Mauricio Pochettino will see out his final two games as US national team boss with a double-header against Haiti before starting work at Manchester United on Wednesday.

The 54-year-old won’t have any time to waste with a daunting first game against United’s bitter rivals Liverpool at Anfield a week on Sunday followed by a European clash with Sporting Lisbon in Portugal three days later.

With United languishing in the Premier League relegation zone and 17th in the Champions League standings, it’s clear why Pochettino has been brought in to replace Michael Carrick on a two-and-a-half-year contract.

Daily Mail Sport looks at the most pressing matters in Pochettino’s in-tray at Carrington as the former Tottenham, Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain boss and his backroom staff head for Manchester...

Winning mentality

It sounds obvious, but winning games to get United out of the Premier League drop zone has to be the first priority.

Everything at a football club flows from the results on the pitch, and United’s humiliating decline this season has had ramifications throughout Old Trafford and Carrington.

The players are clearly low on confidence which has only exacerbated the team’s dismal performances and brought just one win in 10 Premier League games, against newly-promoted Ipswich – United’s worst start in 40 years.

Diogo Dalot is a prime example, after fans cheered his substitution in the 4-4 draw against Aston Villa last weekend, and the defender cut a crestfallen figure as he left Old Trafford to go on international duty with Portugal.

The Stretford End also turned on the players as the atmosphere turned toxic after the 3-0 home defeat by Bournemouth at the end of last month, having vented their anger towards the club’s ownership – the Glazer family and Sir Jim Ratcliffe – as well as chief executive Omar Berrada and director of football Jason Wilcox at every opportunity.

That won’t go away anytime soon, but a winning team will at least take some of the sting out of the situation if appointing Pochettino can give United a ‘bounce’ and divert attention back onto the pitch.

Survival of the fittest

Carrick enjoyed a good start, losing just two of his 17 games in charge in the second half of last season to earn a two-year contract, but United struggled under him this term due to a combination of poor recruitment, injuries and lack of fitness.

These are all issues that Pochettino must try to put right. There is little he can do about recruitment until the January transfer window opens and United have a chance to atone for their mistake in not signing cover at left back and centre forward last summer, which backfired spectacularly when both Luke Shaw and Benjamin Sesko picked up injuries.

He can, however, try to get more out of United’s £155million midfield signings Carlos Baleba – once he is fit again – Youri Tielemans and Andrey Santos, and a United squad that was good enough to finish third in the Premier League last season.

Injuries have been a major problem with the hamstring strain that will keep Baleba out of action for Pochettino’s first few weeks in charge just the latest setback.

As well as Shaw, Sesko, Baleba and long-term casualty Manuel Ugarte, United have also lost Amad Diallo, Marcus Rashford, Kobbie Mainoo, Lisandro Martinez, Patrick Dorgu and Noussair Mazraoui for parts of this season.

The good news for Pochettino is that Shaw and Rashford are hoping to be fit for Anfield, while Matthijs de Ligt is available again after a year out with back problems. However, Sesko’s absence until the new year leaves the new boss without his most natural source of goals.

Fitness is another matter and United have looked short of it since the opening-day defeat at Hull City amid concerns that the coaching levels dropped off under Carrick and were too relaxed.

They covered 120.8 kilometres against Villa – the most in a league game under Carrick – and Pochettino will demand that and a whole lot more as he increases the work-rate among his new squad.

It’s a problem that has hindered a succession of United bosses going back to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, and the Argentine must find a way to drill a better work ethic into United.

Get Bruno back to his best

The problems at United this season have inevitably led to unrest in the dressing room, with the biggest issue centred around captain Bruno Fernandes.

News that Fernandes has rejected United’s latest contract offer has come as no surprise given his dramatic change in fortunes from last season, and Pochettino must find a way to get arguably United’s best player back in form and onside.

Having set a new Premier League record for assists and picked up a string of player of the year awards last season, Fernandes’ form has dropped off a cliff as he struggled with an injury sustained at the World Cup, and he suffered the rare indignity of being benched for the loss to Bournemouth.

Never one to hide his mood very well, the 32-year-old criticised Carrick’s tactics after the Champions League defeat by Como in what was a major blow to his head coach.

While the United hierarchy will try to persuade Fernandes to sign a new deal in keeping with their reduced wage structure and the fact he will turn 33 next year, Pochettino has to find a way of relighting the fire in his skipper.

Whether the club will make as much effort to keep Lisandro Martinez as he comes towards the end of his contract remains to be seen after another member of United’s leadership team took aim at Wilcox’s recruitment after the defeat by Atletico Madrid. It is said to have caused an angry clash between Martinez and summer signing Tielemans on the way back from Spain.

Martinez looks to be heading for the Old Trafford exit, but it will be interesting to see if the arrival of his compatriot Pochettino – a combative Argentine centre back in much the same mould as a player – has an impact on that.

Plug the leaky defence

As a former defender, Pochettino won’t need telling that leaking 15 goals in the last five games simply isn’t good enough. United have now let in 30 in all competitions this season, the most of any club in Europe’s top five leagues apart from Lens.

They have been appalling at the back, conceding in the opening seconds to Atletico, Como and Villa. Had they been able to hold out and prevent late equalisers against Everton and Tottenham, the additional four points would have them 12th in the table rather than in the relegation zone.

A revolving door of makeshift left backs in the absence of Shaw and Dorgu, De Ligt’s belated comeback and Martinez’s needless red card at Chelsea haven’t helped.

Goalkeeper Senne Lammens, so composed last season, looks considerably more shaky behind a leaky and ever-changing back-four, and had arguably his worst game against Villa last weekend.

Pochettino couldn’t ask for a tougher first test than going to Anfield, and knows that United will have to start by being solid at the back.