Perhaps the most telling moment of Manchester United’s comeback against Roma was at the final whistle. The camera focused on Michael Carrick, who shook the hand of Gian Piero Gasperini before looking around trying to remember what you’re meant to do after a victory. The camera then cut to the director of football, Jason Wilcox, and chief executive, Omar Berrada, clapping with two of the most ashen faces you could imagine – as if it was a minute’s applause in the 87th minute for a lifelong octogenarian fan who died peacefully in his sleep earlier in the week (most probably not at a United game but you couldn’t rule it out).
Of course there are rules about smiling when you are involved with a failing football club. Players can’t be seen to be enjoying themselves in the week after a defeat, managers have to be earnest at almost all times, apart from when a journalist’s phone goes off at a press conference – a moment of sporting hilarity on a par with a pigeon landing on Centre Court. So it stands to reason that Wilcox and Berrada were right not to be shirtless, swirling their Ineos gilets around their heads at full time.
Same goes for the other one, also known as head of recruitment Christopher Vivell, who has borrowed Rodri’s cloak of invisibility for this whole saga. Of all the free passes going in the game at the moment, he is playing a blinder. But were they so solemn because they’d just agreed terms with Unai Emery at half-time (don’t sue me, Nassef – that was clumsy, wrong and tongue-in-cheek, keep on keeping on, keep on ascending, lots of love xoxoxox)?
And 45 minutes later United are BACK. It was an astonishing turnaround. Where has that front-foot, aggressive football been?
There was quite a lot of luck - a soft penalty missed and retaken, a wild miskick, Roma missing a hatful of chances before the break. All those moments could have signalled the end. It is unlikely that the penalty is Carrick’s Mark Robins/Adrian Heath moment, but win at home against Aston Villa on Sunday and it is not beyond the realms of possibility that he turns the season around.
It is also not beyond the realms of possibility that United are so badly run that they get a lucky win over Villa, stick with Carrick and revert to what we’ve seen and end up surviving Spurs-style on the last day. You will have heard every pundit mention the hierarchy waiting for the international break to make the call. Perhaps Sim Jim Ratcliffe saw how much content Manchester City gave us in the previous one and wants the column inches.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
