It was impossible not to get swept up in the emotion and delirium of Manchester United's late 3-2 Champions League comeback win against Roma. Old Trafford was transformed from a mutinous, baying cathedral of distrust and fury to one of joy and celebration. Nine games and almost eight weeks is an eternity to wait for a victory at a club of Manchester United's size.
It didn't take Michael Carrick long to calm the mood. "It's one win, so we're not getting too carried away with things, but it was an important win." It was a huge result in the sense it bought Carrick some time. But given United's general state, no-one can be sure how much.
And, as was quickly pointed out in the aftermath of the victory, Manchester United have been here before. Man Utd produce incredible second-half comeback to beat Roma A half-time speech, a retaken penalty - and a win to save Carrick's job? 'Jose Mourinho set to be sacked whatever Manchester United's result vs Newcastle.' As headlines go, it was attention grabbing. As it turned out, the Mirror was wrong.
Although United officials at the time tried to play down the situation, sources have since admitted the intention was to sack Mourinho after presiding over the club's worst start to a season in 29 years, and defeat by Newcastle would make it inevitable. Much like the Roma game, the visitors raced into a two-goal lead and the atmosphere in the stadium started to turn, with most of the venom aimed at the director's box rather than the manager. Mourinho, who had promoted Carrick to assistant coach, replaced Eric Bailly with Juan Mata after 19 minutes and it was Mata who scored the 70th-minute goal that sparked the comeback, completed by Alexis Sanchez in the final minute for a 3-2 victory.
After the game, Mourinho said the pressure on him was a "manhunt". However, the relationship between manager and club had been turning sour since the previous summer. His demand for Anthony Martial to be sold had been rejected, while record signing Paul Pogba was proving a problem.
While the Newcastle win sparked an improvement in form, a run of two wins in eight games culminating in a 3-1 loss at Liverpool led to Mourinho's dismissal 10 weeks later. Former United defender Rio Ferdinand dismissed calls for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to be sacked before the Champions League encounter with Atalanta on 20 October 2021 as representative of "current fan culture". Carrick was also part of Solskjaer's coaching group as United went top of the Premier League when they beat Newcastle just over a month earlier, but two wins in seven suggested all was not well.
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