A nice goal and VAR controversy could not disguise the truth that Manchester United and Arsenal are far from their peak

Are you not entertained? Actually. Now you mention it: not so much. On a rain-sodden night at Old Trafford the Premier League dished up the usual ration of bread and circuses.

An oddly laborious game of football between two transitional teams was bookended by a pair of goal-related incidents that will take the headlines, but which will also disguise the wider story here of a game between the third and ninth richest clubs in the world that seemed to exist at times behind a glaze of entropy.

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A 1-1 draw was a fair result in every sense. Fair because neither team deserved to lose; and fair also because neither really deserved to win. Within this matrix the game’s one real moment of high-quality incision was marked by a second-half incident. And yes, it was VAR once again, but also not VAR, which did its job perfectly in awarding Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s equalising goal.

For this particular muddle, blame the humans instead – always blame the humans – and a system that really does need to work out its creases. It was a lovely piece of play. Aubameyang took Bukayo Saka’s neat slid pass and glided in on goal before dinking the ball past David de Gea with insolent ease. Except, something was wrong here. There was a glitch in the moment. The away end caught its breath. De Gea did not dive, raised an arm, acknowledging the assistant Scott Ledger’s offside flag.

Two mistakes in one moment of fudge. Aubameyang was miles onside, as the VAR check would rule. The second mistake belonged to De Gea, who really should have twigged by now that you keep playing these days until someone forcibly stops you. Nothing is certain. Nothing is true. Do not believe the evidence of your eyes, or the actions of the previously infallible man in black. Every call is provisional. Play to the delayed long-distance verdict.

Quick guide Manchester United's worst start in 30 years Show Hide Manchester United have made their worst start to a Premier League season after Monday night's 1-1 draw with Arsenal at Old Trafford. Pressure points: The pressure has built on Ole Gunnar Solskjær as United have taken only nine points from their first seven games – just enough for them to squeak in to the top half of the table. United have won only once since their opening 4-0 victory over Chelsea, with Marcus Rashford's penalty earning them a 1-0 home win against Leicester. Fall from grace: It is just two years since José Mourinho oversaw United's joint-best start to a Premier League season. United claimed 19 points from their first seven games in 2017-18, equalling the starts made by Sir Alex Ferguson's sides in 1999-2000 and 2011-12. United finished runners-up under Mourinho that season, but a whopping 19 points adrift of champions Manchester City. Ole at the wheel: The figures make bleak reading for Solskjær when comparing the Norwegian's record with his predecessors. Mourinho – who would be sacked in December – made a poor start last season, but his 10-point haul from the first seven games was still one more than Solskjær has managed 12 months on. David Moyes also took 10 points from his first seven games in the 2013-14 season, while Louis van Gaal won 11 and 16 points in the respective 2014-15 and 2015-16 campaigns. 30-year low: The last time United made such a poor start to a campaign was under Ferguson in the days of the old First Division. United picked up only seven points from their first seven games of the 1989-90 season, a run that brought successive defeats to Derby, Norwich and Everton and ended with a famous 5-1 thrashing by Manchester City at Maine Road. United ended up 13th that season, but lifted the FA Cup as Ferguson won his first trophy in England. PA Media Photograph: John Peters/Manchester United

There is a third mistake here, a structural one. In the Champions League referees assistants have been told not to flag, to wait for those close calls to resolve themselves. Ledger intervened and found himself a player in the game, the 12th man dummying United’s keeper, luring him into a mistake of his own. This really does need to be tidied up. The man with the flag is now an active hazard. In the post-digital world, like so many things of value, he may even be obsolete.

So much for Moment Two. Moment One had come two minutes before half-time as Scott McTominay scored United’s opener. Even the home fans seemed to pause as the ball hit the net. The roar when it came was tinged with a sense of incredulity, like a man sneezing himself awake from a post-lunch doze. Partly this was because it was a lovely goal, a brilliantly precise shot that flew flat and hard into the corner. And partly it was just because it was a shot.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Scott McTominay heads over the bar during the match. Photograph: Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images

And this was the real story of this game. Not VAR or even Granit Xhaka’s head-dip as McTominay’s shot flew though the space where his head had been, a moment that will no doubt have the George Graham-era back four besieged for their opinion on the new Arsenal captain’s heart, guts, spleen, kidneys and other vital organs. “Back in the day George would string a rope around our necks and force us to stand still while Don Howe fired air gun pellets at our foreheads” – that kind of thing.

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The real story, though, was something else. There were bright points in this game. Saka looked agreeably fearless, a lovely mover, playing always with his head up. Daniel James was exhilarating at times.

Beyond that what stood out was the basic poverty of these two teams. Old Trafford had been a thrilling, boisterous place at kick-off. The old music is still there at times like these, even the sheets of Manchester rain through the lights adding a sheen of event-glamour. But peel back the layers, the glam, the staging, and this was a lukewarm rice pudding of a game, the buzz seeming to die with the first few misplaced passes, that blur of indeterminate movement.

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It took Lucas Torreira 16 minutes to make his first pass. Ten minutes later Andreas Pereira set off on a lovely driving run followed by the game’s first shot with 27 minutes gone. It looked so natural and easy one wondered why more people did not try it. The second did catch fire in the end, although always with a sense of vagueness to the attacking combinations.

But then, watching these two restage that storied Premier League rivalry here felt a bit like watching Benn v Eubank, or like a tribute night off the main Vegas strip, two grizzled old A-listers, bow ties undone, still crooning out the same old standards.

So far this season Arsenal have had a pedigree attack and a defence that seems at times to be a kind of satirical art installation. Here they were more solid but stodgy in midfield. United still have a sense of entropy about them, a team built expensively, pointlessly, to no obvious plan. For all the surrounding noise, there was no real evidence of anything more here.