Jadon Sancho and Paul Pogba among Manchester United fans' big reasons for Ralf Rangnick optimism

Manchester United's FA Cup defeat to Middlesbrough was a disappointing result as it was the best opportunity to achieve silverware this season.

It's now pretty much nailed on United look set to go five years without a trophy, which simply isn't good enough, considering where they were under Sir Alex Ferguson.

Ralf Rangnick is United's fifth manager, be it interim since Fergie retired and it feels like he's been given a near-impossible task of getting the current squad competing for trophies. The body language after Middlesbrough equalised pretty much epitomised that.

While United were eliminated from the competition, there were actually quite a few positives from the performance, notably with Jadon Sancho and Paul Pogba, who were excellent on the night.

It wasn't just Sancho and Pogba that were sensational though. There were plenty of pleasing elements to United's display and it's given Rangnick a few reasons to be cheerful.

We think they should be mentioned, so our United On My Mind writer, Omar Garrick, has listed three areas that have given Manchester United reasons to be optimistic, despite the FA Cup defeat to Middlesbrough.

1. Sancho delight

Jadon Sancho has come under a lot of scrutiny since his £73m switch from Borussia Dortmund in the summer of 2021 and before the Middlesbrough match, only had two goals to his name.

He's looked lost on confidence in recent weeks, but the two-week winter break gave him an opportunity to work on himself, and judging by his performance on Friday evening, he has.

Along with a well-taken goal, Sancho was creating a handful of opportunities for the rest of United's forwards and offered an attacking threat when his team were on the front foot.

As per SofaScore.com, Sancho had a