By the time Manchester United came out blinking from a stressful, wearying and occasionally mutinous night Wayne Rooney had moved alongside Denis Law as the second highest scorer in the club’s history. He is now a dozen short of Sir Bobby Charlton’s record of 249 goals and, briefly, Old Trafford felt like a happy place to be once again. Yet that told only part of the story and what preceded it was exceptional at a club where they generally pride themselves on unity.

In the worst moments, it felt like it was straying dangerously close to a full-on revolt. Louis van Gaal’s decision to substitute Anthony Martial brought a level of dissent that has not been heard at Old Trafford for years. Shortly afterwards, there were exasperated chants that seemed like an open challenge to Van Gaal’s tactics and we can only imagine how rancorous it might have become, after 78 minutes, when a hitherto dreary CSKA Moscow side suddenly had the chance to sour the mood even further.

The Russians had barely threatened all night but the substitute Seydou Doumbia was clean through and sizing up a chance to win the game. He beat David de Gea at the second attempt only for Chris Smalling to rescue his team with a desperate and brilliant goalline clearance. United had been spared and, in the next attack, Jesse Lingard turned Michael Carrick’s crossfield pass across the penalty area for Rooney, so beleaguered recently, to head in the team’s first goal for six hours and 44 minutes of play.

A fourth successive 0-0 draw had been averted, moving United to the top of Group B, but it would be stretching the truth to say there was jubilation at the final whistle. For a team who had taken a considerable step towards reachingthe Champions League knockout stages it had been a sapping night of vastly contrasting emotions, with an unusually bad vibe.

On the balance of play, United clearly deserved the victory but this was also a night when the crowd made it clear they were no longer willing to tolerate blandness. The first chant of “attack, attack, attack” went up from the Stretford End directly before kick-off and the same plaintive cry could be heard intermittently at other points, with varying degrees of urgency and irritability.

Later, there were loud demands for Van Gaal to bring on Ander Herrera, a player many supporters feel should be in the starting XI. “We’re Man United, we want to attack”, another song went. United had actually spent most of the night exerting pressure but there was no stardust, no drive through midfield and the harsh reality for Van Gaal is that a lot of fans share the view of Paul Scholes: it is a team that paints the town grey.

On the other hand, Van Gaal was probably entitled to think his substitutions had the desired effect given the increase in tempo from that point onwards. Rooney had played well, operating just behind Martial, but the two players seldom linked up effectively through the middle.

The crowd made it clear what they thought of the decision to replace Martial with Marouane Fellaini but to give Van Gaal his due, the Frenchman has followed up that burst of four goals in his first three appearances with only one in the past nine. It was also true that the players responded well to the crowd’s anger, whereas other teams might have lost confidence.

The full-backs, Marcos Rojo and Ashley Young, were operating like auxiliary wingers at times and there was an irony that United were being accused of conservatism when, in truth, it was their opponents who showed barely a flicker of ambition. Rojo alone had four reasonable chances to score while Lingard’s energy and directness gave the team a penetrative edge on the right wing.

Yet there were still imperfections. This is fundamentally a slow team, particularly in the centre of midfield where Bastian Schweinsteiger possesses great football intelligence without having the legs to keep up with his brain. Carrick is of a similar pace and for all his elegance on the ball, it is also the case that the best United sides have always had players who could surge through the middle and get behind the opposition defence.

It was towards the end of the first half that the dissent started to become increasingly voluble. The clock had ticked past six hours without a goal and when Van Gaal headed down the touchline at half-time, he must have noted the irritability of the voices that followed him. Early in the second half there were ironic cheers when Rooney nudged the ball over the line, knowing the offside flag had already been raised. Martial, a crowd favourite, was withdrawn after 65 minutes.

“I am not deaf,” Van Gaal said of the crowd’s reaction. “Of course I heard. That is the opinion of the fans but, afterwards, they shall not be disappointed by the decision.”

They had won but the manager was stony-faced and, as he admitted himself, it could have been considerably worse.