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"No tippy-tappy from the back this week," Gary Neville guffawed as David de Gea larruped his latest kick up the field.
Mainly, it was nice to hear Neville having a semblance of fun on a Sky Sports broadcast again. Tortured state-of-the-Manchester-United-nation addresses start to feel tired after a while.
It is highly unlikely that Erik ten Hag has parked a lifetime of Ajax schooling and decided the solution to United's woes is to have his goalkeeper launch the ball back to the opposition at every opportunity. But De Gea's refusal to tempt the yapping Liverpool press was one example of a coach, who is already under a harsh microscope, getting the template absolutely right during Monday night's 2-1 win.
Ten Hag will continue to juggle the demands of the present with hopes of a long-term transformative project at United. Bad short-term decisions have led the club to their current predicament and the final 10 days of the transfer window should be approached with vigilance.
On the other hand, you can't get soundly outplayed by Brighton & Hove Albion before being hammered by Brentford and pick a team for fanciful sunlit uplands a few months from now. United's 5-0 humiliation in this fixture last season was fresh in the memory with good reason.
This Manchester United will play out from the back again. De Gea will pick the wrong pass, stand on the ball, fall over or any combination of the three at some point and fingers will again be pointed at the Old Trafford brain trust.
Against an injury-hit and bizarrely lukewarm Liverpool, that club was put back into the bag. De Gea had 40 touches and lost possession 23 times. United's players treated this like a ferocious derby scrap from the first whistle, while their opponents had not unreasonably been persuaded to expect a walkover sparring session.
