Erik ten Hag is perfect for Manchester United because he's critical in both defeat and victory. He's ultimately never satisfied and during half-time against Tottenham on Thursday night, he would have demanded even more from his players.
That's despite his side being utterly dominant in the opening 45 minutes against Spurs and returning to the dressing room with a deserved two-goal advantage thanks to brilliantly taken goals from Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford.
Rashford made it 2-0 on the stroke of half-time to complete a ruthless, swift counter-attack and United would have been disappointed to have gone it at the break without that two-goal cushion, which reflected their superiority
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Although the game was thrown away after the interval, the first-half performances also received some criticism from Ten Hag in his post-match press conference. "Before [the game], I would be happy with a point," Ten Hag told journalists.
"And you see first half, although I don't think we played that brilliant, we had complete control. We had an overload in midfield, we used that very well, especially switching from right to left, we used that overload to score both goals.
"But, to be honest, before 2-0 they had a big chance to make it 1-1 and before that on our right side we conceded some counters and we were not good in positioning. Also, already before half time, we were not playing that well."
Those comments felt slightly harsh from Ten Hag. Tottenham did not look dangerous in the opening 45 minutes and they were limited to just a few sights on David de Gea between the sticks, which were eventually a regularity after Pedro Porro's goal.
United were outstanding at the beginning of the game, but they lacked intensity after the break. The momentum gradually tuned in the favour of the white shirts on the pitch and the substitutions made by Ten Hag had the opposite effect.
Sancho and Christian Eriksen, two of the best players on the night, were replaced by Fred and Anthony Martial, who played down the middle. Those changes had to make an immediate impact and they didn't, merely weakening the side instead.
Rashford was relocated to the left to accommodate Martial when he'd expertly led the attack. Those changes set the tone and Tottenham's players started to believe an equaliser, or even a winning comeback, was possible.
During a game, substitutions are supposed to stifle the opponent but they helped Spurs instead. Tyrell Malacia and Wout Weghorst also replaced Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Antony and it felt like a matter of time before the hosts equalised.
They inevitably did with 10 minutes remaining through Son Heung-min and it was two points chucked away for United. It was a disappointing result, albeit not a big deal in the context of the season, but it hinted at the lack of squad depth.
The changes had simply made United worse and none of the players who 'contributed' from the bench made a case to start on Sunday against Aston Villa. Fred and Martial were poor, whilst Malacia and Weghorst were regarded as worse.
Fred was brilliant against Brighton in the semi-final of the FA Cup, but the Brazilian is an enigmatic character and he was woeful a few days later against Tottenham. That summarises his time at the club in a nutshell.
Martial is not mobile enough when compared to Rashford as a striker and Malacia has regressed since a promising start to the season. Weghorst is a centre-forward who can't score and his only two goals for United have been rebounds.
When considering the performances of those four players from the bench and the current injury list, it seems Ten Hag has no choice but to pick the same starting team from the draw against Tottenham when facing Villa this weekend.
Those players were excellent in the first half and on the back of that display, they also deserve to start again.
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