will mosey on relying on his brilliance.

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Vincent Janssen has struggled at Tottenham. Four penalties from 27 appearances is pretty shocking.

And if Sunday’s match against Stoke is anything to go by, Mauricio Pochettino has seen enough.

Tottenham were 4-0 up against the Potters at half-time; Harry Kane had a scored a hat-trick halfway through his third game in seven days; Stoke were a defensive shambles.

All of the above seemed like a prime opportunity to get an out-of-sorts, low on confidence summer recruit on to see if he could break his open-play duck. Yet he sat on the bench. A pretty damning indictment of where he sits in the pecking order.