Manchester United had spent some of Tuesday night hovering just above the dotted line, 24th in a 36-team group, with Azeri champions Sabah 25th and with a game in hand on them. There are ample indications these days of how the mighty have fallen.

With a triple Champions League finalist in the technical area, United were below Bodo/Glimt in the virtual standings, at risk of being leapfrogged a day later by Sabah and AEK Athens. There have been plenty of historic lows at Old Trafford of late, but at least even they cannot come 24th, let alone any lower, in the Premier League.

A spectacular comeback later and Old Trafford was engulfed by euphoria. A turnaround was powered by bricks and mortar; or the people in that famous old ground because of them, of the past deeds they had witnessed there. “I don’t like to keep talking to the lads about what this place can do in history and what’s gone before them too much, but it’s there,” said Carrick.

The accusation is that United are trapped by their past, spending too long talking about it and even longer hearing their former greats turned podcasters discussing it, flailing when they appoint their ex-players as managers in bids to recreate it, blinded to the evidence that the footballing world has changed.

In their time of need, Manchester United won because they were Manchester United, and occasionally still can be. They beat Roma because of their ground which, in an inconvenient detail, co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe wants to replace with a new stadium in what United have called a sanity project, in part because many another feel it reeks of vanity.

It hardly feels a failsafe footballing formula for an immediate renaissance, and not merely because they already play half of their games at grounds not called Old Trafford.

Sir Alex Ferguson, the architect of many a comeback, was watching and the temptation at such times is to wonder if this was Carrick’s Mark Robins moment, the transformative game that alters the direction of a reign, a club, an entire era.

The prosaic answer is: probably not. United have been here before. Even in a malaise that has occupied much of the last 13 years, there have been some glorious European evenings. David Moyes grasped at a lifeline when United, 2-0 down after the first leg, beat Olympiakos 3-0. He lasted barely a month longer.

With Carrick on his coaching staff, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer saw his United go 2-0 down to a Gian Piero Gasperini side, recover to defeat Atalanta 3-2 and, like Moyes, extend his tenure, but only for a few weeks. Ruben Amorim had his own crazy comeback: from 4-2 down against 10-man Lyon to 5-4 winners. He still lost the Europa League final. It was the beginning of the end.

Carrick has seemed to face the end; at least twice, with his innate calmness. He was given a stay of execution after the 3-0 home shellacking by Bournemouth, in part because sporting director Jason Wilcox and chief executive Omar Berrada seemingly did not know what to do next. After Saturday’s loss at Chelsea, it felt likely Carrick would go in the international break. Now it feels plausible he is still in charge after it.

And yet it is also true that, until Matheus Cunha intervened against Roma, United were on course to go 10 games without a win in the same season for the first time since Carrick was born. It is also true that United could be bottom of the Premier League by the time they kick off against Aston Villa on Sunday, and then for the international break, and then for a trip to Liverpool. Theirs has been the form of a team in a relegation battle.

That United’s players, flawed as the squad is, have been underachieving was illustrated in the frenetic final 35 minutes against Roma. They ended up overwhelming the side third in Serie A. After the capitulations to Como and Bournemouth, there were crucial signs they have not given up on Carrick. There had been some indications in the first half at Chelsea, before their self-destructive streak surfaced again.

Perhaps it was telling that there were boos for Lisandro Martinez, who was sent off at Stamford Bridge, when he came on against Roma. United’s players were cheered at the end, but their relationship with the crowd is still fragile. Bruno Fernandes took his own step towards redemption; and yet, after the last two months, do the United faithful still trust their team?

The most positive comments about them have tended to come from Carrick; belatedly, he was repaid for a little of his faith. Yet issues do not just remain: some have been compounded. The left half of United’s defence has been disastrous this season; Martinez, who has been dreadful, is suspended on Sunday but Ayden Heaven was awful on Tuesday. Midfield has been a permanent problem and Carlos Baleba, the most mobile of the four options, is now injured.

They face objectively better teams now in Villa and Liverpool. They lost their next game after Lyon and Atalanta, suggesting they were one-offs, wins that delayed sackings rather than altering the trajectory of a tenure. Maybe Carrick will carry momentum and energy into the Villa game.

The strategy might be to rely on Old Trafford and on vibes. It is scarcely a perfect recipe but, if only for one night, it worked.