Chapter 507 - 113 — Top of the League

Thursday, November 9th, and United landed back in Manchester with the Copenhagen defeat still trailing them through every screen on the plane.

Demien’s phone filled with the same night from a dozen angles once it found signal again — Copenhagen’s players still celebrating somewhere online, Rashford’s red card being replayed and argued over from every conceivable position, Højlund’s two goals against his old club getting their own separate highlight package, Maguire’s stoppage-time crossbar looped into a "so close" compilation.

A few clips isolated Demien specifically, arguing the obvious point in different words each time — United had lost a match in which one of their midfielders had done almost everything asked of him.

He didn’t need any of it confirmed for him. He locked the phone before the bus had even reached Carrington.

Recovery protocol swallowed the players who’d finished the match, and the difference between Demien and the rest of them was hard to miss.

His legs were heavy — that much was true after nearly ninety minutes of covering ground for two players — but functional, nothing that needed more than the standard routine: mobility work, the bike, compression, soft-tissue checks, hydration and food managed carefully by the nutrition staff, a small amount of light ball work to finish.

Several teammates needed considerably more. McTominay sat through an extended massage session wincing every few minutes. Bruno iced both knees at once. Fifty minutes compensating for a sending-off had cost some of them more than a full ninety would have on a normal night.

No mission opened for the recovery session. Copenhagen had already paid out everything it was going to. Today’s only objective was getting his body ready for Saturday.

Ten Hag ran a short video review during the morning, not the full match — just the final fifteen minutes, because that was where the result had actually been lost.

The first clip showed United’s block dropping deeper as the half wore on, several players no longer able to push back out fast enough after a clearance.

The second showed Copenhagen’s patient recycling — left, back, right, back again — until Lerager finally arrived at the far post behind Dalot for the equalizer.

The third showed the winning sequence itself: United defending Copenhagen’s first delivery cleanly, then the clearance falling straight to Bardghji for the finish.

"You weren’t lacking effort in any of this," Ten Hag said, freezing the last frame. "You kept surviving the first action. You stopped controlling what happened after it."

He pulled up one more clip, a moment from midway through the second half — Demien escaping Copenhagen’s press and releasing the ball forward immediately.

"This pass was correct," Ten Hag said. "But with ten men and a lead, there’s an argument you hold it two more seconds here, make them retreat another ten yards before you play it. Small thing. Worth thinking about."

"Understood," Demien said.

Small correction. Not a verdict on the performance — just one more piece added to what he already carried into every match.

The wider reaction kept running underneath everything else that morning, a football programme picking through Copenhagen with more nuance than the social clips had managed.

"He might’ve been United’s best player and they still lost," one analyst said. "Progressed the ball, defended enormous ground, technically clean the entire night with ten men."

"That’s exactly the trap, though," another said. "Once a player starts collecting Ballon d’Or recognition, people judge him on whether his team controls the moments that matter — fair or not. Individual excellence stops being enough of a story on its own."

A third brought Barcelona into it without turning the whole segment over to them. "Funny parallel, actually," she said. "Salvatierra played well against Shakhtar too. Barcelona lost anyway. Walter played well against Copenhagen. United lost anyway. Neither of these kids can force elite team football to behave like an individual sport, no matter how good they are."

Demien caught only the tail end of it on his way out of the recovery area, didn’t stop to watch himself get discussed, and kept walking.

At two o’clock that afternoon, England announced their squad for the November internationals.

Demien Walter — Manchester United sat inside the graphic without ceremony this time.

Months ago, a call-up like this had rearranged his entire week in his head before he’d even packed a bag. Now he registered the camp dates, noted them against United’s fixture list, and kept moving through the rest of his day — selection had started to become something closer to expected than extraordinary.

Marco’s congratulations came through within a minute. Isabella’s arrived not long after. Sophia’s message was shorter than either of theirs — knew you would be, obviously — because she’d stopped being surprised by it a while back too.

He appreciated all three anyway.

His calendar told the more practical story.

SATURDAY — LUTON

MONDAY — REPORT TO ST GEORGE’S PARK

FRIDAY — MALTA

MONDAY — NORTH MACEDONIA

An international career compressed a personal calendar down to almost nothing in between.

Friday, November 10th, Carrington’s focus moved to Luton, and Ten Hag didn’t give it anywhere near the depth Copenhagen had received.

"They’ll defend deep, in numbers," the analyst said. "We’ll have the ball most of the afternoon. The problem isn’t getting into their box — it’s not getting impatient once we’re there. Clean chances, not crosses into six bodies."

The tactical work reflected exactly that — moving Luton’s simulated block from side to side, quick combinations around the edge of the box, switches before the block could reset, second balls fought for after a shot, and enough discipline in reserve to cover the counter if too many United bodies committed forward.

「PREMIER LEAGUE PREPARATION MISSION」 「Opponent: Luton Town」 「Successful Switches Against Compact Block: 5」 「Final-Third Entries Created: 5」 「Attacking Second Balls Recovered: 4」 「Central Turnovers: Maximum 1」 「Reward: +12 TP」 「Bonus: Create 3 Shooting Opportunities」 「Bonus Reward: +10 MP」

He cleared it without much resistance — one switch releasing Rashford clean, one pass breaking the simulated block that Højlund’s shot failed to finish, one attacking second ball where Demien chose to recycle rather than force a shot through six bodies packed into the box.

Nothing about it raised his overall level. It was simply the day’s work.

Friday evening actually belonged to him for a change, home early enough to have real hours to himself.

