Former Manchester United assistant coach Chris Armas admits last season's Champions League exit was the moment belief in Ralf Rangnick's and his squad began to wane.
Rangnick was appointed interim manager late last year in a bid to steady the Red Devils ship following a run of dismal form under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Former United States international Armas soon followed the German to Old Trafford and served on his coaching staff before both men left the club in May, following Erik ten Hag's appointment.
Rangnick's arrival did bring about marginal improvement but United continued to be plagued by inconsistency as they stumbled to a sixth-place finish in the Premier League. Armas suspects things began to go downhill when the Red Devils were beaten 1-0 at home by Atletico Madrid to exit the Champions League at the last-16 stage, having drawn the first leg 1-1 at the Wanda Metropolitano.
"We were trying to become a team, it's always a process but at Manchester United, at the time we arrived, all of us were trying to come together," Armas told Sky Sports. "I think Ralf did a really good job of stabilising things when we got there.
"You realise what a challenge it was, but after the Champions League exit, not getting the result at home, you can see the air got sucked out a little bit in what we were doing. Then it becomes difficult.
"Did we really move the needle, in the end? We wanted to finish in the top four and play a small part in that. It's disappointing in the end but overall it was an incredible experience for me."
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Rangnick's short tenure was filled with reports of disharmony behind the scenes at United, with many players supposedly unhappy with his training methods. Armas also found himself in the crosshairs after members of the squad began to jokingly compare him to Ted Lasso, the bumbling American coach who manages made-up club AFC Richmond in the hit Apple+ comedy series of the same name.
However, the New York native insists a lot of the reporting on what was going on at United's Carrington headquarters was wide of the mark. He added: "People who know me know what I care about and how much I value the team. What happens on the inside, as we say.
"When things are trying to penetrate and negativity is coming from the outside - to be honest, a lot of it was untrue. Who's to say what's true and not, but I can tell you a lot of it was untrue, and that it does create negativity. For those players, and myself included, you can't listen to the noise."
