Solskjær takes the handbrake off but can he do it when it really matters? | Jonathan Liew

Manchester United’s sparkle early on against Istanbul Basaksehir was eye-opening yet even in victory there remain questions

Up in the Old Trafford stands sat Sir Alex Ferguson: quiet and discreet, 80 next year, watching the game in a suit and tie and a club-branded mask. There was no furious chewing of gum, no swearing at the fourth official. And in a way, to glimpse the present-day Sir Alex through a shaky television long lens is to be reminded of the extent to which his genius was grounded in performance. For Ferguson, management was theatre: the taps on the watch, the press conference mind games, the affected fits of anger. Ferguson understood, as did so many of the game’s great coaches, that the bigger you made yourself, the bigger the shadow you cast.

In a way, this was the best way of understanding United’s triumph here: a 4-1 victory over Istanbul Basaksehir that was effectively sealed in the first 20 minutes, and less effectively protected in the last 20. The underlying numbers will tell you just how threatening Istanbul were at times: taking 13 shots to United’s 14, enjoying long spells of possession, moving the ball smartly up the flanks. But to a large degree, this was not a game about underlying numbers.

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