Author: dmitriy.vasyura@gmail.com

Manchester United weren’t great against PAOK, but Amad Diallo was and at least they finally got another European win a mere 380 days after the last.

Funny old time for Manchester United, this.

The reasons for Ruben Amorim’s slightly delayed arrival are perfectly sound and reflect well on the man, but it does leave this handful of games under Ruud van Nistelrooy as awkward ones to place in any wider context.

Of course, that mission is hampered even further when a game comes in the Europa League where even United’s dreadful start hasn’t actually raised serious threats of an early exit from the competition.

What was clear was that United simply had to win this one, no matter the wider implications for the tournament as a whole. After 380 days without a European win, a home game against a PAOK side with one point from their first three games in the competition could only have one satisfactory outcome.

And United got it via a much-improved second-half performance, albeit one that answered even fewer questions than expected. Which was already on the low side.

There were worrying glimpses at 1-0 against demonstrably weaker opposition of United doing what they’ve so infuriatingly done already in this competition this season; sitting back and inviting inferior opponents back into the contest.

It could easily have happened again. That it didn’t was down to two things. PAOK’s lack of composure in front of goal, and Amad Diallo.

We might not really know what these games could end up meaning for United or Ruud van Nistelrooy, but they must be an opportunity for players previously on the fringes. While the manager-in-waiting might not have seen much to thrill him in United’s overall display – one that, perhaps inevitably and almost certainly unfairly was always likely to suffer in comparison to Sporting’s own efforts against City two days earlier – he must have been pleased with what he saw of Amad.

If this was an audition, he passed. You’d think he now starts Van Nistelrooy’s final game at the weekend and will surely be more prominent now in Amorim’s thoughts than he was before today. It’s all anyone can really ask, isn’t it?

Take away Amad’s two goals and he would still have been United’s best player. There is no Garth Crooks shoehornery required here. He was full of energy and running throughout, always providing an option and an escape route in United’s dicier moments.

And why would anyone want to take those two goals out? They were lovely. They were entirely different, but both fine examples of different elements of the modern wide player’s craft. Where exactly, Amad’s skillset fits into an Amorim 3-4-3 is another conversation for another day, but this was supremely eye-catching. The first came from a gorgeous Bruno Fernandes cross to the far post, but Amad still had mountains of work to do to guide a looping header back across goal and in off the far post.

The second was much more his own work and summed up both his industry and quality on the night. Having won the ball himself he drove at the retreating PAOK defence before unleashing a shot that deserved the serendipitous deflection that made it unstoppable.

It might mean everything, it might mean nothing. But at least now for United there is a sense again that these things could mean anything at all. As at the weekend against Chelsea there was a demonstrable difference to the mood, the freedom to look once again to the future and imagine it might be better than what has gone before for such a long time now here.

That the days when Manchester United don’t find themselves desperately needing a home win over PAOK at all costs might soon be back.

Spurs lost their 100 per cent Europa League record with a 3-2 defeat to Galatasaray that should have been 6-2 but could easily in the end have been 3-3.

The Europa League always has the potential to throw up a madness.

Even before the introduction of the new daft format. Even in seasons where Spurs aren’t in it. Even when Galatasaray haven’t busied themselves compiling the most on-brand Super Lig team imaginable and then stuck Victor Actual Osimhen at the head of it. Even then, you always had a good chance of a madness.

But take the existing base level of the Europa’s nonsense potential, and then chuck all those other ingredients in there and really the only surprise is that this game, one which Spurs should simultaneously have lost by four or five goals while also ending it thinking they should probably have got themselves a point from two goals and a man down, wasn’t even more mental.

For about 70 minutes, this felt like a game that would be swiftly followed by some big post-match reveal. Like it would come down that a virus had swept through the Spurs camp or something. We’ve all seen the kind of sh*tness Spurs are capable of, but this was off the scale.

We genuinely stopped taking notes at about the 30-minute mark of how many times poor old Radu Dragusin gave the ball away within 40 yards of his own goal and, if anything, a first-half effort that seemed less a football match and more a 45-minute attempt to define the concept of ‘self-inflicted’ via the medium of dance was outdone by the sheer scale of the clusterf*ckery on display at the start of the second.

Osimhen scored two lovely goals in that first half, albeit with enormous amounts of help along the way from the visitors, as well as another chalked off for offside. He will nevertheless have sleepless nights wondering just how he failed to head home with one of these weird Mitre Delta rip-off balls they have in the Europa these days after missing a series of sitters in a second half where Spurs didn’t so much defend badly as for extended periods abandon the concept altogether.

