As the building blocks of one managerial tenure are carefully laid in place, those of another perhaps begin to come apart. Manchester United are up to the nosebleed territory of fifth – a height barely thinkable at the beginning of last week – after this 1-0 victory over bottom-of-the-league Leicester City, courtesy of an excellent first-half team goal finished off by Jadon Sancho. The only comfort to Brendan Rodgers will be that his opponents for the evening were in a similar position until recently.
It is difficult to escape the sense that whereas one of these clubs is at the beginning of their journey, the other is in danger of reaching an end. It is not since his time with Swansea City that Rodgers has lost four consecutive Premier League games. Expectations were not as great back then, and even if he can point to a lack of investment in the summer market, with the last-minute £15m acquisition of Wout Faes the only significant arrival, results are desperately needed.
