Pep Guardiola has told Manchester United and Erik ten Hag what to do with David de Gea

Sentiment rarely counts for anything in football.

Sir Alex Ferguson was a master of moving players on when he felt their course was run. And, as David de Gea lay prone on the London Stadium turf watching the ball roll agonisingly towards his empty net, you wonder if this is the final chapter of his career as Manchester United number one.

Said Benrahma's trundling shot should have been meat and drink for the Spaniard but poor positioning, a weak right hand and a slight slip combined to allow the tame effort to breach his defences. As the hosts celebrated, De Gea stood hands on hips, a blade or two of grass on his cheek, gazing up at the London sky looking lost.

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Not for the first time he had been found wanting. And not for the first time he faces questions over his future. De Gea has never seemed the perfect fit for the way Erik ten Hag wants to mould his United side and the evidence is stacking up against persevering with the 32-year-old as first choice.

A lack of alternatives may well have extended the former Atletico Madrid man's run in the side but surely now Father Time is calling. De Gea has won United's Player of the Year award four times, and been named in the PFA Team of the Year on five occasions but past glories count for little when plotting future success.

And Ten Hag only needs to cast an eye across Manchester to see how dispensing with a long-serving stopper can help on the road to revival as United seek to challenge for honours at home and abroad.

Pep Guardiola, closing in on a fifth Premier League title with City, wasted no time in stamping his style and authority on the Etihad