Having been close to the point of no return on Saturday morning, Jose Mourinho seemed to have reached it by tea time.
It was 5.39pm to be precise, with less than 10 minutes played at Old Trafford, when Yoshinori Muto scored Newcastle United’s second and appeared to have all but ended the Portuguese’s reign as manager of Manchester United.
A second-half comeback, inspired by the scorer of United’s first Juan Mata, energised by Anthony Martial, completed emphatically by Alexis Sanchez, has likely earned Mourinho his job for the international break and a precious stay of execution.
The question is whether this victory can be more than that. Can it galvanise United’s season? Can a victory that was expected at home over side that is yet to win themselves this campaign really be treated as a momentous result?
Given the depths United have plumbed of late, given the place they found themselves at 5.39pm and given that every journalist sat in the cramped Old Trafford press box was writing Mourinho’s epitaph, the answer is simple: yes, it can.
The evening began in the manner of United’s last league outing, the dismal defeat at West Ham United last week. Nemanja Matic admitted to putting in the worst performance of United career at the London Stadium, but here was a new entry to rival it.
The Serbian, a Mourinho drill sergeant trusted to marshal the troops when under fire, failed his manager and was partially at fault for the first, falling short when asked to make a crucial interception in Newcastle’s half.
Ayoze Perez picked up the loose ball and slid a pass through the disorganised defence to Kenedy. Ashley Young, just as culpable as Matic, was rounded with an appalling ease and David de Gea was easily beaten. Mourinho, incensed, waved his hands angrily on the touchline, shouting as if any of his players were listening.
Within two minutes, it was two. This time, Young was solely responsible, again easily turned by Muto after Shelvey’s cross in from the right. This time, Mourinho responded with actions rather than words, calling Mata from the substitutes’ bench and hauling off Eric Bailly, after just 19 minutes.
This eye-catching change would only bear fruit in the second half, and United’s comeback would have began a lot earlier had Marcus Rashford converted a gilded opportunity shortly after Mata’s introduction. The youngster, heading from six yards out, glanced Romelu Lukaku’s cross wide.
Matic’s afternoon was summed up in the early stages of the second half when, after Paul Pogba’s drive was parried by Martin Dubravka, he ignored the open goal at his mercy and lifted the rebound well over the crossbar.
Old Trafford’s mood, though, never dampened. The Stretford End had challenged United’s players as they walked towards the tunnel for half time, demanding they show improvement, and there was an air of expectancy as Mata stood over his 70th-minute free-kick. When it sailed past Dubravka, they believed.
Marouane Fellaini and Chris Smalling were both denied heroically by a Newcastle side desperate to hold on for an important three points, but their lead was eventually dismantled and their resolve broken by Martial. So often a disappointment to Mourinho, on this occasion, he delivered, equalising with ripping, low drive.
Martial punched the air in celebration but quickly urged his team-mates on to return to the centre circle and search for another. Mourinho did the same, and this insistence on victory, this knowledge that a draw would not do, that this club’s standards would be upheld, may prove to be the most heartening aspect of the performance for United fans.
The winner was found by Sanchez, dropped to the substitutes’ bench at the start of the day and their saviour by the end of it. Young went some way to absolving himself for Newcastle’s goals, hanging up a cross to the far post for the Chilean to nod in.
“Jose Mourinho,” Old Trafford sang in unison at full-time, for a manager stepping back from the brink.
