Manchester United seemed to have done the hard work. A win at Paris Saint-Germain in its Champions League opener, and a 5-0 demolition of RB Leipzig last week meant it could have all but guaranteed its place in the last 16 with a pair of wins over the lowest-ranked side in the group, Istanbul Basaksehir. But in the first of those games, on Wednesday, Man United lost, 2-1. Qualification for the knockout stage is suddenly not as straightforward, while Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will again be left to ponder just why his team is so inconsistent.
Just how can it lose 6-1 to Tottenham one week and then hammer the Bundesliga leaders the next?