If you wanted, you could reasonably argue that nothing much has changed about Manchester United after this first game of the post-Ruben Amorim era.
Because even in his absence, a theme of Amorim’s final weeks in charge persisted at Turf Moor: more points dropped against opponents at the wrong end of the table.
This 2-2 draw at 19th-placed Burnley means that United have now failed to beat all of the Premier League’s bottom seven since the start of November, and in doing so, have passed up the opportunity to capitalise on a plum run of fixtures.
Strangely, all seven times they have dropped points against the bottom seven, they have drawn. There have been no defeats. That just about sums up United at the moment. Not bad enough to lose to the worst teams in the league, not good enough to reliably beat them either.
And on top of that, this latest pair of dropped points were dropped from a winning position — just like the points given up against Fulham, Nottingham Forest, Tottenham Hotspur, West Ham, Bournemouth and at Old Trafford against Wolves.
Had United held on at Turf Moor, they would have been in fourth place this morning. Had they won just three of the aforementioned games, they would be fourth with a cushion. Had they not dropped any points from winning positions at all this season, they would be in a title race.
And if my aunt had wheels, et cetera. The reality is United are seventh, around where they have been ever since October’s three-game winning streak abruptly ended.
There have been many missed opportunities since and this was another in a long line, as a stony-faced Jason Wilcox and Omar Berrada appeared to contemplate while applauding the players off from the directors’ box after the final whistle.
And yet, that is really only telling half the story of United’s night — a night where there was an almost palpable willingness to put the turmoil of the past few days to one side and accentuate the positives. There were several to accentuate.
For instance, and perhaps for the first time in 14 months, it made a nice change that almost every United player was deployed in something approaching their natural position.
As expected, interim head coach Darren Fletcher sent United out with a back four — in a 4-2-3-1 shape, to be precise — and he was promptly serenaded by the away end, although only after chants for interim head coach candidates Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Michael Carrick got an airing.
Darren Fletcher took charge of the visitors after Ruben Amorim’s sacking (Michael Regan/Getty Images)
And though the change of system did not bring a change in results, United could consider themselves unlucky when all was said and done. Fletcher’s side had 30 shots, two of which were cleared off the line, hit the woodwork twice, conceded one from an own goal and another from Burnley’s only shot on target.
If Fletcher’s starting line-up was popular, then his substitutions were proactive, particularly late on as United searched for a winning goal.
It was unfortunate that Bruno Fernandes could not play more than an hour and came off as part of a pre-planned change. United lost momentum from that point onwards, yet his return was still one of the night’s big positives.
Another was Benjamin Sesko, who doubled his tally of goals for the season in one night, scoring for the first time since early October — and then adding a second. You would hope, if not expect, your £73.6million striker to thrive against relegation candidates, of course, but the most encouraging thing was the manner of Sesko’s goals.
The 22-year-old’s run off the shoulder of Maxime Esteve to score his first made the sumptuous slide-rule assist by Fernandes possible. Sesko’s switch of direction to separate himself from Bashir Humphreys for his second was just as intelligent. Each finish was different, yet could hardly have been executed better.
Fletcher can take some credit. One of the first things he realised upon assuming interim duties on Monday was that he would not have the time to do everything he wanted to around Carrington before this game.
Even so, he prioritised sitting down and talking with both Sesko and Matheus Cunha. As they were summer signings who arrived after he stepped away from the first team environment to lead United’s under-18s, he had not had the opportunity to get to know either player.
Fletcher’s sit-down with Sesko appears to have been especially productive. “I showed him some videos of his movement and how the opportunities are going to come, to just keep believing, keep making the runs,” he said. “The rest of the team have to look for him more as well.”
Sesko might have scored a hat-trick on another night, Fletcher suggested. But as well as he played, only one United player came within inches of a moment that would have dissolved all the rancour and ill will of the past few days in an instant.
If, less than a minute into only their second senior appearance, an 18-year-old kid takes the ball, runs directly at their opponent, cuts inside to leave them for dead, then curls a strike as sweetly as Shea Lacey did, they deserve to spin away celebrating a winning goal. Lacey didn’t get what he deserved.
What were Fletcher’s instructions to the 18-year-old? “I said to him: ‘Stay wide, go and do what you do,’ and he did that. I know he’s going to make an impact. I know he’s creative. He’s got goals in him. He’s exciting, he’s direct, he’s fearless.”
Exciting, direct, fearless. We have heard those three words and others like them a lot over the last few days. Many supporters have demanded excitement, directness and fearlessness after United’s more timid performances this season. This was not one of those nights.
It was not a win either. Yet as frustrating and as familiar as this result was within the context of this season, it still felt like exactly what United needed: a fresh start.