While the room around him was ablaze and questions - "how will you cope without him?" "aren't you short on options?" - were fired in his direction, Erik ten Hag remained a calm, unnerved figure. Not like the blissful, behatted dog, deluded to the impact the licking flames would soon deal to his house, but rather with the cool assuredness of knowing he had an extinguisher close to hand.
When Manchester United's manager discussed the sudden departure of Cristiano Ronaldo last month, one could be forgiven for thinking he was taking the 'this is fine' approach to the problem it had caused. By the time the Portuguese finally got the signature on the divorce papers he had been begging for, he left Ten Hag's attacking options in the gutter - though not quite as low as his own legacy at Old Trafford.
But Ten Hag didn't seem to think so as he instead named three forwards who would be able to offset Ronaldo's departure. "Two things. First, that goals can also come out of our own club," the Dutchman said of United's issues in attack.
