Hope for Man United? There is so much low-hanging fruit, so many easy fixes

Garnacho and Højlund also show the club can still look forward with some optimism

Manchester United's Alejandro Garnacho celebrates scoring their side's first goal of the game during the Premier League match at Old Trafford, Manchester. Picture: Martin Rickett/PA Wire. 

Buy low: always a good start in any deal. With 25 minutes gone at Old Trafford on Tuesday night, Manchester United’s players certainly seemed to have been reading their investment briefings, skimming the handbook, underlining exactly the right parts.

Eighth in the league and out of Europe, the corporate scythe about to swing, even the stadium threatened with a righteous bulldozing. Add to that a 2-0 deficit to a finely grooved Aston Villa team, and at best this felt like a timely pitch for a little new investment; at worst like an act of self-immolation, United’s players trailing about the pitch like unwanted chattels, like a hastily scribbled redundancy list, like the Roy brothers trying to tank a takeover deal.