Caution marks a new Manchester United way

Danny Welbeck celebrates scoring their first goal during the UEFA Champions League Group A match between Shakhtar Donetsk and Manchester United at Donbass Arena on October 2, 2013 in Donetsk, Ukraine. (Getty Images)

Meanwhile, Danny Welbeck and Antonio Valencia remained vigilant on the wings, although the Ecuadorian failed to track his man as Shaktar equalised with 15 to go.

Fellaini created an opportunist goal, spinning away from his marker to deliver a low cross that Welbeck stabbed home, although it was the Belgian’s sole contribution of note in a sloppy performance that lasted just over an hour.

Indeed, now a little over a month into his United career, the Belgian’s acquisition has created more questions than solutions provided. After all, while the 25-year-old rarely tackles, and is far from a natural defender; he has contributed little in the attacking third either.

More concerning still, the midfielder’s lack of pace is such that Reds recalling the marauding forward that caused United’s back four so much trouble at Goodison Park last season might have caused to reconsider the memory.

The approach also left Robin van Persie desperately isolated – a lone striker too often half a pitch away from his colleagues. Little wonder United was reduced to feeding off semi chances and set-pieces.

Still, there were positives, not least a far more commanding performance from captain Nemanja Vidi? than has been delivered of late. Vidi? has suffered three serious knee injuries in recent seasons, blunting the Serbian’s pace, and forcing United’s back-four to defend ever deeper – a factor that for once suited Moyes’s tactics in Donetsk.

“We were hard to beat in all positions, not just at the back, but in midfield and wide, and that’s the way we have to play,” said the 31-year-old.

“We have to accept it has not been a great start. We have not been getting the performances we would have liked and we also have to be realistic enough to accept we have made some mistakes.

“Sometimes the results don’t come. Sometimes the performances don’t come. The most important thing is to defend right. If we defend well, I think we have a really good chance to win trophies.”

It is a sentiment with which his manager will concur. Moyes in a microcosm; a defender’s perspective on coaching, from a man who preached shape first in a decade at Everton. Function over form and substance often in lieu of style.

Expect not a return to United’s swashbuckling displays of the late 1990s, nor the panache of the 2008 trophy winning side. But then Moyes does not possess the same wealth of creative talent, nor hold a bank of credit that would enable the 50-year-old to take greater risks in his first European season.

This United side may have to come out of its shell if the Reds are to progress to the tournament’s latter stages, but for now supporters can expect a more pragmatic style than ever. An observation noted with Moyes’s 90th minute substitution: defender Phil Jones for goal scorer Welbeck.

Yet, pragmatism and United remain uneasy bedfellows. While Sir Alex Ferguson evolved United’s style to match the most circumspect on the continent it is one thing to park the bus at Camp Nou, as United successfully achieved in 2008, quite another to match the feat at Shaktar.