The only predictable thing is their unpredictability

ATHLETICO MADRID… 1

MANCHESTER UNITED… 1

Manchester United currently resemble a volitile backside – you just don’t know what they’re going to do next.

In truth, that has been the state of affairs at the Old Trafford club since Sir Alex Ferguson vacated the dugout. On and off the pitch. The second part of that might seem a bit odd given the amount of expensive transfers brought into the club. Some of them fruitless.

However, viewed from a different lens, one could easily point to the money siphoned out of the club by the Glazer family and pumped into the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and their hiring policies in terms of managers has resembled a revolving door like Fawlty Towers.

For example, anointing David Moyes as the ‘Chosen One’ made about as much sense as electing Homer Simpson Sanitation Commissioner. And at least he had a catchy campaign song! But Moyes still made more sense than shafting Louis Van Gaal immediately after winning the FA Cup.

Alas, the idiocy didn’t end there. Having extremely belatedly hired Jose Mourinho – the best coach in world football for as much as a decade at that stage – they defenestrated with the services of the Special One after he had guided the club to two trophies.

Replacing him with Ole Gunnar Solksjaer was perhaps a gamble, which some would say worked, others not. This corner would be very much in the former bracket. For a time at least. By the time the former striker was regrettably shown the door it probably was the right call.

So then in came Ralf Rangnick, even though it should have been Mauricio Pochettino, and, while in some ways it appears they have improved a bit, the only predictable thing about them is their unpredictability. How else to explain getting beaten by Middlesbrough at home in the FA Cup but garnering a priceless draw away to Athletico Madrid in the Champions League.

Itteration of the latter fact, though, cannot disguise the reality that the grossly overrated Diego Simone’s side dominated the game – if it’s possible to do so with just 48% possession. Let’s just say it was played on their terms for all bar the last ten minutes of the match. Mind you, it only took them seven minutes to again prove that Harry Maguire would have a better chance of stopping a bus with his head than protecting Manchester United’s goal.

Yet while United’s performance did notably improve after the break – that wouldn’t have been hard – it was only in the last ten minutes that they looked capable of getting something from the game. Indeed, after Cristiano Ronaldo and promising youngster Anthony Elanga crafted a magnificent and priceless equaliser they could very easily have gone on to win it. Ronaldo was denied what at the very least was a genuine shout for a penalty ignored.

The thing about Rangnick’s charges – and they were the same before they were his responsibility – is that you wouldn’t want to be depending on what they will or might do next. In the natural order of things, you would expect them to beat struggling Watford – comfortably at that – but I refer you to the comparison at the outset of this column.

Still, while there is understandably some credence to the theory that Arsenal are in the driving seat in the pursuit of a top four finish. By virtue of having games in hand. For me though, far better is it to have the points on the board rather than having to go looking for them.