TERRACE TALK: Man United - Tepid start to a possible nightmare week

Yesterday was May 1, traditionally a date that’s a holiday for the working classes of the world, so I suppose we should be grateful for the 25 first-half minutes of exciting graft Manchester United’s wage slaves did deign to give us.

By midway through the second half, however, the Sunday slippers were truly on, with Wayne Rooney, in particular, playing as though he really had changed footwear at half-time.

Not for the first time this season — or this week, come to think of it — the old post-match phrase of Sven Goran Eriksson sprang dismally to mind: “First half good... second half not so good.”