A GREAT LETDOWN
PERHAPS it was a coincidence, perhaps it was some sort of pincer movement from the Class of 92.
There they were. David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, Gary Neville, in the stands, Paul Scholes in withering, disdainful form in the TV studio.
Beckham, Giggs and Neville did not have to say anything, their glum faces screaming disapproval.
Nicky Butt was there too but he is a Manchester United employee so he would not be part of any scheme to put pressure on Jose Mourinho. Of course not.
Nor would the others, obviously, but their presence and Scholes’ words in the studio heaps it on Mourinho.
Anything less than a victory against Newcastle at Old Trafford on Saturday and Jose will be in deep trouble.
After this frustrating stalemate the United gaffer insisted he was happy with the performance.
He said: “We probably had a couple of the biggest chances to win it but I have accepted the result as a fair result.
“I said in pre-season last season was phenomenal to finish second. And I don’t say more than that.
“The players tried. They raised the level of their efforts. They raised the level of their intensity in spite of the fact we don’t have many with that intensity.
“It is a not a bad result. Not a good result but not bad. We have two matches against Juventus to make points. It is a difficult group.”
There was no lack of effort against Valencia but there was a lack of quality that verged on the startling at times.
But at least the players put in a decent shift, something that should be a given but something that hasn’t always seemed to be up to standard recently.
In the opening 15 minutes, there was a greater sense of urgency.
And there was an attacking directness, particularly from Marcus Rashford, even if he was magnetised to the middle.
But after a fast start yielded few chances, United began to get a little careless with the ball.
They were fortunate the Spaniards did not take advantage.
Their mediocre start to the La Liga season camouflages a very decent team and not even an old-school reducer from Antonio