Maddening Manchester United may reign through moments

Matt Stead

It was by around the fifth laboured BT Sport half-time mention of Chekhov’s statistic – that Fulham had never lost a game they had led under Scott Parker – that the realisation dawned. Something would have to give on Wednesday evening and Manchester United were not prepared to kick their habit of winning from behind away from home.

While it seems like an age since they pulled their favourite magic trick, the deceit was no less tempting and the final reveal never as effective. Ademola Lookman had three shots in the opening five minutes as Manchester United looked defensively inept; Edinson Cavani and Bruno Fernandes dragged them to an equaliser that threatened a resurgence which never truly arrived; fans were contemplating the virtues of a point that matched the one Liverpool escaped Craven Cottage with last month when Paul Pogba produced the decisive and delightful sleight of foot.

Manchester United even invited pressure thereafter to keep that Parker run in the back of superstitious minds. Twice Ruben Loftus-Cheek should have done better in the final quarter of an hour while Mario Lemina, Joe Bryan and Aleksandar Mitrovic similarly failed to take advantage of a defence that was fortunate to leave with a single blotch on its collective record.

But that’s the thing: in this ludicrous season, a fundamentally flawed team with players that can make the moments count in every position has as significant a chance as any other.

This is a side whose five shots on target came in two bursts: Cavani scoring in the 21st minute, Fernandes testing Alphonse Areola in the 23rd, Anthony Martial forcing a save in the 64th, Pogba netting in the 65th and Cavani going close with a header in the 66th. It was just enough, aided by Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s wonderful late block on Lookman as the minutes ticked away painfully slowly.

Those four Manchester United players alone thrive in pivotal instances. Cavani and Fernandes give them an attacking impetus against any team. Pogba’s final f*** is verging on a memorable climax. Wan-Bissaka, even on yet another poor evening by his and most other standards, was able to conjure something so significant and influential. Slot players on a sliding scale of competent to excellent around them and it works better than it perhaps should.

It begs legitimate questions about preparation and concentration but Manchester United have now won 21 points from losing positions this Premier League season. That is more than twice as many as any other team. It is a tally no side has beaten in a full campaign since United themselves in 2012/13. It is more than Newcastle, Brighton, Burnley, Fulham, West Brom and Sheffield United have managed overall so far in 2020/21. It is an enduring testament to their mentality and attitude more than it is an indictment of their need to climb mountains even when more straightforward routes are available.

And after Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s midweek message about topping the Premier League being “the easy bit” and staying there being “the challenge”, this was crucial. Leicester and Manchester City had both leapfrogged them into first in the 36 hours since those words. At some point teams will realise that taking any sort of lead against this baffling Manchester United is often a fool’s errand.

Matt Stead