As the camera focused on Cristiano Ronaldo at full time against Watford, his response was to turn his back. He didn’t want anyone to see his face. He was stood alone, head bowed, almost embarrassed amidst his dejection. For a rare instant in his career, he is looking entirely bereft of belief, unable to find the net with anywhere near the ease that he has done throughout his illustrious career - even against a relegation-riddled side.
When the lineups were released, there was an inkling that Ronaldo may have been granted his reported wish of operating with a partner to lead the line alongside given that Ralf Rangnick named four central midfield players. The idea of playing with a front two had allegedly been proposed by Ronaldo in a meeting with the Manchester United interim manager, something that appeals given one of the strongest attacking showings of the season came when Edinson Cavani led the line with Ronaldo away to Tottenham Hotspur. Unfortunately, it has since been an awkward predicament given Cavani's frequent unavailability.
Ronaldo did have some more support on Saturday afternoon but it was far from a clear-cut forward pair. Instead, there was more of a flexible front four, with Paul Pogba and Bruno Fernandes often rotating in the role behind Ronaldo ahead of Nemanja Matic and Fred. Anthony Elanga, having replaced Marcus Rashford, was similarly finding himself across a varied number of positions, with an occasional but sporadic merging to a variation of 4-4-2.
Watford proved content to sit deep in attempt to hold a staunch guard, allowing United possession as Roy Hodgson set his side into a 4-5-1 formation. United were able, and allowed, to take the game to their opposition, settling faster than against Atletico Madrid and operating at a high tempo. No matter the intentions of Watford's passive approach, United still effectively found pockets of space to exploit.
Aaron Wan-Bissaka - starting at right back as Diogo Dalot failed to make the lineup for the third match in succession - was the first to find an open area, playing a ball across slightly behind Ronaldo, who managed to adjust yet scuffed the ball onto the post. There were certain opportunities for United's fullbacks to push high and create overloads.
Unlike in Madrid, United asserted an air of authority amidst their domination of possession; the home side were gaining avail from the extra bodies operating in midfield, grasping control of the game from near enough the outset. Matic was integral to the functionality of the system, acting as a linchpin and progressive passing hub. The Serb provided a considerably superior presence to Fred in the deep midfield role, successfully holding fort whilst enabling more poise in possession.
Matic was central to the production of many attacks, kickstarting one break by sending Elanga on his way to combine effectively with Ronaldo, darting incisively inside to latch onto a backheel from the latter. The manoeuvre was one of fluid interchanges at scintillating pace, though Ben Foster was attentive to deny Fernandes' effort from close range; poor decision making reared its head again, with Fernandes opting shoot rather than square to the vacant Ronaldo.
The aforementioned passage was not an isolated case, with plenty of openings presenting themselves but execution awry amidst creation aplenty. At the same time, indecision was rendering such phases of purposeful invention futile.
Elanga often embodied United's drive in attacking phases, fresh and energised, invaluable to his side's potency and central to most forward surges. He was carrying the ball through seas of Watford bodies with seeming ease at times, apparent in the buildup to Ronaldo finding the net, only for a ruling of offside to be judged from Alex Telles' well-placed driven cross. By matter of fact, no player has been caught offside more than Ronaldo in the Premier League so far this season.
Also on the bandwagon of waxing lyrical about Elanga's influence, it was his knack to combine with teammates that showed to be a key asset in United's attacking prowess. After his previous exchange with Ronaldo, he was involved in some slick linkup play with Pogba, playing a through ball with enough weight to elude Craig Cathcart. Having rounded a committed Foster after running onto Elanga's pass, Ronaldo was driven wide and stumbled off balance, let down by a heavy first touch as on a number of occasions. As a consequence, there was no shooting option, with a ball delivered to Fernandes but too high for his header to trouble.
Only moments earlier, Fernandes had significantly misjudged the flight of a Pogba delivery, miscuing from a matter of yards out. United were missing gilt-edged chances, seeing all of their 10 shots go begging throughout the first half, engineering only a solitary attempt on target.
You could take the view that, at least, United had proficiently used such a vast amount of possession. Creation was rife through various means, whether it be cutting through the middle or utilising the flanks. It wasn't as though Watford had made things simple for United, either, with their resolution causing the home side to work considerably for the opportunities that were being generated.
Everything was refined in buildup, with United on the front foot to such extent that every man was situated within the opposition half; aside from momentary effluxes, Watford were hemmed back thus an attacking non-entity. To the dismay of the Old Trafford faithful, the tentative nature of their side in goalscoring areas was of cost.
The execution of everything but the final product was to relative perfection on the whole from United. Matic delivered a meticulous ball into Pogba early in the second half, only for the recipient's ambivalence inside the box to cause the delivery of neither a shot nor a cross. Elanga, following a sumptuous flick from Pogba, should also have found the net yet fired wide with a rash finish at close proximity to Foster's net.
The phases of play on display were often worthy of goals, though the finishing on display was far from that.
One particular opportunity really summed up United's afternoon. Fernandes was alert to win the ball back inside Watford's box, showing endeavour to subsequently drive across the byline, beating men before cutting the ball across into space. Everything that preceded the ultimate effort from Ronaldo was an encapsulation of all that was positive about United's performance, with that only accentuated as the finish was inadvertently hit into and essentially blocked by Elanga with the goal gaping.
It wasn't happening for Ronaldo. For the 11th time in 12 matches in all competitions since the turn of the year, he was absent from the scoresheet. He looked dispirited in his body language, which was translating to his on-field exploits. In the first half, he even walked away from a freekick in definite shooting range.
There were a number of kicks of goalposts, as well as a kick of a water bottle, in exasperation from Ronaldo throughout. In one episode of disgust, Fernandes had to physically push his compatriot back onto the pitch, doing his duties as captain as Maguire was rested and dropped to the bench.
The addition of further attacking bodies hardly helped to bolster Ronaldo's output as the second half commenced; Rashford replaced Matic towards the closing stages, joining the rested Jadon Sancho as a second half substitute as Pogba and Fernandes were left as the only midfield bodies on the pitch. Instead of causing greater productivity, though, the alterations only instilled a sense of desperation that was of detriment to in-game processes and, resultantly, the quality of the performance.
Understandably, those within Old Trafford grew agitated. Ahead of successive meetings with Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool, there was acknowledgement that dropped points against a relegation-threatened side was a notable blow. Again, they were ruing a plethora of squandered chances. Big chances, too.
An ovation for Tom Cleverley as he was withdrawn by Roy Hodgson towards full time came with an almost tangible sense of reminiscence in attempt to maintain, or restore, some form of positivity within the stadium. Cleverley made 22 appearances in United's last Premier League winning term which, now, is nine seasons in the past.
Fast forward those nine years from the 2012/13 campaign: United are behind in a scrap for a Champions League place, on a run that reads five regulation time draws in their last seven matches in all competitions - under their fifth official manager since Sir Alex Ferguson's retirement. They created 20 chances against a side poised for relegation, recording 22 shots yet only mustering three attempts on target.
"Our job as coaches is to help the team to create enough chances," Rangnick said. "The number of clear chances we had had to be enough to win a game like this."
It is astounding that a team can be so creatively astute yet so underprepared for the chances to actually come their way. There is a mass of attacking talent in Rangnick's ranks, including arguably the greatest finisher the game has ever seen, and he is managing them well, yet it somehow seems such a challenge for those on the pitch to execute even when the service is so ever-present.
United have been playing like a team that could beat anyone at times, though the standard of performance has to be transcribed into goals, otherwise such level is pointless.
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