Heading into Manchester United's encounter with Leicester City on Saturday evening, there was plenty of focus on there being nothing to play for after their exit from the Champions League 18 days prior. Such claims from many could be viably counteracted with the fact that United remained contenders for a top four finish in the Premier League, but even Ralf Rangnick was thinking of alternative merit that could come from United's last nine matches of the campaign.
"It would not be wise to let the season to peter out," Rangnick argued. "We cannot afford that. Those players who have contracts running out, they have to recommend themselves and even players who are still on contract, they have to recommend themselves for a new manager."
Coming into the weekend, United found themselves one point behind Tottenham Hotspur and four adrift of Arsenal (who have a game in hand to be fulfilled) in the fight for fourth place. As Rangnick implied without uttering explicitly, given recent superiority of the likes of Arsenal, the chances are firmly that the run-in may become a case of education for United's prospective manager as opposed to being able to secure a Champions League spot.
Cristiano Ronaldo's absence due to the displaying of "flu-like symptoms" in the day leading up to the meeting with Leicester was a curveball to preparations. With Edinson Cavani also sidelined, the obvious choice to deputise up-front was Marcus Rashford. It will have been a tough one to take for Rashford when Bruno Fernandes was named ahead of him in that role.
It was telling of Rashford's concurrent form and confidence that the setup was altered despite his experience as a striker. The deployed system was a parallel to the unorthodox, unfamiliar approach that majorly worked with inefficiency in the recent Manchester Derby defeat, with Fernandes relied upon in an unconventional striker, almost false-nine role.
At the same time, Ronaldo's absence was representative of United's lack of reliable, capable centre-forwards and the consequential requirement for summer reinforcements.
The dearth of a natural, recognised striker equated to a lack of a focal point from the outset on Saturday evening, emphasising Ronaldo's significance in his absence. As a result, there was an evident disconnect near-identical to that against Manchester City last month, whereby there were shortcomings by way of options on the occasions that the likes of Scott McTominay managed to break the lines.
United's wide players were the only major attacking outlets given the depletion of a central presence, providing a degree of threat in possession. But even then, they still lacked supply due to a loose display of passing from those relied upon to orchestrate. Plus, the ultimate product suffered without the support of a striker.
Without Ronaldo, contrary to belittling narratives, there was a domino effect of ramifications. There is a reason why United haven't won a league game in his absence.
A lack of directness grew prevalent without any defined target man, causing buildup play to grow pedestrian. 'Flat' would have sufficed as a descriptor given the lapses in both tempo and energy - applicable to the match as a whole but United especially.
It wasn't a case that United were obviously inferior as such, but a case of finding themselves unable to assert any authority on proceedings, whilst Leicester did look marginally the sharper. No matter, both sides reciprocated one another in terms of being almost non-entities in terms of creation and wasteful when the odd chance came around.
United were systematically uncoordinated, with their formation undistinguishable for extensive spells. It would occasionally appear a 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1, yet a disjointed variation of a 4-4-2 and 4-2-2-2 setup also reared its head. For context, Paul Pogba found himself as a central midfielder, attacking midfielder, winger and striker.
The side appeared devoid of any idea.
The players could definitely be put to blame at some junctures given shortages of quality and scope for more vigour, however it would be wrong to render them wholly to blame. A lack of the necessary personnel was a more viable contributing factor to the frequent lack of quality.
Neither Fernandes or Pogba are strikers, thus they were always bound to be misfits when deployed there. Similarly, McTominay and Fred aren’t deep-lying playmakers, hereby were never going to be sufficiently adept to building from deep when required to. Again, in both cases, a notice was provided as to areas that need attending to come the summer transfer window.
Rashford's introduction (in place of McTominay) came barely 10 minutes into the second half, adding an extra dimension through his run-making expertise in the centre-forward role. But any enlivening of a subdued Old Trafford crowd was merely temporary as Leicester gained merit from their increasing foothold on proceedings against United's misgivings.
Finished by a Kelechi Iheanacho header, the goal was reflective of United's second-class standard. The move commenced from the enforced breakdown of a United counter-attack, with Youri Tielemans and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall displaying prevailing desire to regain possession. From there, James Maddison's delivery was sumptuous and Iheanacho's diving finish comparably high-echelon to evade David de Gea's outstretched hand.
From what felt like nowhere, though, United did level the score after only two minutes as Kasper Schmeichel could only parry and push Fernandes' effort into Fred's path to find the roof of the net on his 100th appearance for the club.
Given recent trends, it came as no surprise that Fred was involved; amidst a bleak patch for United as a whole, his growing influence has been a positive. He created Fernandes's shot which led to the goal, showing awareness as the recipient of Raphael Varane's attentive clearance. He was rewarded for his innovation in finding space inside the final third, where he has thrived having been granted a license for more attacking involvement.
However, United lacked the fortitude to build on their equaliser - largely an encapsulation of the outweighing of negatives against promise at present.
Leicester were allowed to continue to probe, with De Gea remarkably denying Wesley Fofana at full stretch. The visiting side flourished and dominated as United's knack for losing the ball became more persistent and resistance to assert themselves came to the forefront. There was affordance of masses of time on the ball with United's closing down progressively superficial.
The aforementioned was ubiquitous as Maddison beat De Gea and temporarily gave Leicester the lead again. The defensive display was fragmented once more regardless of the fact that Varane was ultimately deemed by VAR to have been fouled by Iheanacho.
United were dealt a let-off with Maddison's strike having been disallowed, yet still lacked the mettle to progress and chase a winning goal. Even with Rashford's introduction, they were bereft of adequate attacking presence. Nemanja Matic was added to the fray in a bid to muster some control but that was never achieved for any sustained period.
Rashford and Jadon Sancho both failed to seize an opportunity into added time; the former beat multiple Leicester players inside the penalty area at the death in a subsequent passage, only for Anthony Elanga to inadvertently trip him up.
It felt like United's entire season summed up within a split second. Wastefulness and absolute incoherence.
Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea are still to come for United. And, with eight matches still to play, hopes of securing Champions League football are inauspicious.
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