MANCHESTER UNITED… 2
RANGERS… 1
Only hours before production of what you are now reading commenced, from the same space emerged pertaining to the picking of Eoghan Frayne and Ciaran Caulfield as captain and vice captain respectively of the Meath senior football team.
The point was made, and will be again, that while surprise at their nomination is understandable given that both are in the formative stages of their inter county careers, there’s no staple diet depicting what makes a good skipper.
If there was one prerequisite, though, surely standing up and being counted when it was needed most would be it. And, though many, including yours truly, have occasionally lambasted the man, time and time again Bruno Fernandes has been Manchester United’s chief station officer when firefighting has been required.
Yes, he has moulded Amad Diallo and, to a lesser extent, Kobbe Mainoo to split the workload, and Manuel Ugarte has shown signs he could be useful with a pick and shovel, but, more often than not, when the sh1t is about to hit the fan, it’s the skipper closing the manhole.
So it was here. Now, all of this Battle Of Britain stuff was pure horse dung. Even in their current dishevelled state, expectation would be that the Old Trafford outfit should be at all times capable of dealing with the tempestuous half of Glasgow with relative ease. Here, given their dominance of possession, particularly in the second half, that should have been the case and were it not for another defencive howler.
To be fair, Harry Maguire could rightly point out that he was pushed in the back before the Rangers forward spun off him and put an unstoppable shot beyond the burgeoning Altay Bayindir, but for the love of God, if you’re coaching players at U-10 level – in any sport – the first thing you tell them is play the whistle. In other words, don’t stop until you hear one.
Instead, there was Harry, flailing his arms about like a lad at two in the morning coming out of the chipper trying to flag down a taxi. Though in fairness to him, akin to his Portuguese skipper, he could never be accused of taking a backward step and, ironically, it was his steadfastness in the aftermath of the Rangers goal which put Lisandro Martinez away before the Argentine terrier’s sumptuous ball left Bruno to land the knockout punch and send the Ferris Wheel on an upward curve again in this tumult of a season for United.
Fulham must be rubbing their hands in anticipation!