Manchester United short on the intensity the modern game demands

It is a mark of what a sorrowful environment Manchester United has become, a place of mournful noises, clanking chains, shouts through the wall, that the only idea to have met with near-unanimous approval in the past few months was the prospect of bulldozing Old Trafford into the ground and starting over.

There are at least some notes of comfort before the Premier League meeting with Liverpool on Tuesday night. First, the game is at Anfield, where United players being jeered by the crowd represents a return to everyday normality. And second, there has been something comforting of late in the public statements of Ralf Rangnick, whose time as interim manager has evolved into a kind of soft-pedalled trauma therapy.

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It was always far-fetched to imagine Rangnick could impose a mid-season reboot on this mix-and-match squad. He has settled instead for being the only grown-up in the room, the best response a kind of priestly bedside manner, like the kindly platoon sergeant who holds your hand on the battlefield stretcher and tells you you’re going to be just fine, even as a medical orderly plunges 18 phials of morphine into your upper thigh.

The meeting with Liverpool will pique Rangnick’s curiosity in other ways. There is plenty of straightforward jeopardy here. United have a chance to make a dent in Liverpool’s chances of winning the league. Liverpool can put a stake through the heart of United’s hopes of taking fourth place, cueing up another season of stasis.

But the most significant subplot is the sense of contrast, and of mimesis. Liverpool are in many senses where United hope to be. The likely hire of Erik ten Hag is an attempt to