Manchester United manager candidate removed after Ferguson disciple streak broken | OneFootball

It was almost too Manchester United DNA, too caretaker manager.

Darren Fletcher had kept his powder relatively dry. He made one change to the starting line-up, the biggest alteration between Elland Road and Turf Moor coming in his chosen formation. Sir Jim Ratcliffe finally got his wish with a four-man defence but will probably be wondering why Bryan Mbeumo wasn’t picked at right-back.

It conjured a positive performance worthy of victory. Manchester United had 30 shots to Burnley’s seven, with ten on target to one. Yet they still contrived to draw to a team consigned by most to relegation.

Had Shea Lacey, the exciting academy graduate winger, shot marginally lower after collecting a Mason Mount pass and running at an increasingly panicked Lucas Pires in the 85th minute, then Fletcher would have had his crowning moment in the big chair.

But try as he might, even with five positive and sensible substitutions, an attacking gameplan and the revitalisation of Benjamin Sesko, this is a club currently lacking fortune almost as much as it is intelligent thought and vague levels of competence.

Fletcher wanted “to see the players play with enthusiasm, energy and be really positive when they get the ball, don’t hide,” and it’s difficult to pinpoint anyone who specifically failed on those fronts. Casemiro and Lisandro Martinez could have done far better for the Burnley goals but it was an approach and display which, nine times out of ten, would have delivered a victory.

This simply happened to be the one, and the first time a Ferguson disciple turned interim manager has failed to win their first game.

Ryan Giggs, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Michael Carrick and Ruud van Nistelrooy all proudly discussed having consulted Ferguson over their caretakership, all said the right things about passion, bravery, imagination and expression, and all savoured vibe-restoring, feel-good victories from the dugout as the support chanted their name again to escape the misery of the prior months.

Fletcher was certainly embraced by the travelling fans as the latest saviour temporarily promoted from the former players’ WhatsApp group, but will have noted how Solskjaer and Carrick also had their songs given a run-out during a third straight draw against a team in the bottom five.

Those who will ultimately decide which legend is pestered over tactics for the next four months by Jason Wilcox might have preferred a clearer indication of the populist choice.

And this really did little to boost or block Fletcher’s candidacy. A good performance produced a poor result, neither of which really moves the needle sufficiently for or against him.

The goals conceded were a deflected cross and a wonderful individual effort. The goals scored were the result of smart moves, the first a direct consequence of Fletcher’s half-time redeployment of Bruno Fernandes on the right. Two wrongs don’t make a right and 2-2 probably doesn’t extend this spell past one more game at most.

Thus Manchester United, despite slipping below a quite absurd Newcastle team, are back precisely where they started. With the next appointment being purely for the rest of this season it is tough to imagine how either Solskjaer or Carrick set themselves apart from the other when both are seeking the counsel and advice of the same 84-year-old elephant in every room at Old Trafford and Carrington, both will be signing from the same hymn sheet about identity and culture, and both can point to past ship-steadying exploits, achieved with a great many of these players.

It is a decision which can likely be put off past the weekend, when Brighton visit in the FA Cup. There lies the last opportunity for Manchester United to adorn this season with a trophy, but beyond that are their next two Premier League opponents: Manchester City and Arsenal on January 17 and 25 respectively.

There is still plenty to play for, still a Champions League place to secure and a season to stabilise. Fletcher’s chance to make a compelling argument that he should be trusted with those responsibilities has passed; Manchester United have a week or so to make a decision they have already proven they cannot be trusted with.