Chaotic Manchester United remain in thrall to strolling Cristiano Ronaldo | Jonathan Liew


Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s star player rescued him again but his team looked confused and overrun in a 2-2 draw with Atalanta

The genius of the modern Manchester United is that for all the attention lavished upon them, for all the granular analysis they attract, they remain a largely unknown quantity. When they take the field, you genuinely have no idea what to expect from them. And not just in terms of results, either: tactics, personnel, effort and mood are all equally unforeseeable. They are the hyperactive toddlers of English football, equally capable of moments of startling insight and unfettered joy as they are of throwing valuable household ornaments into the toilet.

Naturally, this is a quality greatly prized by Ed Woodward and the Glazer family, whose entire strategy has seemed to revolve around reimagining this working-class football club as a brandable entertainment product.

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