RUBEN AMORIM knew he had gotten into trouble at Manchester United.
But the scale of that debacle has only become clearer because of the club's two best results of the season.
United are expected to play with courage, composure and class.
Control and balance. . . “the United way”.
Matches where victory was a given, with the only question being the score.
You know. . . “Glory, glory, man united.”
Not bloody, bloody. Without relying on defensive desire and determination, a missed penalty and opponents whose radar in front of goal disappeared when it really mattered.
I don't play like an outmatched championship team that likes to ride the Good Luck Express.
Reaching the fourth round of the FA Cup, eliminating Arsenal, could be seen as evidence of a turning point for United.
Maybe, in the long run.
Harry Maguire and Matthijs de Ligt in particular gave everything, Bruno Fernandes played like a captain.
Yet such an attitude should be the MINIMUM expectation, and not something worthy of praise.
As the traveling supporters celebrated Joshua Zirkzee rolling into the huge hole left empty by the last of David Raya's bizarre early dives in the penalty shootout at the Emirates on Sunday – rare to see a corner flag so threatened – it actually showed how far United have fallen.
The biggest club in Britain, if not the world, which needs back-to-the-wall results twice a week, survives in the Cup with less than 30 percent possession and is out-shot on 26 attempts to seven.
It seems like this is all Amorim and his players have at the moment.
The last few days have undoubtedly gone better than most United fans feared.
Many of them crawled up the road to Anfield praying to avoid humiliation, making the 2-2 draw in the Prem feel like a triumph – even if the stats told the REAL story.
And the 8,000 in the Emirates' lower tier made a noise and a half as Amorim's side dug in after Diogo Dalot's self-inflicted dismissal.
But is this what United should be about?
Fans who grew up watching teams tremble with fear at the prospect of facing Sir Alex Ferguson's side are now forced to watch matches from behind the bench and through clenched fingers?
Certainly not.
Amorim inherited a dumpster fire, a basket, an unholy swamp. On and off the field.
That he is considering selling both Kobbie Mainoo and Marcus Rashford to help fund a late dip into the discard piles offered at inflated prices in the final days of the January selling period is a sign of the financial problems he faces gets.
Since that derby win at the Etihad, United have gone six games without a win (in 90 minutes).
The Portuguese have four wins in thirteen matches, two of which are in the Europa League.
Those performances at Anfield and Arsenal were the easy ones because there was no pressure.
It is the next seven, starting with Southampton, Brighton and Rangers at home over the next ten days – matches where wins are expected – that will tell the full story.
United have lost their last three at Old Trafford, with Nottingham Forest, Bournemouth and Newcastle all succumbing. They all waited for the Amorim team to fall into the trap and pick them off like a lame hind.
That will likely be the same approach as the next three visitors, meaning it will all come down to United's ability, or otherwise, to seize the initiative.
Perhaps what you call the 'United Way'.
VAR OF PROBLEM
GLAD to see such universal approval of the lack of VAR in the FA Cup third round.
Arsenal fans – who have become the leading conspiracy theorists – would no doubt have been utterly shocked if it had been Rasmus Hojlund, rather than Kai Havertz, who had so egregiously crashed into the penalty area.
I'm not convinced it would all have taken off if Stockley Park had been able to tell Andy Madley he was so wrong.
Great entertainment for those watching at home. But a clear and potentially crucial mistake.
Madley and Co also appeared to miss a handball from Havertz, just before he knocked over a later sitter.
But who needs right decisions when we can so quickly make the wrong ones?
IT'S FUNNY!
THE joke almost fell flat on the Comedy Club. . . also known as Tottenham.
But having just emerged from their humiliation at Tamworth, Spurs have a chance to do the decent thing.
Supremo Daniel Levy doesn't need Tottenham's share of £150,000 in box office receipts and TV money, even though FA Cup rules say Spurs MUST take their money.
The Lambs, who denied a money-grubbing replay – which could have been worth £600,000 or more – certainly do.
How about a bargain, Daniel: hand over the money and we'll never talk about this again.
CUP HALF EMPTY
WEMBLEY bosses didn't 'kill' the FA Cup by axing replays this season – they did that 25 years ago.
When Manchester United skipped the league in 2000 to take part in the one-off Club World Cup, that was the day the old lady started to lose her luster.
Since putting lipstick on a pig.
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