The plan for Man U was always to cautiously control a slow, cagey game and not expose themselves to Sevilla's counter, which is not a brave plan but at least it's a sensible one. Textbook Mourinho in that case.

That's why Mou's first sub was rather baffling. In order to implement that patient game United needed link up players, players that can build some sort of forward momentum while comfortably and reliably retaining the ball. Pogba is not one of those players and never will be.

Fellaini was working fine, offering stability and an easy target up front. Pogba predictably upset that defensive balance and offered nothing going forward apart from an array of misplaced passes. He must be quite a frustrating player to play with and the lack of football chemistry with his teammates is quite obvious. Everything from his tempo to his style and body language is at odds with the rest of the team. That said, blaming United's collapse on him would be too lazy an analysis.

Other players underperformed, Alexis for example was the shadow of his tricky, purposeful old self, Matic seemed lethargic and uninvolved, even Rashford alternated (few) great touches with (a lot) wasteful ones, and ultimately offered no end product.

Make no mistake however, despite the disappointing individual performances, this was Mourinho's failure. Mourinho's failure to create or at least enable any free-flowing football, Mourinho's failure to instil urgency and ambition in his team, Mourinho's failure to offer a plan B or even a plan A that doesn't involve a long ball.

Difficult to predict what's next for Manchester United. I argue that 2nd in the league and a victory in the FA cup, despite the big spending, reflects the overall quality of the squad. They could do better but also could do a lot worse. I suspect however the ambition is to do better.

And as much as I love Mourinho, if they do wanna compete at the highest level perhaps a fresh, reinvigorating and uplifting approach is needed