Man Utd 2-1 Rangers: ‘Hurt and hope for Clement as side fight adversity’
Old Trafford, filled with tributes to the immortal Denis Law and banners praising the genius of another great Scot, Sir Alex Ferguson, looks to fit the bill.
But it doesn’t sound like it. There’s no aura to it, no noise from the home fans, no intimidation factor.
“Glory and Honor”, “Stretford Park”, “Manchester is My Heaven”. The stands were decorated with worthy designs, but no glory, honor or love.
Until Butland hit a ball into his own net.
Suddenly, the volume was turned up. Suddenly, United’s build-up looked convincing, if a little wasteful when the big moments came.
There were a couple of good goals, but no second one, not until the final seconds.
Butland saved him with his defender holding him back and Rangers ensured their night didn’t end in an unpleasant situation.
Enter Findlay Curtis, another 18-year-old in the fight. Debut against Fraserburgh on Sunday and Europa League debut on Thursday. Rice and Curtis must have felt like kids at Christmas.
A lot has been said about older teams not being able to break through young players, but Clement now has some nice ripostes to that criticism. Rice and Curtis were there because others were injured, but they were there anyway.
Clement has this young group of players and he’s desperately trying to buy time to mold them into a rough-hewn unit. Of course, patience is as rare as the dodo on the road to Govan.
In a heart-breaking moment late in the game, Rice played a lovely pass to Desers, who was matched up with Altay Baindil inside the United goal.
He raised it to himself and saw it fall from a pillar. He may have been offside, but that didn’t lessen the anger of the home fans. Their response was deafening fury.
There was no way we could have known that Desers would leave again and this time he would put it away in the style of Rangers’ greatest striker. Seventeen this season. More than 20 last season.
Not a bad shot for the dud you hear some Rangers fans talk about.
Fernandez has the final say so Rangers will be anxious. This goal was avoidable at all levels of the game.
It hurts, but there’s also hope for Clement. His players fought hard in the face of adversity. He saw the character there. No bullet points, but something to build on.
