Man United grateful for Klopp diversion after dodging FA Cup humiliation at Newport

‘To make the season look not as bad as it’s been, we have to win – or try to win – this trophy.’

We’re going straight in with that Bruno Fernandes post-match quote not to take the mick, but because it is powerfully correct in its quiet-part-loud honesty. Bruno, speaking in a second language straight after the enormously flattering 4-2 win at Newport, may not have intended to be quite so brutally honest. But you can’t quibble with that honesty.

He’s right, of course. Even winning this grand old cup would only paper over the cracks. Or, more fittingly on this pleasingly old school afternoon of cup action, tinfoil cup over the cracks. It would only ‘make the season look not as bad as it’s been’. It will take a significant upturn in league results for the season to actually be anything like acceptable.

But despite the final result here, it was another afternoon to leave you with absolutely no confidence this United team can deliver that uptick. There will have been relief for multiple reasons that Jurgen Klopp is currently dominating the news cycle to such an all-encompassing extent. First, because a hated rival is losing a really good manager who has flipped the long-standing Fergie era dynamic between those two great clubs on its head. Second, because the Marcus Rashford farrago is now less of a Crisis Club Talking Point than it would surely otherwise have been had January continued to meander on the quiet course it had followed before Friday’s bombshell from Anfield.

Nevertheless, this was a game United will have approached with a degree of trepidation. Not because they will have honestly thought they might lose, but because games like this are the ultimate no-win situation for a club of United’s stature in their current predicament. There really is no result in a game like this that can improve matters meaningfully, but plenty that can exacerbate or further highlight the problems at hand.

That said, after 15 minutes it did look like United might be able to secure one of the unlikely scorelines that really did elevate the mood. At the very least, having eased into a 2-0 lead against opponents guilty of the classic error of affording illustrious but vulnerable opponents too much respect.

They were nice goals as well, which helps, crisply finished by first Bruno and then Kobbie Mainoo. Goals scored, too, by players to remind you that not everything at United is entirely and unutterably grim quite yet.

But there was another telling Bruno moment shortly after. At 2-0 up, it would be easy to think the game was already up. Certainly at that point it was hard to see quite how it could become mortifying for the visitors, who appeared to have been rewarded for naming a strong side by setting themselves up for an easy afternoon.

Bruno cares deeply, though, and while that can often manifest unfortunately it can also reveal a lot about the state of the club. When Alejandro Garnacho was brilliantly set away down the left by Lisandro Martinez, he lashed a shot against the bar when both Bruno and Rasmus Hojlund were free in the penalty area for tap-ins. Garnacho’s strike was a sweet one, but also selfish. Even at 2-0 up against lowly opponents, Bruno tore him a new one for his decision-making.

He knew this wasn’t done. He knew things rarely are for a United side that finds itself so entirely reliant on this competition for a fig-leaf (a tinfoil fig-leaf?) of respectability in large part because of an inability to defend two-goal leads in Europe.

And sure enough, United found a way to make this mortifying. Sure, there was an element of fortune in the way Newport levelled given both their goals either side of half-time featured deflections. But it was only an element of fortune. Bryn Morris’ shot was sweetly hit and on target even before flicking off Martinez. It still required attention. And the deflection on Will Evans’ poacher’s finish after a fine move even less significant.

More than that, though, was that Newport deserved to be back in the game. From looking like they might go four or five up before the break, United were unwilling or unable to maintain those standards and offered hope and encouragement to lower-league opponents who should have by now had none.

Late goals from a largely wretched Antony and an almost embarrassingly unserved Hojlund given the calibre of opponent meant United avoided total humiliation, but it became just another game that leaves you with more questions than answers around this team and manager and what they can achieve. Even a kindly-looking fifth-round draw at Bristol City or Nottingham Forest offers no guarantees for a United team this fragile and this easily rattled.