Terrace Talk: Familiar post-Europe lethargy proves costly

No doubt as to what was the dominant angry shout of the past week: “That was never a pen!” (Well, leaving aside Neymar’s dad yelling at King Eric.) Whether the howl emanated from all of Paris — and, admittedly, much of the watching world — on Wednesday, or all of the Manchester end at the Emirates last night, the result was the same: Matches cruelly decided on the wisp of a refereeing whim.

Whingeing about refs and pens is both the oldest and most boring of all football fan behaviours, so let’s just agree that United deserved their technically correct though iffy-looking penalty in Paris, while Arsenal’s spot-kick was a revolting outrage against humanity, and we can move on.