It had happened quietly, and as much because of Halfman’s oft-frustrating failure to kill off games as anything else, but these two teams came into the game level on points. By the end of it, La Ball had proved that they should not be discounted. Twice they led, through Hazard and the impressive Thauvin, and they might feel like they deserved more out of it. But a dogged Halfman recovered, their first equaliser coming through the impressive Partey, while Rodgers’s switch to a narrow diamond eventually paid off with Coutinho’s 88th-minute goal. Though a title challenge looks unlikely at this stage, United at least offered valuable proof that they can mount comebacks as well as be vulnerable to them.

By Scooter Mowgli and the Shitcunts