Terrace Talk: Man United - A strange sense of entitlement returns

Here’s a sign of how well Ole has got his feet under the table, and how quickly we’re getting used to the pleasure of having him — we’re already becoming blasé. The Reds I know were confidently expecting an entertaining game on Saturday, and also expecting to win.

Yes, that’s ‘expecting’, not hoping; how long has it been since we felt like that? Moyes, Van Gaal and Mourinho all succeeded in only one double-edged respect; they removed all sense of normality and predictability — other than that of us reliably watching rather boring and largely underachieving football. But Ole has loudly and repeatedly proclaimed what he expects his players to produce and we’re now feeling entitled to it.

I especially liked the phrase Ole used about demanding the players “feel alive”. He captured something there, after several seasons of us watching players looking increasingly moribund and entrapped. He has set them free, and so far they’ve repaid his faith.

The world and his wife have queued up to pay tribute to the most obvious beneficiaries viz. Pogba and Rashford, the latter’s goal arguably the best seen in the country on Saturday.

But let us not neglect the fact that further back in the team two almost-forgotten talents in Matic and Herrera are also reaping the benefits of the change in manager.

The former suddenly doesn’t seem quite as slow and old as he did under Mourinho, whilst the latter has shown a focus and grip not seen since he first arrived. Only two months ago, I was bemoaning here how far Herrera had fallen in our affections; now he’s seemingly resolutely on the ascent.

At the back, young Dalot is already beginning to collect admirers, whilst Lindelof has more or less risen from the grave, reputationally. Though to be fair to Mourinho, whose decision to buy the Swede had been so criticised for so long, that slow emergence from general opprobrium had been going on for weeks before Ole’s arrival.

But no-one’s in the mood to be fair to José, especially not when they see him starting to niggle and carp on beIN Sports. His vow of silence has lasted all of a month, and one wonders what he may yet disinter to hurl in the direction of his former employers.

I am told by Lisbon sources that José feels United have broken the mutual silence pact by supposedly leaking titbits about his reign to the media, in which case he no longer feels bound by any agreement.

Admittedly, many Reds would not be too distressed to see José chuck some verbal rocks at Woodward, and I did snigger at Mourinho’s blatant mischief-making over the director of football issue.

He was dead against such a style-cramping appointment when he was manager but is now cheerfully recommending it for his successor, who may well not welcome it either.

What José is obviously implying is that Woodward can’t be trusted to run football matters anymore, and thus needs a DoF to stop him making so many mistakes.

If he sticks to that kind of snarkery, all well and good. What we could all do without, though, is him mounting a sour running commentary on all things United henceforth, especially if it starts to involve popping at individual players.

Someone give that man a job, stat. Lisbon friends do tell me that he has genuinely had four job offers; may they continue to roll in and thus, eventually, give him something else to moan about.

Friday offers old school excitement in a new context; a Cup tie at our old friends Arsenal but on an unusual night of the week. ‘Arsenal’ and ‘Friday’ will always conjure up 1989’s finale, and the glorious sight of Thomas dancing towards the Anfield Road End. Can it really be 30 years ago since we bounced around our TV and radio sets to that?

Football has changed beyond all recognition since then but one thing has remained unaltered; no

Manchester United manager will ever go short of friends at Old Trafford if he publicly commits to attacking exciting football, no matter whether it leads to trophies or not.

Ole gets that, but José didn’t; and the latter can moan all he likes on the telly, but that’s why no-one is sorry to have seen him go.

Because now, we feel alive again.