A half-time speech, a retaken penalty - and a win to save Carrick's job?

We cannot know how important Bryan Cristante's foot touching the Roma penalty area as Bruno Fernandes took his initial spot-kick at Old Trafford will prove to be for Michael Carrick.

In the moment, as the Roma fans celebrated, and Manchester United trailed 2-0, it seemed catastrophic for the club and terminal for Carrick's position as head coach.

But the video assistant referee (VAR) Carlos del Cerro Grande stepped in, advised a retake was required - and at the very least changed the course of the night.

Fernandes kept his nerve to drive home his second attempt and then, in a frenzied atmosphere, Matheus Cunha scored twice in the final seven minutes. Even without the context of everything that came before the game, it was the most improbable of comebacks.

Even Cunha's sending off soon after, which ensured a nervy ending, would not deny United a first win in 10, bringing some respite after a dreadful few weeks.

How did Carrick feel when the penalty was saved? And what did he say at half-time in response to a desperate first-half display that brought condemnation from legendary United figures Wayne Rooney and Nicky Butt, who were covering the game for Amazon Prime?

In that moment, there was even a sense of deja vu.

"I knew at half-time against Watford," recalled Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in September 2023 of his own dismissal as United boss a couple of years earlier. "At half-time, I told the players it was probably going to be the last time we worked together."

United were two goals down at Vicarage Road at half-time that day. Carrick was on the bench as one of Solskjaer's coaches. They went on to lose 4-1.

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Despite the bleakness of the situation, Carrick clearly has a more positive mindset.

"At half-time, I was wanting them to be more positive if anything, and not get too disappointed and frustrated," said Carrick.

"The easiest thing is when you keep trying to do something is feeling sorry for yourself. If something goes wrong, you get disappointed. That's not going to help anybody. We might as well all go home if that's the case. We've got to keep looking for the next moment, the next solution.

"I don't like to keep talking to the lads about what this place can do and the history and what's gone before too much, but it's there.

"This place does magical things, it's done it before and it'll do it over and over again at some point in the future. There's just something in this place that when we do have these types of nights, we do it the hard way.

"But one moment can flip the whole place in a different direction. I spoke about that with the boys. Let's have one moment that can trigger it. And we had that."

Rooney, who was almost pleading with United's players to "show some passion and desire" after a "nothing" first half, could only praise Carrick at the end.

"I think Michael Carrick deserves a lot of credit," said Rooney, "because if you were in his shoes you are thinking how can I change this around?

"Whatever he said to the team at half-time, that got them on the front foot and got that belief in them that they could win the game."

Carrick refused to be downcast - even when Fernandes missed that first penalty.

"I didn't chuckle, I didn't smile, I wasn't happy about it," he said. "But it felt almost like 'there's another moment'.

"But at the same time, I was quite calm because I had a feeling the boys were in a place leaving the changing room that they felt something could happen.

"I have to say, for Bruno to double take that penalty - to have the mentality and finish like that - he deserves a lot of credit."

One great comeback - but what happens now?

While United's victory was certainly well received, it will not mask wider issues.

'Green and gold' protests against the ownership took place before kick-off and during a first-half when the home side were abysmal.

Chants against the Glazer family, minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe and director of football Jason Wilcox will not stop just because of this victory, no matter how thrilling.

The sober assessment should also recall United came from behind to beat Atalanta 3-2 at Old Trafford during Solskjaer's time. They lost 5-0 at home to Liverpool four days later. Within a month, the Norwegian had been sacked.