The same supporter who had enquired as to whether the Marko Arnautovic bid could actually be true 15 days earlier this time yelled my name and roared "Yesssssssss", clenching his fist as he floated down the gangway.
Full-time at Old Trafford. 'Glory glory Man United' blared from the speakers. The scoreboard read Manchester United 2-1 Liverpool. Liverpool have cringingly copyrighted 'this means more'. It still means more for United supporters to beat their arch nemesis.
Stewards shuffled along the sparse rows and lawnmowers buzzed as Sky Sports conducted its pitchside analysis. On the walk to the mixed zone designated in the Stretford End, a steward - appropriately called Fergie - quipped Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw cannot start again. Not if United play that way.
Also read: Ten Hag addresses Ronaldo role
Tyrell Malacia, one of the few instructed to walk through the mixed zone, politely accepted the congratulations. We were warned in Bangkok Malacia is not loquacious. United supporters will be happy if he does his talking on the pitch after that full debut.
Some ladies in the hospitality box re-emerged onto the balcony to holler Erik ten Hag's name in the hope of receiving a wave and he obliged. Some merry supporters up the other end chanted "Gary Neville is a red" and "You Scouse b-----d" with Jamie Carragher well within earshot.
Matchgoers live for nights like this. More than once, United supporters left spines tingling on one of Old Trafford's most raucous evenings. Diogo Dalot turned it up to 11 with a full-blooded tackle on Luis Diaz and the rickety stadium soon withstood a tremor.
The porous roof in the south stand was in danger of coming off when Jadon Sancho sent James Milner to the kiosk. Virgil van Dijk appeared to be in the presence of Medusa as he was reduced to petrification.
The roar was deafening, all the more ear-splitting for United supporters feared they had been deprived of a goal when Anthony Elanga struck the post. Their support sustained into the dying embers and a friend messaged in the second-half wondering why Sky had decreased the crowd volume on their live coverage.
Animosity towards the owners and the opposition charged the atmosphere. It was mutinous and defiant, blemished only by the airing of a Hillsborough chant and the hackneyed "Your support is f-----g s--t". That was possibly the first time a United following has ever chorused to that en masse.
Liverpool fans brandished fliers of Avram Glazer and chirped "Up the Glazers", long free of their ruinous former American owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks. Scousers are not ordinarily short of solidarity but they are with Mancunians.
It is a certain sign of a memorable win when 'We'll never die' and 'We love United, we do' make the playlist. Only nine days earlier, a couple of thousand away-dayers had spat 'You're not fit to wear the shirt' and greeted the United players with V-signs, middle fingers and unrepeatable invective at Brentford.
A squad that was so lacking in discipline last season that a player did not think twice about calling for a teammate's demotion on Instagram now has a disciplinarian in the manager's office at Carrington.
Everything Ten Hag has done since the Brentford debacle - the unscheduled and punishing running session in 30-degree heat less than 24 hours later, the four changes, the tactical half-time introduction of a revived Anthony Martial - has been vindicated.
United clocked 155 sprints against Liverpool and covered 114 kilometres. It was Ole Gunnar Solskjaer who, after the Biblical 4-0 defeat at Everton on Easter Sunday in 2019, preached a United team should never be outworked and they now have a manager to follow through with that.
Ten Hag's fingerprints could be detected in the defeats to Brighton and Brentford but they were more widespread on Monday evening. All three of his summer signings started and an attacking triumvirate, albeit minus the Anthony of preference, was aligned with the pre-season preparation. Martial is early evidence of Ten Hag's ability to embrace a player project when another manager would bemoan their presence.
Had Ten Hag confronted the burning issues in the squad more swiftly then United might be nearer the Premier League summit. Harry Maguire should not have retained the captaincy or started the campaign and the Cristiano Ronaldo situation could have been handled more decisively.
Ten Hag's authoritative presence during pre-season confirmed he had the bravery to make bold calls and the curious power struggle between Maguire and Ronaldo was rendered moot by the removal of both against a team that had not lost a domestic match all year. Until Monday night.
The first 20 minutes of intense, in-your-face (literally, in Lisandro Martinez's case) football has to be the benchmark. Predictably, United were more dependent on the counter-attack for much of the second-half - a sound tactic against the defensively lacking Trent Alexander-Arnold - when the majority of teams will not hog the ball as much as Liverpool did.
Southampton is a useful test: an early Saturday kick-off away from home with the onus on United to pick the lock against a team content without the ball that has rallied since an opening day thumping.
Unless there is a Fergie time winner, the roar is unlikely to be as loud as Monday night's.
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