As Manchester United went into extra-time against a Championship side at Old Trafford their manager looked to his bench and saw one attacking option, a 33-year-old with three appearances to his name all season.
Somewhere, watching on TV, were Jesse Lingard and Edinson Cavani. Players allowed to miss this game but whose presence at this stage could have been game-changing.
The Stretford End’s ‘Standards’ banner was absent on Friday but would rarely have felt more appropriate. Sir Alex Ferguson glared on under a flat cap in the directors’ box and it’s hard to imagine such a blatant show of player power being granted in his days.
Whatever the truth of the Lingard situation - and it probably lies somewhere in the middle - United should have demanded he be available for this game when he’s part of the squad and there is an obvious shortage of attackers.
The issue might not be Rangnick's making, but it’s hardly a good look that the interim manager has now had public disagreements with two of his players in less than a month. It only adds to the sense of chaos engulfing the club.
And United officials were probably expecting Cavani’s call last weekend asking for a couple of extra days off in Uruguay. The 34-year-old represents the club with heart-warming commitment and enthusiasm but it’s inescapable that he doesn’t play enough. He had an eight-week pre-season and was unavailable at the start of the campaign as a result.
Ralf Rangnick explained his decision to grant Cavani his latest holiday by saying jet lag would have ruled him out anyway, but he played 87 minutes on international duty and while playing 66 of those late on Tuesday night is hardly ideal, he could have been on the bench and played a part in extra-time, especially when nine substitutes gives you more wriggle room. It was another example of this being a club going soft, lacking decisive leadership. Players wouldn’t have even tried it under Ferguson.
So with Anthony Elanga already introduced for Marcus Rashford, there was a sense of inevitably when Jadon Sancho started holding his hamstring at the close of 90 minutes. Mata, who has started United’s two most meaningless games this season and played one minute aside from that, had to be called on. It was a perfect storm, but it was one United created.
It probably summed up their season that it all played out in front of a primetime audience on terrestrial TV, with Roy Keane ready to unload in the studio in what might be one of his final punditry appearances before returning to management.
Viewers tuning into ITV expecting to see Coronation Street would have been disappointed. A long-running Mancunian soap opera with big characters at odds with each other and new faces introduced to try and recapture a golden age. Old Trafford that is, not Weatherfield.
The big clue that this wasn’t fiction was that the script was too obvious. United losing on penalties for the seventh time in their last eight shootouts, with the 19-year-old academy graduate - a rare highlight in a desperate season - distraught at missing. It summed the season up.
But it should never have come to that. For 55 minutes they were in control at Old Trafford. Middlesbrough had barely mustered a shot, Dean Henderson had been a spectator and it was a mystery how United weren’t further ahead. It looked comfortable, but then little about United’s 2021/22 season has been comfortable and they were about to be jolted out of that zone.
Once Boro found their stranglehold in the game United struggled to wrest it back. The loss of Sancho, their brightest attacking star, was a hammer blow early in extra-time. Mata might be a talented player but he’s barely been glimpsed this season. It was asking an awful lot for him to come in and influence this game.
The Champions League is now United’s only - slim - hope of avoiding five successive seasons without a trophy. This FA Cup exit is probably the end of any hope Rangnick had of getting an extra in the dugout rather than the boardroom.
Whichever direction the club chooses to go in with their next manager they need a strong hand in control. Rangnick doesn't really have the power to try and dominate that dressing room, but the next man in charge must assert his authority. At the moment it all has the feel of a club that has gone soft.
