Manchester United's performance against Middlesbrough wasn't the worst, but the result was.
It was a terrible Friday night at Old Trafford, emphasised by fans being unable to buy food and beverage at half-time, which almost set the tone for what was about to come.
Ralf Rangnick was disappointed with the result, but conceded that it was 'our own fault' that United failed to progress to the fifth round of the FA Cup;
He said: "In the first half we should have easily been 3-0 up and second half we had chances too. We should have won the game in normal time. On penalties, anything can happen.
“We have to take our chances better and with more quality than we did today. It was our own fault – we should not have gone into extra time and penalties. For example, Bruno [Fernandes] chance [near the end] – if he has 10 of these in a match he scores nine.
“Today he hit the post, tried to place it too exactly – these things can happen, obviously he didn’t do that on purpose.”
Sixty-three-year-old Rangnick came to Old Trafford with a lot of expectation on his shoulders. Known as the 'godfather of Gegenpressing ,' people expected him to have an impact almost instantly. However, as we can see, that hasn't happened.
When new managers come to a club, every supporter expects a bounce immediately. United had it with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Chelsea had it with Thomas Tuchel. But as each day passes, it's clear there are too many issues at Old Trafford for that to happen.
There are too many cliques and problems within the United squad for Rangnick to solve the issues all by himself.
Supporters know that at least three people are expected to leave the club in the summer, with Jesse Lingard, Paul Pogba and Edinson Cavani all having contracts that expire at the end of the season.
Alongside a mentality issue, it feels as if there are just some players who look disinterested in the manager and his methods.
There's no point naming individuals, but United, at the moment, looks like a disjointed unit that is struggling to support the manager and his backroom staff.
The vast majority of issues in the United team seem impossible to solve in the three months Rangnick has remaining as interim manager, but even this stance hasn't helped the situation.
Rangnick agreed to become United's interim manager in November until the end of the season, before taking up a two-year consultancy role, but as we've seen at previous clubs, being a short-term manager doesn't always work.
Guus Hiddink finished 10th in his second interim spell in charge at Chelsea, Tim Sherwood was sacked by Tottenham in 2014 and Freddie Ljungberg won just once out of the six games managed for Arsenal. It just goes to show that taking the interim route can have complications. Players know a new manager will come in, so how can you expect them to abide by a manager if they know he won't be coaching them next season?
United have confirmed they're on the lookout for a permanent manager to take over at the end of the season, but the uncertainty around it really doesn't help the current situation.
It's pretty obvious that some players just aren't playing for the manager, which won't do anyone any favours because it creates toxicity.
While there weren't many options available at the time, one of United's reported targets, Mauricio Pochettino, certainly wasn't ruling out a move and there was a possibility he could've left midway through the season. You never know, Erik ten Hag might've been gettable had United approached him. Instead, they failed to contact their reported top two candidates.
It's a strange situation for United to be in and there's a fear that results like the Middlesbrough one will continue until there's clarity on who the next manager will be.
Has United's manager stance created a problem for Rangnick? Follow our United On My Mind writer Omar Garrick on Twitter to get involved in the discussion and give us your thoughts on the matter in the comments section below.
