As the seconds ticked down in San Sebastián, the desperation began for Manchester United. Their game plan focusing on calmness, composure, and creativity in possession unravelled, and a route one approach was adopted.
For all the dreams of a possession-based approach that sees United methodically carve open their opponents like an expert surgeon, in the heat of the moment they opted for emergency surgery.
This was consequentialist football: if United were to get the result they wanted, then it didn't matter how it happened, even if that meant abandoning the core principles so central to Erik ten Hag's approach.
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With only eight minutes left, the Dutchman went for one last roll of the dice, a final attempt to grab another goal that would have seen United avoid a pesky play-off tie.
On came club captain Harry Maguire, not as a centre-back but as a centre-forward, as Ten Hag looked to add another focal point to his forward line, just as he had done when he deployed Scott McTominay up front in the final moments against Chelsea.
With him and Cristiano Ronaldo forming a shaky strike partnership, it was clear that an aerial assault was required to play to their strengths. What a shame it was then that chief playmaker Christian Eriksen had been taken off the pitch while Bruno Fernandes struggled with the accuracy of his own deliveries into the box.
United's desperate attempts to get another goal brought little success, but what other option did they really have? Due to the absence of injured trio Anthony Martial, Antony, and Jadon Sancho, there was little elsethey could do. Anthony Elanga and Aaron Wan-Bissaka were the only two other players on the bench who had ever scored a competitive goal for the club.
The fact that Ten Hag turned to Maguire as an auxiliary striker as they went in search of another goal was the clearest message possible that another striker is needed as soon as January.
Even when everyone is fully fit Ronaldo has been an unreliable threat all season, Martial is not a long-term solution, and only one of Marcus Rashford's seven goals this season has come when playing through the middle.
United's troubles in front of goal weren't limited to the Sociedad match either. They would have topped the group had they had a better goal difference across their five previous matches.
In the end, they only needed one more goal. Whether that had been more than just the singularly successful strike they netted against Omonia at Old Trafford or had they not conceded a late consolation goal from Nikolas Panayiotou out in Cyprus.
United's attacking issues stem from far more than just having to throw Maguire onto the pitch in a desperate hope of him making something happen, rather than the slimmest belief he might just do it.
It is still a startling situation that a team with ambitions as lofty as United's are in such a dire need for attacking reinforcements, especially with Ronaldo expected to leave the club next year.
A goalscorer has already been identified as United's priority position next year, but they are not actively pursuing any incomings in the January transfer window, given that they broke their transfer record to invest £225.4million on five players this past summer.
There is even an argument that United need another two strikers to replace those who will leave, though it is widely assumed that only one will be signed, with the wide players all capable of supplementing the goal tally with improved performances.
Whether they do spend in January or not could well have a serious impact on whether or not they achieve their ambitions for the rest of the campaign, and after Maguire's makeshift role, there is now an even greater argument to do just that.
United might need to change those plans.
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