Manchester United’s unlikely one-match winning streak and hard-to-please fans

Considering they’d just gone nine games without a win, assorted Manchester United fans carping about the manner of their team’s Bigger Cup win over Roma on shouty radio phone-ins on Tuesday night struck Football Daily as the type who’d complain about a firefighter refusing to wipe their boots at the front door before rescuing them from a burning house. Yes, it’s true that United played appallingly in the first half and were lucky to be only 2-0 down.

And yes, the penalty was somewhat fortuitous against a knack-ravaged Serie A side who have form in coughing up two-goal leads in the competition.

However, when your once mighty side has spent the opening months of the season looking more like a broken washing machine full of spanners falling down an escalator than an elite football team, complaining about the artistic merit of a highly unlikely comeback win seems unnecessarily churlish, even if Matheus Cunha’s celebration of the winner was a little over the top. Roma managed to capitulate to Manchester United while being 2-0 up.

Even Man Utd haven’t managed to do that too many times but I wouldn’t describe their second half performance as ‘a comeback for the ages’. Their opponents just didn’t turn up” – Nigel Sanders. These suggestions of paper and velcro shirts seem overly complicated. (yesterday’s Football Daily letters). If teams would just commit to using body paint instead of clothing, the foul becomes impossible to commit unless a defender is possessed of both long...

Read the original report at The Guardian.