Nothing is predictable in the current climate, but working out which version of Manchester United will turn up for each game has proven borderline impossible.
With an Edinson Cavani-inspired comeback victory at Southampton at the weekend, United became the first side in Premier League history to win four consecutive away games despite trailing in each – form you’d think would see them top of the tree coming into the festive period.
But their home form has been reprehensible this campaign, bringing an end to a run of six successive games without a home win with the most fortunate victory over West Brom two weeks ago.
Ralph Hasenhuttl, unusually candidly for an opposition manager, even joked about United’s inconsistency ahead of Sunday’s match, but little did he know, in the space of two games, his light-hearted quip would become more of a prophecy.
What does not help United’s cohesion and chance for some stability is that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, two years into his Old Trafford tenure, not only does not know his best XI, but the Norwegian is not even set on his preferred system.
This campaign, the formation has varied from game to game, and while there are always plans to accommodate different standards of opposition, pulling players from pillar to post at three-day intervals has its drawbacks.
Against Paris Saint-Germain in the Parc des Princes back in October, Solskjaer deployed a five-man defence to great success, with a midfield diamond becoming the weapon of choice, on an intermittent basis, in the ensuing few months.
Then, for this return clash at Old Trafford, with the Champions League knockout stages in United’s grasp, Solskjaer again changed the shape from the weekend win at St Mary’s, and went with a front three. This time, the move was not quite so fruitful.
All eyes were on Cavani as the match got under way after the week he has had, and up against a former club where he was a firm fan favourite, but it was the man who polarises opinion more than most who stepped up with the opener, as Neymar swept past David de Gea from a tight angle in the sixth minute – the earliest Champions League goal conceded by United since September 2015.
Then, United received the mother of all reprieves, and got all their luck at once.
With midfield being bypassed at will by PSG in the opening 20 minutes, United should have seen their numbers depleted in the middle of the park after Fred appeared to wield the headbutt in Leandro Paredes’ direction.
VAR, quite rightly, asked referee Daniele Orsato, the man who officiated PSG in last season’s Champions League final, to have another look at the pitchside monitor, which Orsato, somewhat farcically, struggled to initially locate. Someone must have quickly changed the channel and put Coronation Street on because Fred, unfathomably, was only booked.
Lady luck was not done there, as Thomas Tuchel’s chief annoyance – Marcus Rashford – scored for the third game in a row against PSG, but with the help of a huge deflection, deviating the ball past the despairing dive of visiting stopper Keylor Navas.
In the second half, we saw Dr Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde both get a run out at Old Trafford. The move was sumptuous as Anthony Martial blazed over from a great position, before Cavani’s sublime chip, on the end of another fizzing United move, came out of the crossbar.
It seemed glaringly obvious, with plenty of midfield talent in reserve for United, that Fred, still flying into challenges, would be substituted, but, moments after Marquinhos stabbed PSG back in front from close range, Fred made one tackle too many, and was sent off with 20 minutes to go, with Neymar putting the icing on the cake in stoppage time for a 3-1 result.
Only needing a point to progress to the last 16, United have instead made things decidedly harder for themselves with a performance that became a microcosm of their season.
At times, they played some fantastic, free-flowing football, as they have at several junctures throughout the season, but some poor decision-making, from playing personnel and from the dugout, became their undoing, discrepancies which have taken place in equal measure in the past few months.
There is no doubt United have what it takes to secure at least a point in Leipzig to reach the last 16 next Tuesday. The doubts remain, however, as to which United will turn up to finish the job.
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