Manchester United beating Newcastle was a summation of everything good about them since Erik ten Hag took over and new owners would be fools to alter course.
In the end, it’s difficult to avoid the conclusion that, some time in the days building up to their EFL Cup final win against Newcastle United, something innate clicked within Manchester United.
The warm-up came with the 2-1 win against Barcelona three days earlier. It may have been the Europa League rather than the Champions League, but to beat this particular club at this particular moment was a potent reminder of Manchester United’s self-image, a perfect pick-me-up ahead of a cup final against a club whose aversion to silverware over the last 70 years has easily been as great as United’s greed.
That the match itself was low on drama spoke volumes for the progress made at Old Trafford since appointing Erik ten Hag. Over the course of almost a decade Manchester United became a melodrama, a living, breathing soap opera with numerous sub-plots bubbling away below a veneer of greatness built on former glories.
Elsewhere, others got on with the job of scooping up trophies as United fought themselves like cats in a bag until the farcical scenes of the second half of last season, when no-one seemed to be taking notice of anyone else as stories leaked into the tabloid press and the team atrophied on the pitch.
The key to Manchester United’s resurgence this season has been a combination of factors coming together at the right time. Recruitment since Ten Hag arrived has been superb. Casemiro might be 31 years old – so, what, he may only have another five years left in him? – and there is always reason to wonder why when Real Madrid are happy to sell a player, but there can be little questioning the influence he holds over the team on the pitch. Christian Eriksen was an absolute steal on a free transfer. Lisandro Martinez is cheap at double the price. The list goes on.
Players already at the club have also improved. Marcus Rashford has been little short of sensational, not just getting back to the best of what we saw before the downturn in his form which started in 2019 and went so far as making his departure from Old Trafford seem like a possibility, but way beyond.
Fred has been rejuvenated. Alejandro Garnacho has started to blossom. Aaron Wan-Bissaka looks like a different player. Again the list goes on, and it has happened to too many players more or less simultaneously for the standard…
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