The Adidas material from the recent shoot had started going live, one Shape the Game clip circulating widely on the back of Ballon d’Or week. Someone had pulled the Mateo answer out of the longer interview and stretched it into a headline.

WALTER BREAKS SILENCE ON SALVATIERRA COMPARISON

He read it once and knew exactly how exaggerated it was before Marco’s call even came through.

"Nothing to correct," Marco said. "You called another footballer very good. That’s the whole crime here."

"Let them have it, then," Demien said.

"Already planned to."

He put the phone down after that and called Sophia, mostly about logistics — when they’d actually see each other again with England camp swallowing the next week and a half — but not only that. She had her own week to talk through, a deadline that had eaten most of it, and he asked enough follow-up questions to keep it that way rather than letting it drift back to him.

The rest of the evening ran ordinary. Food. An hour of television. Laundry from Copenhagen half-done while he packed a separate bag for St George’s Park.

Saturday, November 11th, Old Trafford hosted Luton Town, and United controlled it from the first minute the way everyone had expected them to.

Demien spent most of the afternoon operating deep in Luton’s half, circulating possession, hunting for whichever lane opened next. Højlund missed an early chance he’d normally have buried. Garnacho had a strong opening of his own and couldn’t finish it either.

Luton countered occasionally, forcing United back, but Demien’s positioning kept most of those moments from turning into anything real.

Halftime: Manchester United 0 — 0 Luton Town.

No tension worth manufacturing — just the ordinary frustration of controlling a match without finishing it.

United sped the circulation up after the break, and in the fifty-eighth minute a corner wasn’t properly cleared. The ball stayed alive in the box, and Victor Lindelöf reached it first.

MANCHESTER UNITED 1 — 0 LUTON TOWNVictor Lindelöf 58’

Demien kept the midfield ticking over afterward, United carving out enough territory to have made the game safe several times if the finishing had matched the buildup. Luton pushed higher in the closing stages, needing something, which finally opened up the transition space Demien had been waiting for all match — but the second goal never came.

Full time.

MANCHESTER UNITED 1 — 0 LUTON TOWN

Three points. A routine win, filed and forgotten by the time the bus left the car park.

「MATCH COMPLETE」 「Manchester United 1 — 0 Luton Town」 「Performance: Strong」 「Result: Win」

Nothing more elaborate than that.

Sunday, November 12th, the rest of the weekend’s fixtures finished while Demien sat at home doing recovery work and packing for England.

Liverpool beat Brentford. Aston Villa beat Fulham. Manchester City and Chelsea traded goals until it finished 4-4.

When the final whistle went at Stamford Bridge, the table updated properly for the first time all season.

PREMIER LEAGUE — AFTER MATCHWEEK 12

Pos Club P W D L GD Pts 1Manchester United12840+1428 2 Liverpool 12 8 3 1 +17 27 3 Manchester City 12 8 2 2 +17 26 4 Aston Villa 12 8 1 3 +12 25 5 Arsenal 12 7 3 2 +13 24 6 Tottenham 12 7 3 2 +7 24

MANCHESTER UNITED — TOP OF THE PREMIER LEAGUE.

UNBEATEN AFTER TWELVE MATCHES.

One point ahead of Liverpool. Two ahead of City.

Football programmes had the table up within the hour, the same question running across every panel by evening — was this a genuine title race or just twelve matches of noise. Some pointed at United’s shaky European form as proof they weren’t the finished article. Others pointed out that the league table didn’t deal in theory anymore; twelve games in, United hadn’t lost one.

Ten Hag, asked about it directly in a written statement to the press pool, shut it down without much ceremony. November meant nothing yet.

Demien looked at the table longer than he’d looked at the England squad graphic two days earlier.

This one actually meant something to him.

Not because anything had been won — he understood the math well enough to know that. Because he remembered exactly why he’d wanted this move in the first place: a club built to compete for things, not just talk about competing for them.

Now there was proof of it, sitting right there in black and white.

One point separated them from Liverpool. City sat two behind. Nothing decided.

Sunday afternoon wound down with him packing properly for St George’s Park, a short call from Isabella, a shorter one from Sophia, and a message from Marco confirming nothing commercial would be booked while he was away with England.

One more post crossed his feed about United sitting top of the table.

He didn’t repost it.

Twenty-six league matches still remained. There’d be time for all of that later, if it was still true by the end of it.

Monday, November 13th, Demien arrived at St George’s Park for the next England camp.

The first time he’d walked into this building, he’d spent half of it quietly measuring himself against everyone in the room. Now several players greeted him like it was nothing unusual at all — his United teammates already familiar faces, the rest of the squad simply used to seeing him there by now.

Players from the clubs chasing United in the table had an obvious reason to bring it up.

"One point," a Liverpool midfielder said, passing him in the corridor with a grin. "Don’t get used to it."

"Two points in November means absolutely nothing," a City player added at lunch, not unkindly.

"That’s exactly why it’s interesting," Demien said, and left it there — no argument worth having yet, not with this much season left.

Southgate called the group together for the first camp meeting not long after. England had already secured their place at Euro 2024, and this window existed to finish qualification properly and test combinations ahead of the tournament summer — Malta at Wembley on Friday, North Macedonia away the following Monday.

Neither match needed the weight the derby or the Italy game had carried. Southgate’s focus was assessment, not survival.

After the meeting broke up, Demien’s phone lit up with the week’s schedule.

MALTA — FRIDAY.

NORTH MACEDONIA — MONDAY.

Underneath it, the date he’d report back to Manchester.

And below that, already sitting on United’s fixture list waiting for him.

EVERTON (A) — NOVEMBER 26.

Just another away day, as far as he could tell from where he stood.