Ronaldo at his best and worst
In this prime-time drama, the heroes were also the villains – apart from the honourable Michael Carrick
FIVE ASIDES Premier League: United 3, Arsenal 2
Football, bloody hell. A freak of a goal, overcome by a freak of a player. A pulsating prime-time made-for-TV drama on Amazon Prime. Arsenal led, United levelled, United led, Arsenal levelled, United led again and somehow held on, and then came the twist nobody had managed to foresee – the sudden departure of Michael Carrick.
Cristiano Ronaldo, who doesn’t usually do things by halves, had a game of two of them. In the first half he showed exactly why a manager might want to leave him out. He was half-hearted and selfish: twice he went for goal from a distance when a team-mate was in a better position, and both times the shot was feeble. He didn’t middle a shot till the 48th minute, but it transformed him. Four minutes later Marcus Rashford whipped in a low cross, and Ronaldo’s first-time strike was cool and calm and crisp. It was his first goal at home in the league since his comeback against Newcastle on September 11, and now, as then, he soon added another, hitting a fearless penalty – high, central and handsome. After that, the pundits were so busy gasping at the idea of 800 goals from one person that they forgot how bad he’d been for the first half. It’s going to be so interesting to see how Rangnick uses him.
It was also the best and worst of times for Fred. Carrick had changed his role, from bite-your-legs ball-winner to box-to-box midfielder, and he duly made his presence felt in both boxes. At one end, he trod on David de Gea before Emile Smith Rowe’s wacky goal – after being shoved himself by Ben White, but still, Fred had one job there, which was to protect his goalie. (And United should know how to defend at corners: they’ve conceded 23 in the last two games.) At the other end, Fred made up for it by playing a lovely precise ball to Bruno Fernandes, who was left with a simple side-foot finish. It was Fernandes’ first league goal since Newcastle, and Fred’s first assist all season. He carried on being erratic, giving the ball away so often that you wondered if he was practising for the Christmas visit to a Manchester hospital. He played 11 stray passes out of 54, while his midfield McMate, Scott McTominay, allowed himself only six out of 43. Fred was lucky to win the penalty that won the match after throwing his leg in Martin Odegaard’s way and going down with a giveaway yell, but maybe it was karma for the morally similar pen given against Aaron Wan-Bissaka at Chelsea. And, as Carrick said after that game, Fred’s attitude is admirable – he runs and runs, he smiles and smiles, and most significantly for Rangnick, he presses and presses. According to fbref, he pressed 26 times last night, ten more than the next man (Jadon Sancho). Ronaldo managed three.
Diogo Dalot – remember him? He made his first league start in two years, and finally you could see why Jose Mourinho called him the best young right-back in the world. He was rapid, solid and intrepid. For once, when Victor Lindelof played his reflex pass out to the flank, your heart didn’t sink. And the pre-assist he played for United’s second goal was a gem – a reverse ball, played with his left foot, to send Rashford away. This season, with Luke Shaw’s purple patch ending and Wan-Bissaka all over the place at times, full-back has been the the department where United have lagged furthest behind City, Liverpool and Chelsea. For all Wan-Bissaka’s skill as a tackler, it’s good to have a right-back who knows what to do with the ball. Rangnick may agree with Solskjaer that Kieran Trippier would be a better bet, but Dalot is in contention now, and out of the cold.
Quit while you’re ahead, they say, and hardly any manager ever manages it. But Carrick did. He leaves with his head held high, on his own terms (though the board should give him a pay-off anyway, for 15 years’ exceptional service). His ten-day tenure in the hot seat featured no easy games, no defeats, no surrender and no nonsense. He didn’t get everything right – overdoing the caution at Chelsea, putting Sancho and Rashford on the wrong wings last night – but he made a big difference. He turned the tanker round in no time, he was dignified, down-to-earth and decisive, and he has left Ralf Rangnick with a hard act to follow. He departs as the most successful United manager of all time by win percentage, and, more importantly, as the first man since Alex Ferguson to enhance his reputation while doing this fiendishly difficult job. It was nice that the crowd sang Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s name, but they really should have been singing ‘You are my Carrick’.