In a quiet stadium on Sunday, Ed Woodward sat and watched his team take the stick.
In the absence of fans, the stadium might have been silent but not the scoreline. The scoreline was communicating several messages at the same time.
Starting from the line-up- you could see screaming errors in the line-up.
Ole had his own fault.
Why didn't Mason Greenwood start ahead of Daniel James?
Daniel James is a good backup for Rashford in the left wing but not in the right wing where he has little aside his speed to offer- which was not needed against a team like Crystal Palace that likes to sit deep.
The absence of Wan Bissaka made the defence so vulnerable. It exposed Lindelof to Crystal Palace fierce wingers and quick attackers.
Harry Maguire was always caught out of position, Lindelof was terrific.
Pogba was effortlessly gifting the ball to the opponents, Bruno looked lost, Rashford was anything more than worse and Anthony Martial completely disappeared.
For all the struggles of Manchester United's attack. None of their front trio could register a shot on target.
It was a 90 minutes of horrific show at Old Trafford.
The first goal had Lindelof and Shaw to point fingers at. Forget the controversies surrounding the second goal and penalty. For a team with below par performance, it was always coming.
That shouldn't make you forget that De Gea has failed to save the last 18 penalties he has faced in the premier league.
The only optimism about the match was Van De Beek who came on from the bench and made his Manchester United's debut. He was the light in the dark tunnel. Thanks to him, Manchester United could pull one back before Crystal Palace put questions surrounding their victory at old Trafford to bed.
Now is where the questions surrounding their transfer issues this year arises.
As much as everyone could point to Manchester United's on field woes, there is need to for much to be done off field.
They have been cries for Manchester United to strengthen the team and it looks like those tears from the fans are in vain.
Currently, they are nowhere near the completion of Jadon Sancho and they do not want to pay €20m for Alex Telles either.
Manchester United's right wing has been dead for years. They need a right winger, a left back and centre back too.
While the scoreline send it's own message to the board, Ole Gunner Soljkaer and his boys need to sit up and come back stronger if they need to win this year's EPL title. Which for now, seems impossible.
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