Manchester United

While we rang the Manchester United death knell and witnessed as the club bore the skeletons of their proverbial dead (Wayne Rooney taking a spot on the bench for this match), the Red Devils conspired to play out 20 minutes of sensational football — the likes of which haven’t been seen at Old Trafford since the Alex Ferguson days.

Paul Pogba was imperial. Marcus Rashford continued his blistering start to the season and Wayne Rooney’s demotion was entirely vindicated. The champions were simply outclassed.

Jose Mourinho's fractious relationship with the media came to a head on Wednesday when he labeled those who attacked himself and Manchester United after a three-game losing streak as “football Einsteins”.

Mourinho's barb was certainly tongue in cheek, using the platform of United’s 3-1 victory over Northampton Town to fire back at those who’ve already begun to question his ability to handle the Old Trafford hot seat: 

The decline of Wayne Rooney as a footballing force isn’t confined to this season; his form has been in freefall for at least three years now. While he may be England’s all-time leading scorer, and just three shy of holding the same record for Manchester United, Wayne Rooney is a shadow of the manchild who arrived at Old Trafford back in 2004. 

For Manchester United’s 659 million fans, it’s a chance to dream. They’re just one step away from an appearance in the English Football League Cup quarterfinals. It’ll take another performance like the spirited one that saw off the mighty Cobblers of Northampton Town, but things are looking up following a week that consisted of one fresh hell after another.

Apparently, after twelve seasons with the Red Devils, the bell has finally rung for Wayne Rooney.

Every once in a while, we can still catch glimpses of the old Rooney, making a difference in critical moments of a close game for United. And yet, despite those few moments of genius, Rooney is plain and simply playing badly. 

His start of the Premier League season was a flash of hope for United supporters as he scored in the opening game against Bournemouth and dished assists on the two subsequent outings. 

Week five of the English Premier League is now behind us, and the ‘club in crisis’ tag can already be firmly affixed to Manchester United. After starting the season with three successive victories, things have quickly come undone over a brief period of eight days for Jose Mourinho and his charges.

The 2016-17 Premier League season is still young, but we don’t want to let that little detail keep us from making a few early predictions about who might fill the shoes of Riyad Mahrez and take home the EPL Player of the Year trophy. 

People can hope and cheer but, judging by the way things look at Leicester City right now, a repeat is about as far from happening as Tim Howard becoming president. 

Taking that into account, we can rule out two of last year's front runners for the EPL's ultimate individual accolade, Mahrez and Jamie Vardy.