Tommy Martin: United have been lost in the chase but have they found their alpha-nerd?
Ajax coach Erik ten Hag gestures from the sidelines during the Dutch Eredivisie football match between FC Twente and Ajax. Picture: Getty Images
As if to confirm that the universe is a zero-sum equation, that all the positive energies being discharged in one place must be matched by negative energies elsewhere, that every glorious yin must have its rubbish yang, on the same weekend as Manchester City v Liverpool, you also had Everton v Manchester United.
That the two clubs involved in Saturday’s El Craptico at Goodison Park are the respective city rivals of Sunday’s starring duo lent a further sense of grotesque mirror imagery. Where Sunday was compelling and slick, Saturday was clumsy and hapless. At the Etihad the talk was of high lines and marauding full backs; at Goodison it was of deflections and disgrace, the word United keeper David De Gea used to describe his team’s performance.
