sport news MARTIN SAMUEL: Man United in 2022 - a club of Twitter transfers, TikTok trials ... trends now
Ismaila Sarr scored for Watford from the halfway line. Almost instantly it was made known that Darren Fletcher of Manchester United was in the stand at West Brom, watching.
In the second-half Sarr took a poor penalty, easily saved. Is that United out now? Have they checked the reaction on social media? This is what seems to matter most these days.
It's the logical journey. United increasingly appear to sign players for their social media traction, so it figures that they will ditch others for the same reasons. Marko Arnautovic wasn't exactly trending positively at the start of the week, before that deal went dead.
And, no, it wasn't just United loyalists who were unimpressed with Arnautovic. In a summer when Manchester City have secured Erling Haaland, Liverpool bought Darwin Nunez and Chelsea prised Raheem Sterling from the champions, a 33-year-old late of the Chinese Super League seemed to sum up United's malaise.
Yet Erik ten Hag wanted him, and he's the manager. It's bad enough that his employers have failed to attract his prime target Frenkie de Jong, now he gets his homework marked by Twitter? What message does this send? How can anyone run a football club via a committee of 100,000 or more?
Social media played a part in Manchester United not pursuing a move for Marko Arnautovic
United fans on social media were not disappointed at news Adrien Rabiot's move has hit a snag
On Thursday, the move for Adrien Rabiot of Juventus looked to have hit a snag over personal terms. This did not meet with social media's disapproval. It's fair to say some think United could do better. Maybe they could but, either way, that's what it's like out there, a swirl of opinions, not all of them educated.
So what are United supposed to do now? Celebrate with those that are happy the deal could collapse? Post a drawing board with a new list of targets and see who wins the vox pop?
Louis Van Gaal advised Ten Hag to join a football club, not a commercial club, but even he may have understated the absence of identity at United.
United manager Erik ten Hag wanted Arnautovic before the club backed out of any move
They have long been a club wedded to commerce but at least they made their own mistakes. This has been coming.
Remember when Alexis Sanchez signed and United boasted to shareholders about how many hits the video announcement received? That's the beginning of the end right there. That's what happens when a club has few real achievements to trumpet, so places importance on trivia. Cynics would argue Cristiano Ronaldo's social media profile made him attractive last summer, too.
So now, here we are. Facebook football. Twitter transfers. Trials by TikTok. This is Manchester United 2022, enjoying the choices they have made.
Sympathy but no solution for Serena on having more children
Biology is important; or at least it always seems to be when writing about transgender participation in women's sport. Yet when Serena Williams announces she is stepping away from tennis to have more children, suddenly, biology is bunk.
Williams says it is unfair to have to choose between tennis and a family and plenty agree. So what is the alternative? We can discuss fairer deals for women in many workplaces but, in sport, certain boundaries will always remain. Even if Williams employed an army of helpers, even if her partner stayed home, the potential effect of pregnancy on an athlete's body is inescapable.
Williams had three bouts of emergency surgery as a result of her first pregnancy. She had her stomach cut open, her womb cut open, a filter inserted in a major vein to prevent blood clots and a hematoma removed. She was six weeks in bed, she had a Caesarean section, she suffered a pulmonary embolism and, later, postpartum depression. Any and all of this would be hell for a person in a desk job; for an elite athlete it is potentially career-changing. And, yes, it's different for men.
Tennis star Serena Williams announced she will retire from tennis to try for a second baby
Roger Federer is father to two sets of twins and won three Grand Slam titles after they were born.
As Williams pointed out, Tom Brady is 45 and still quarterback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Justin Verlander of the Houston Astros is 39 and the best pitcher in baseball right now. Both are fathers. It doesn't matter professionally. They are men.
And it isn't fair; but it's biology. We may have sympathy for the choices facing Williams but we do not have solutions. Even more than the way the world works, it's the way we work as biological specimens that disadvantages women.
Equally, at 40, Williams is not winning as many tennis matches as she used to, either. She leaves as the greatest of all time – but this gradual retreat is biology, too.
Timo failed but at least he tried... unlike Rom
It didn't work out for Timo Werner at Chelsea, and that is a pity.
The fans recognised how hard he tried, though. They always cheered his appearance from the bench, commiserated rather than mocked, when once again it didn't go right.
Romelu Lukaku was different. He was a high maintenance, and very expensive, pest, who didn't look fit enough and showed no great desire to prove otherwise.
The only thing he had in common with Werner was an underwhelming goal total; Lukaku 15 across all competitions last season, Werner 11.
Timo Werner was a failure at Chelsea but in a more admirable way than Romelu Lukaku
Both men are now at their former clubs, Werner back at RB Leipzig, Lukaku with Inter Milan. Unsurprisingly, though, it is Lukaku who is more outspoken about the way his move panned out. He says he feels anger.
'In one year, everyone has forgotten about the things I am capable of doing on the pitch,' he says.
And whose fault is that? The way of ensuring your skills are not forgotten is to demonstrate them, regularly and Lukaku didn't. He lost his way with Manchester United after a blistering opening spell, too.
Inter suits him because Serie A is a weaker league and he was hankering for a return before last season was halfway done. He lost his place in the starting line-up and demonstrated little inclination to work to regain it. So, yes, much of his worth as a striker has been forgotten in England; because he so rarely showed any. Werner was a failure, too – but in a much more admirable way.
Winks shows how quickly it can all go
When Harry Winks made his England debut in Lithuania he was lauded for