Spurs were cartoonishly bad defensively and you started to feel a sense of genuine embarrassment for them at just how inept it all was and also for Galatasaray’s failure to take any of the great many chances that were coming their way. How on earth, you wondered, was this still only 3-1?

There was some mitigation in the fact that four of Spurs’ first-choice back five were absent here, with only Pedro Porro – who ended the night looking understandably both exhausted and bewildered – present and correct. The hapless and unfortunate Dragusin was partnered in central defence by Spurs’ ever-reliable gap-plugger-in-chief Ben Davies, with Archie Gray pressed into emergency service at left-back. The young central midfielder has now played in every position across the back four in his first four months at Tottenham, which is both a credit to his talent, versatility and maturity while also being something that you do worry might at some point become a genuine impediment to his overall progress.

With Fraser Forster in goal, the big winners of the night in some ways were Guglielmo Vicario, Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven. None of those players are perfect. Vicario is now visibly terrified of the very concept of corners. Romero can induce wind for all manner of reasons and Van de Ven’s rawness can still be exposed at the pointiest end of the game.

But what was striking watching their understudies try to play Angeball is just how much is asked of that trio and how good they actually are at it. This type of high-wire playing out from the back is a state of mind as much as anything. And from the outside it is far more likely to be noticed when it goes wrong than when it goes right, but actually almost all that is good about Spurs’ attacking football – which this season has been far more than last – is built from that high-risk approach at the very outset of their moves.

Vicario, Romero and Van de Ven have all made high-profile mistakes playing out from the back, but this really was a reminder that it’s a) very, very difficult and b) they make far fewer mistakes doing it than actually could reasonably be expected.

Sometimes, excellence can be taken for granted. Sometimes, the only way to realise how difficult something actually is, is to see those less adept attempt it. That’s why number-11 batters are one of the very best features of cricket, for instance. Radu Dragusin is definitely a number 11.

Then, after 70 minutes of near total embarrassment for Spurs, something else weird happened. Young striker Will Lankshear, who had earlier scored his first senior goal with Spurs’ only real chance of note, was slightly harshly sent off for two quasi-bookable offences.

On came Dominic Solanke, and up, up, up went Spurs’ level. He is becoming very important indeed to everything Spurs do. Suddenly, they were on the front foot, and when Porro’s cutback was cleverly backheeled home by Solanke the chance of something very, very funny was suddenly very, very real.

And everyone knew it. The tension in the crowd was palpable, as was the sense of panic that started flowing through the Galatasaray ranks. Having previously thoroughly controlled the game, they were suddenly holding on. How, nobody could really know. It absolutely shouldn’t have been like this.

They made it through seven agonising minutes of injury time and really, you have to say fair enough. But Spurs fans will always have that split-second where a deceptive TV angle and an over-excited Glenn Hoddle co-commentary really did make it look like Dejan Kulusevski was going to do a Pedro Mendes.

In the grand scheme, none of this really mattered. Spurs were a touch fortunate to come into this game with nine points, but it did mean defeat here was never going to be costly. But surely nobody could have expected it to be this plain weird.

According to reports, new Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim has already decided that one of Erik ten Hag’s signings is ‘not in his plans’.

Ten Hag won the FA Cup and Carabao Cup during his time at Man Utd, but his struggles in the Premier League and Europe weighed him down before he was sacked at the end of last month.

The Dutchman had a major say in transfers and the Premier League giants made some poor signings while he was in charge.

Most of his recruits have struggled at Man Utd and Gary Neville reckons Ten Hag made “two of the worst signings” in their history.

However, Andre Onana – who initially struggled following his move from Inter Milan – has come good for Man Utd and has been one of their most consistent performers over the past year.

The Cameroon international – who previously played under Ten Hag at Ajax – was bought for around £43m when Man Utd were in the market for a goalkeeper to replace David De Gea during the 2023 summer transfer window.

READ: David Moyes managed Manchester United once and it is time we all just moved on

Ten Hag left Man Utd after his side only won three of their opening nine Premier League games, so Amorim could push co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his recruitment team to make signings once the winter transfer window opens.

A report claims Man Utd’s priority is on signing a striker and centre-midfielder but they could also do with bringing in a new left-back.

This could make for a hectic January window and despite his positive form, Onana’s future is reportedly at risk as Amorim ‘doesn’t want him’ and is prepared to say ‘goodbye’.

