There must have been an unerring sense of deja vu as Ralf Rangnick watched his Manchester United side shoot themselves in the foot yet again.
Four days removed from a 1-1 draw with Middlesbrough in 90 minutes, the Red Devils repeated the feat against Burnley at Turf Moor.
And like against Boro, it was United’s inability to kill a game off which proved to be their downfall.
Speaking before the game at Turf Moor, the interim boss sent a pointed message to his players - be more ruthless or pay the price.
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After watching United fluff their lines time and time again in the FA Cup, Rangnick warned them they could not be so wasteful against the Clarets.
“If anyone had told me we would create that many chances after a full week of training, I would have said ‘yes, I'm absolutely happy with that',” said Rangnick.
“But, in the end, in football it is also about getting results, being clinical, killing a game off and being ruthless in our own interests. This is what we didn’t do.
“If you have a game at home against a Championship team like Middlesbrough and you have 30 to 6 shots on goal and 22 to 3 inside the box, you're bound to win this game - you have to win this game.
“This is something we have to blame ourselves for and fault the team about. Again, we didn’t give away that many chances.”
But fast forward 96 hours and the pattern repeated itself almost perfectly.
Rangnick made the difficult decision to leave Cristiano Ronaldo on the bench, but in the opening exchanges, it looked as if it could be a masterstroke.
Fluent in possession and confident on the counter, United richly deserved the lead that the classy Paul Pogba gave them.
For one of the first times under the German coach, his side looked perfectly balanced and had it not been for two contentious disallowed goals, the points would have been all-but assured.
But there were more gilt-edged chances spurned…how Edinson Cavani didn’t convert a header from almost on the line, only he and Nick Pope know.
There were also countless opportunities when United looked ready to kill the game off - but once again, they didn’t.
And credit to relegation threatened Burnley. After the break, they came out a different side, with Wout Weghorst proving he can still have a say in the battle to beat the drop.
Jay Rodriguez netted an equaliser and it gave belief to a side that had previously looked bereft of it.
Allowing sides to get back into games is proving the kind of staple that Ralf Rangnick will be desperate to erase.
Now 23 games into the Premier League season, Manchester United have just 37 goals, 18 less than Manchester City and 21 short of Liverpool.
Rangnick pointed to referee decisions for their inability to put the game away tonight…but in truth, it was just more of the same.
