Fernandes and United... scattergun in both their excellence & ineptitude
MODERN Manchester United, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s Manchester United, summed up by one man and two performances.
Bruno Fernandes, the guy who could not pass to a team-mate a few days ago, turning all he touched into footballing gold.
Never mind not knowing which United is going to show up, you do not know which individuals are going to show up these days.
Fernandes gave the ball away 34 times against Istanbul Basaksehir – against Everton, he was a maestro, rarely striking a bum note.
And there you have Ole’s regime in a nutshell, scattergun in both its excellence and ineptitude. That is why it does not pay to read too much into a peachy performance in Paris or a turkey in Turkey, into a leathering of Leipzig or a grim surrender to the Gunners.
And certainly not into a win over an Everton team who have abruptly dipped to the mundane level many anticipated they would be at.
Yet at the very least, you CAN say this victory did crush one old chestnut. Solskjaer has not lost the dressing room.
This was a performance that did not smack of a squad desperate to see their genial manager replaced by the intensity of Mauricio Pochettino.
Even when their fluency deserted them, their commitment did not.
Fernandes’ influence on the match lessened as time wore on – even though he set up Edinson Cavani’s added-time breakaway goal – but he left his foot in to such a repeated extent that he was lucky to see out the full 90-odd minutes.
Referee Paul Tierney certainly showed a fair degree of leniency.
But Everton and Jordan Pickford benefited from VAR leniency when the eccentric goalkeeper clattered Harry Maguire in what is becoming trademark fashion, so officiating vagaries evened themselves out in the end.
And United probably just about deserved the win.
Next up are West Brom and a gilt-edged chance to end this season’s miserable run at Old Trafford.
But even if that opportunity is accepted, the jury on Solskjaer (right) will still be out.
While the Fernandes header to cancel out Bernard’s opener was a beauty, while his cross was cute
Bruno flies Fernandes through the
air with the greatest ease to head of his, and home
United’s, second goal the of
afternoon enough to find its way into the net either via or not via Marcus Rashford and while the third goal was a nice decoration, there were still reservations to be had. d.
Had Abdoulaye Doucoure re converted a relatively y simple late chance before
Cavani’s strike, it would probably have given a share of the spoils to an
Everton side who were extremely disappointing.
It is true you don’t become a bad side overnight… it has taken Carlo Ancelotti’s team a couple of weeks.
Their per formances at Southampton, Newcastle and now at home against United have been mediocre, to say the least. Ancelotti has a serious regrouping job to do. But whatever Everton’s short short-comings, for United to win a seventh successive P Premier League away g game takes some doing.
The consistency of that particular avenue of form is ironic.
Maybe on the road, you act actually DO know which Manchester United are going to turn up. A resilient one.
Not only are they are on this away streak, they have gone behind in all three league matches on the road this term. That has to say something about the character of the players. And special mention in that regard should go to captain Maguire.
It was appropriate he should start the move that led to Cavani’s goal because his interventions had been timely all afternoon.
He might have been lucky to escape censure for a bone-rattler on Lucas Digne, but this was the type of leadership so many pundits claim United lack.
And from Fernandes, this was the type of inspiration that United so often lack.
As much as nothing came off for him one day, everything came off for him another day.
Sums up United, sums up Ole.