TERRACE TALK: Man United - We could be facing more penance in Advent

Last week, giddy after Piggy’s last-minute bacon-saver at Watford, I allowed myself to write hopefully that a “qualification-clinching evening against PSV would cap five days of United hugely cheering us all up”. Sigh. When will I ever learn?

Instead, we’ve just endured another several days of soul-searching, breast-beating and fist-gnawing, most of which has centred upon one existential query: “have we had enough of this Dutch clown, or what?” (I think that’s what the lawyers call ‘a leading question’.)

You could step back and point out that we’ve just earned a decent point from a top-of-the-table away day, and that — on paper, at least — we ought to be well capable of beating Wolfsburg in the Champions League group finale. You may even wish to hazard the sally that 14 clean sheets in 23 games shows that the rebuilding is bearing some fruit, if we accept that all such projects start from the back and work forwards, and that Chris Smalling should be a Player of the Year contender.