Wout Weghorst was still waiting to come on and the only teammate who snapped at his lack of alacrity was Antony. Weghorst had not noticed Anthony Martial had already stepped off the pitch.
Many might not have noticed Martial had stepped on it. A 27-year-old who can barely last an hour, Martial trudged off less than 10 minutes into the second half, injured by Harry Maguire in the melee for Loic Bade's header.
Sevilla supporters have endured their worst domestic season of the century but they have not missed Martial. You have to wonder if some of the Sevilla fans recognised the former loanee who ambled past them. Martial mustered one goal in Spain.
Also read: United are giving De Gea a new contract for all the wrong reasons
Martial is a No.9 who has not lived up to the number at United. His best season remains his first and he has only broken the 20-goal barrier once. He has had two truly good campaigns out of eight.
United have countenanced that by kowtowing to player power. Joel Glazer's favourite player was indulged more than any other teammate bar Paul Pogba. Never mind that Martial's agent repeatedly undermined successive managers, Martial had a catchy chant and generated a cult online following.
His chant needs new lyrics: Tony Martial scorned again. Martial is approaching the final year of his contract (with the option of an additional year) and that is why United intend to sell him in a summer that a new striker is the priority.
Martial can't play 90 minutes and can't score 20 goals in a season. He last completed a Premier League game in January 2021 and it has been 19 months since he last started and finished a match for United. That is a tough sell for John Murtough.
Ed Woodward once took a telephone call from Daniel Levy with great trepidation. Levy was enquiring about Martial's availability and there are more unpalatable sweeteners to offer Tottenham as Ten Hag covets Harry Kane.
Sir Alex Ferguson once said United is a bus that waits for no one. They have lined around the block for Martial. He has given the supporters some wondrous moments - the debut goal against Liverpool, the FA Cup semi-final winner and derby winners - but he is only at the club through the errors of the Woodward era.
Martial is not the only one who can't cut it and has to be cut loose. If United offload Jadon Sancho they will be restoring standards; no third chance after two years of failure. Sancho is playing worse now than he was before he embarked on that soul-searching mid-season training programme for three months. He has not truly excelled as a starter since Ralf Rangnick was in the dugout.
Sancho played as though on borrowed time in Seville. Marcus Rashford was on the bench and, logically, the earliest time of his introduction would be at the interval. Sancho ensured the script was predictable.
Once a penetrative and probing winger, Sancho now decelerates attacks, as if in homage to Dimitar Berbatov. That was Berbatov's style and there was a method to it. Sancho has found it too hot in the pressure cooker environment at United.
Harry Maguire does not feel appreciated at United, as though dwindling form over four years merits appreciation. One of the most decisive calls by Ten Hag was to drop Maguire two games into the season and recall Raphael Varane, often so immense he denied Sevilla a goal whilst injured with his last contribution in the tie.
With Varane, United were 2-0 up. Without him and with Maguire, they lost 5-0. Maguire had a good first season, a decent second, a nightmare third and a worse fourth. He must see why the appreciation is not widespread.
Ten Hag is said to be "obsessed" with the right-back Jeremie Frimpong but a right-back is low down United's list of priorities unless a right-back goes. That has to be Aaron Wan-Bissaka.
Three times Ten Hag mentioned "character" in his post-match debrief. Us punters had not underestimated Sevilla - they are 13th in La Liga. We had overestimated United's character without regular starters. Wan-Bissaka does not have the character to succeed at United and he never has.
Peculiarly, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer plumped for Wan-Bissaka and Maguire because they were British, as if there was a Brexit legislation to abide by ahead of the withdrawal. The list of rumbled Solskjaer signings extends beyond these shores. See also Donny van de Beek and Alex Telles.
Ten Hag's predilection for Dutch-schooled players is not foolproof. Just look at Weghorst.
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