As a Pogba fan, I am also looking forward to seeing him back, but in my opinion his best position is not no. 10. His strengths are his (1) physical ability, allowing him to hold onto ball; (2) dribbling skills to bring the ball from back to front; (3) ridiculous passing range for quick transition. This skill set means he is more suitable for a deeper role responsible for organizing attack as well as antipressing, instead of a purely offensive duty.
On the other hand, he has certain weaknesses if he is played as a no. 10. His preference in dwelling onto ball sometimes delays attack and misses the best attacking opportunity. He is also not known for his pace, which may put him on a different wavelength against his teammates like James and Rashford. His inconsistency is another worry if we regard him as a no. 10.
Of course, Fred and McTominay's impressive performance in recent matches shouldn't be left unnoticed. It would be interesting to see how Ole arranges the gametime among them. In my opinion, we have already been lacking depth in midfield, it would be unwise to start all of them at the same time, especially with the upcoming congested fixtures.
I agree, i dont think his best positions is at #10
I do disagree with a lot of what your saying, and i will explain why i think this:
"His strengths are his (1) physical ability, allowing him to hold onto ball; (2) dribbling skills to bring the ball from back to front; (3) ridiculous passing range for quick transition"
1) While he is quote a physical player, the amount of times he loses the ball is unreal. He's often out muscled, tackled or just simply spacially unaware of his surroundings, an issue in the middle of the park
2) I dont doubt he can dribble, but he's never turned into the driving force of our midfield bringing play forward. Often holds onto the ball too long, loses said ball - as you pointed out for him above
3) Maguire/Lindelof can also smash the ball forward into space
Fact is, Pogba has been tried and ultimately been disappointing in a deep role as a midfield 2. We've changed formation to a midfield 3 so he can play on the left of said 3 and we havent really seen a marked improvement from him.
Unquestionably, he has good talent. Unfortunately, he's been a bit of a let down.
We cannot go back to "Play Pogba at all costs" mentality. It just will not work.
He's part of the squad and will need to
1)Prove fitness
2)Prove commitment - if he's angling for a move he can be sold asap
Right now, given how absolutely poor our #10's are, i'd play Pogba there. For me, he cannot be trusted or influence the game from deep. This is based on past events and logic.
He's more creative than Lingard/Periera/Mata/Gomes so may do some good things in spells there, and is further up the pitch so wont put us on the backfoot when he loses it near our own box.
Ultimately though, we need to sign a proper #10 and plan for life without him