The genius of the modern Manchester United is that for all the attention lavished upon them, for all the granular analysis they attract, they remain a largely unknown quantity. When they take the field, you genuinely have no idea what to expect from them. And not just in terms of results, either: tactics, personnel, effort and mood are all equally unforeseeable. They are the hyperactive toddlers of English football, equally capable of moments of startling insight and unfettered joy as they are of throwing valuable household ornaments into the toilet.
Naturally, this is a quality greatly prized by Ed Woodward and the Glazer family, whose entire strategy has seemed to revolve around reimagining this working-class football club as a brandable entertainment product.
Atalanta v Manchester United, Champions League – 02 Nov 2021<br>Editorial use only Mandatory Credit: Photo by Nigel Keene/ProSports/REX/Shutterstock (12583486bd) Goal 2-2 Cristiano Ronaldo (7) of Manchester United’ scores the equaliser during the Champions League match between Atalanta and Manchester United at Gewiss Stadium, Bergamo Atalanta v Manchester United, Champions League – 02 Nov 2021
Even the fans still seem to be on board for the time being, recognising – correctly – that the virtues of a watertight five-year plan and a coherent backroom infrastructure must occasionally take a back seat to the haptic thrill of watching your clump of highly paid frauds pull off yet another sensational comeback.
And lo, on a chilly Lombardian night United again went behind, again came back, again changed formations before half-time, again went behind, again came back, again kept the United content machine well and truly in business. For Ole Gunnar Solskjær, who has been in the last chance saloon so many times he knows the bar staff by name and has long since memorised all the questions on the quiz machine, it was another night that felt like it might settle everything and yet seemed to settle nothing.
His teamsheet offered us a handy window into the confusion. Four of the back five that had served United so well against Tottenham on Saturday were in operation again. So was Paul Pogba, but in a porous midfield three alongside the wandering Bruno Fernandes and the overloaded Scott McTominay. Up front Marcus Rashford played off Cristiano Ronaldo, an appropriate role for someone so used to feeding children. And so it was a system set up for defensive cover. But also dominating possession. But also playing the ball through midfield. But also the counterattack.
An injury to Raphaël Varane forced Solskjær to switch to a 4-3-3 shortly before the break and, true to form, by the closing minutes United had reverted to their default of simply flinging four forwards on to the pitch and letting them get on with it. It worked. It will work most weeks; individually United are that good. Yet there is a basic irony in the fact that a squad assembled for domination is so poor without the ball that they condemn themselves to long periods of being dominated.
