Even Manchester United's social media team almost gave up.
The drive for interactions is intense at every Premier League club on match nights.
But sometimes, there doesn't seem to be much benefit.
“The winner is likely to be clear but the poll is open regardless,” was the notice sent out by United around 10 minutes after the final whistle blew after their 3-1 win over Southampton.
They knew, as well as anyone on the field, who would be the man of the match.
Amad Diallo wasn't even off the field at that point. After grabbing the match ball and acknowledging the adulation from all four sides at Old Trafford, the Ivorian was dragged to a portable broadcast table quickly set up pitchside to talk about his historic achievement, equalizing eight minutes from time in a previously tepid performance. He scored two goals in stoppage time to give United the win.
“In football you have to believe,” the 22-year-old began.
He was referring to the game. He could have been talking about his time at United.
At the time of Erik Ten Hag's sacking on 28 October 2024, Diallo had started 12 matches since joining the club from Atalanta in 2021. He had spent 18 months on loan at Rangers and Sunderland and was set to expire on his contract at the end of the season. This season, there was no clear prospect of the matter being extended beyond activating the option which meant he was simply unable to leave for nothing.
How different Diallo's world looks now.
He has started 12 games since Ten Hag's departure, first under Ruud van Nistelrooy, then Ruben Amorim. He has scored eight goals, including a late winner at Manchester City, a late equalizer at Liverpool, and now a 12-minute hat-trick in the dying minutes of a home game against bottom club Southampton that was threatening to turn into a hugely embarrassing defeat.
He also signed a new five-and-a-half-year contract.
“[It is] Probably one of the best weeks of my life,” Diallo told TNT after scoring his first hat-trick.
“We believed until the end and we are happy to win this match. We drew with Arsenal and Liverpool so the confidence was there.”
Diallo was speaking about United's previous two results, which Amorim admitted before the match had come with a counter-attacking tactic that United simply could not deploy at Old Trafford against a team that had only previously won once in the league, and were cut adrift in the match. Under the table.
However, Amorim's fears were in danger of becoming a horrific reality as time ticked by with a performance as bad as any since his departure from Sporting to try and sort out the mess United had become.
