It can no longer be avoided, the reality cannot be ignored, this is what Manchester United have become. This is what they are.

Another disappointment, another sub-standard performance, inevitably led to another provocative Jose Mourinho monologue. There were more complaints about his players, more questions about their heart. A suggestion, not for the first time, that they do not care enough.

There are more excuses, more bewilderment, more disillusionment and while it all unfolds, the supporters lose a little more faith in him as a manager and a little more respect for those he is tasked to lead.

It is a club caught in a trap, thrashing around, occasionally showing some fight, raising the possibility of escape, but it does not last.

The away win over Juventus in the Champions League, the powerful comebacks against Newcastle United and Bournemouth, were encouraging, but we always come back to this sort of clueless, one-paced, one dimensional display that make United so bland and ordinary.

The worst thing you can say about what happened against Crystal Palace is that it was not a surprise. Nobody is shocked. This is normality. This is Manchester United.

They played like it under David Moyes, something similar happened under Louis van Gaal and they are heading the same way under Mourinho. Millions of pounds spent on players, an eye-watering wage bill and for what? A team that stumbles and stutters, an unoiled machine, the parts grinding and clunking together in ugly discord.