It is claimed that Amorim has ‘not hesitated to point out that several aspects of the squad must change’ and Onana is the ‘first player who does not enter into his plans’.

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Amorim is right if he’s recognised that Man Utd’s ‘squad must change’, but he should have more pressing concerns about other positions.

Given he’s been one of Man Utd’s standout performers, it’s hard to see a scenario where Onana is replaced in 2025, but the report claims his ‘future is up in the air’ as Amorim is ‘unconvinced’.

‘Andre Onana’s future now seems to be in doubt. With Amorim taking over, the possibility of an exit for the Cameroonian goalkeeper is becoming an increasingly likely option.

‘There are rumours that several clubs in the Premier League and other European leagues, including teams from La Liga and Serie A, could be interested in signing the goalkeeper.

‘Onana will have to make a decision soon, since with the arrival of Amorim at Old Trafford, his stay at Manchester United seems increasingly distant.’

The owners of Fitness by Grek have expanded their rehabilitation program for the military thanks to a grant from MHP Community. The club has increased the number of physical rehabilitation groups by 300% and provides free memberships for the military.

Angelika and Alina Grek, the winners of the "Do Your Own" business idea competition from the MHP-Hromada Charitable Foundation, are the owners of the Fitness by Grek fitness club in Kyiv. Thanks to winning the competition, they were able to purchase additional exercise equipment, hire a physical rehabilitation doctor, and provide several free memberships for the rehabilitation of the military, UNN reports.

Details

Fitness by Grek has been operating in Kyiv since 2018.

"When we wrote the business plan to start the business, we had no doubts. After all, our mission is to improve people's health.

For example, I know a lot about the body. I am a sports physiologist, a nutritionist, and a therapist who is still studying. And all my life I have been working with the body, from weight loss to rehabilitation.

We have a very wide range of specialists. We can restore limbs and train Olympic champions. Our clients are people who are rehabilitating after injuries, professional athletes, or those who want to keep fit," says Alina.

The full-scale war has made its own adjustments, Angelika continued. So now the business owners are actively developing the area of physical rehabilitation in the fitness club.

Thanks to a grant from MHP-Community and the comprehensive MHP Poruch program, we have increased the number of groups in the physical rehabilitation room by 300%. This means that we have increased the number of clients whom we help to solve their physical rehabilitation issues. With the grant money, we purchased new modern equipment and increased the number of free visits for the military and IDPs

– says Anzhelika.

Yaryna Chornohuz, a military medic, shared her experience of training at Fitness by Grek and emphasized the cross-fit exercises. She has been in the Armed Forces since 2019. She worked in the Marines for four years and is currently being transferred to another unit.

"While I'm in Kyiv, I've been working out in this gym three times a week to get in shape, so to speak. It's one thing when you're in training – you keep in shape there. But on the battlefield, you don't have time for that – you don't sleep well, and your body is undergoing changes. So it is very important to keep fit in the rear, to go to the gym," she said.

The winners of the competition have ambitious plans.

"We plan to continue developing the physical rehabilitation area, because we understand the urgency of the issue and the needs of Ukrainian citizens. We want to adapt our gym, we need to make ramps at the entrance, re-equip the locker room, make it more convenient for adaptive clients, athletes," says Angelika.

Why it's important to play sports during the war: top 5 tips from Alina

• Our muscles are a huge buffer that provides us with immune protection.

• Through muscles, we can improve the functioning of the hormonal system.

• Muscle work helps to normalize the central nervous system.

• Working out in the gym disciplines you, and this is the foundation you need when you're in a time of turbulence.

• It's just nice to see yourself beautiful, good-looking, and it's worth preserving this state.

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"MHP-Hromadas is a Ukrainian charitable foundation that started its operations in 2015. Its main mission is the comprehensive development of communities. The geography of its activities includes 13 regions of Ukraine: more than 700 towns and villages. Since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Foundation has been systematically supporting people in the war zone, Ukrainian defenders and rescuers, communities, hospitals and maternity homes, charitable institutions that care for orphans and the elderly, as well as people who have lost their homes and livelihoods due to the war.

According to Oleksandr Pakholyuk, Director of the MHP-Hromada Charitable Foundation, the Do Your Own business idea competition is updated every year not only with interesting projects that solve current problems for communities, but also brings together entrepreneurs with ambitious goals who know how to take risks, are confident in their goals, and are looking for opportunities to scale their own business.