11 November 2023 , 17:56
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Not long into the game, a TV camera picked up Sam Allardyce stifling a yawn as he sat next to Sir Alex Ferguson in the director's box.
To be fair to Erik ten Hag, this time his stars weren’t as bad as they’ve been at Old Trafford on some occasions this season as they scraped to a narrow win over Luton. But they’re still a painful watch compared to neighbours Manchester City and, down the road, Liverpool.
The killer football of old is long gone. In its place a version that’s often hard to identify as belonging to a team wearing Old Trafford’s famous shirt. It took a second-half goal by unlikely hero Victor Lindelof - his first for nearly three years - to put daylight between themselves and the Hatters in a game United dominated even if the scoreline suggests otherwise.
That, though, is where United are at this season. This was the third 1-0 win against the promoted sides after beating Burnley and Sheffield United. And in all three games, United had moments when it could all have gone pear-shaped. No disrespect to Luton, but this was a game on their own turf that United should be winning at a canter.
Those days are in the past - and in the eight minutes of time added on at the end by referee Graham Scott United fans had hearts in mouths as Luton gave it a go.
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After yet another high-profile defeat in midweek at FC Copenhagen, this should have been the perfect game to build some confidence. Instead, it turned into a struggle against a spirited Luton side who so nearly beat Liverpool in their last game.
Rasmus Hojlund, prolific in the Champions League with five goals in four games, went in search of his first Premier League goal against Luton and he thought it had arrived during a dominant opening spell by United.
Sam Allardyce was caught yawning while watching Man United (@beINSPORTS_EN / Twitter)Rashford’s deflected 10th-minute cross into the box fell for Hojlund who tried to guide it past Kaminski with his thigh but the Belgian keeper made a point-blank stop. United kept pressing forward and McTominay should have found the target with a free header from Dalot’s cross.
Garnacho and Fernandes were guilty of wasting good openings and although United were controlling the game they had little cutting edge with Luton closing the spaces well.
And the longer it went the more comfortable Rob Edward’s stars became with United having little penetration beyond the Hatters' defence. As they showed against Liverpool, Luton are a resilient bunch and their game plan was to stay in the contest and look for openings.
Carlton Morris almost found one with a superb header from a Kabore cross but Onana pulled off a superb flying save before keeping out a fizzing Townsend drive at his near post.
Hojlund, confident after his double in Copenhagen, was a constant danger and set up a superb chance for Garnacho who wastefully fluffed his lines with only Kaminski to beat.
With almost an hour gone, Lindelof came to United’s rescue to fire the ball home after Luton failed to deal with a Rashford cross. More should have followed but Kaminski and his defenders didn’t crumble. Neither did United as they had in Copenhagen - and at least that’s progress of sorts.