Bruno Fernandes may have saved Ruben Amorim in 3-2 win over Burnley

Once again, it came down to a penalty and once again Ruben Amorim couldn't bring himself to look. There was no weird tactics board on his lap this time, just a vacant and vaguely hopeful look up into the Manchester rain.

A handful of minutes in to added time at a recognisably fractured and fractious Old Trafford and Amorim's Manchester United team were dancing with embarrassment for the second time in four days.

This time, at least, it was against a Premier League team. Wednesday's Carabao Cup exit had, of course, come after a penalty shoot-out at League Two Grimsby.

Still, a home draw against newly-promoted Burnley would not exactly have been underlined in gold on Amorim's CV. So he needed his captain here. He needed Bruno Fernandes to do what he could not do at Fulham six days earlier and score a big penalty.

That Fernandes did it, driving his shot low to the right of Martin Dubravka's right in the Burnley goal, speaks volumes for United's best and most important player.

It was a moment to determine a mood as we head in to an international break. Maybe it was a moment to save a manager. Whatever the case, Fernandes dealt with it all superbly and United had their victory.

Should the penalty have been given in the first place? The tug by Burnley's Jaidon Anthony on United forward Amad Diallo was not spotted initially by referee Sam Barrott and clearly began outside the penalty area.

But VAR quite understandably got involved and a law that allows a penalty to be given if an offence starts outside the area and continues inside was correctly applied.

Burnley were miffed and their manager Scott Parker let Barrott know what he felt at full-time. Any coach in his position would have done the same.

All around Parker, meanwhile, were Burnley players with their heads in their hands. That spoke volumes about how close they had come to a big result.

United had actually been impressive in the first half and were perhaps disappointed to be only a goal up when it ended. But familiar and destructive habits came rushing back in the second half and though their star man Bryan Mbuemo put United back ahead less than a minute after a Lyle Foster equaliser, another mistake from United goalkeeper Altay Bayindir allowed Anthony to level it up again at the Stretford End.

United deserved this win on the back of chances created but there is a seam of uncertainty that continues to run right through the centre of this team. Just as worryingly, too much of this developing story is currently about their manager.

That must change if any sense of direction and calm is to return to this troubled and directionless football club, even if there had been no signs of the troubles to come earlier in the game.

United's first half football carried an air of control while in attacking areas they moved the ball quickly and with purpose. It took them almost half an hour to score and frankly it should not have.

Mbeumo was United's best player and has settled into life at Old Trafford quickly. It's just as well as all around him are players labouring under the strains of low confidence.

Twice the former Brentford player may have scored from the right-hand side. The touch he applied to a long pass in the 15th minute was superb and it took a flying save from Dubravka to keep out the shot.

Then, almost immediately, Mbeumo was away down the same flank again, this time striking a shot first time across goal and wide by a foot.

When a team is playing well and with belief, one of these shots goes in. Here, they didn't and even when United thought they had a penalty soon after, it was taken away from them.

Referee Barrott blew immediately when Mason Mount went down after a tussle down the left side with Kyle Walker. Here also the first contact had been made outside the penalty area but ultimately VAR showed it to have been made by Mount. Free-kick to Burnley.

United were not hugely deterred by this and scored six minutes later. Walker actually looked to have won the ball cleanly by the left byline as he tried to intercept a raking pass from Mbeumo but Barrott deemed the slide to have been reckless and when Casemiro – unmarked – headed the free-kick against the bar, the ball struck Burnley's Josh Cullen on the back and rebounded over the line despite Dubravka's athletic effort to keep it out.

So United had a lead but soon were without another big player as Matheus Cunha departed with what looked like a hamstring injury. Do United have a deep enough squad to withstand moments such as this? We will see but it's a pertinent question.

Two more goals could have arrived by half-time as Mount headed a corner on to the top of the bar and then the excellent Amad brought a save from Dubravka with a volley from a corner of which the great Paul Scholes would have been proud. Then, at the end of a thrilling counter, Mbeumo squared for Amad who spooned a shot into the Stretford End.

Amid all this Burnley created only one chance, Jacob Bruun Larsen crossing low for former United midfielder Hannibal Mejbri to turn and shoot over from ten yards. At half-time, though, the mood was clear. What would happen to Amorim's brittle United if Burnley scored the next goal?

Almost inevitably, we soon found out. Nine minutes into a second half that saw Parker's team play with more confidence and poise, Burnley recycled the ball down the right and back again before Larsen crossed low and Foster eased between Luke Shaw and Matthijs de Ligt to poke the ball expertly in from seven yards while on the stretch.

Old Trafford was stunned if not exactly surprised. They have seen this movie before. There was an immediate response, at least, and for a while this seemed as though it would enough. From the restart, United played it long, Burnley fell asleep and Diogo Dalot pulled the ball back from left for Mbeumo to score from an unmarked position.

It was clinical football from United but quite awful from the visiting team. A classic case of a side switching off after scoring a goal.

Burnley were awake again quickly enough for Foster to ease through and put the ball in the net. On this occasion he was offside.

But United reeked of vulnerability by now and Burnley could smell it. A corner in the 67th minute was flicked on at the near post and when Bayindir saved awkwardly from Loum Tchaouna, the ball ran loose for Anthony to force it in from six yards.

Once again United were in catastrophe territory. Big money striker Benjamin Sesko was on by now even if Joshua Zirkzee had been preferred to him as the earlier replacement for Cunha.

United's threat was not growing, though. It was diminishing. In truth, Burnley looked as likely to score as did United as the game wore on. So when the decisive moment arrived, it did so out of nowhere.

'Glory Glory Man United,' they sang at the end. Not quite, but on this occasion it was enough.