If anything summed up the modern Manchester United, it was Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's final act of the night, a double substitution with seven minutes to go.
With the game lost, with pride trampled beneath sky blue feet and all hope gone, Solskjaer sent on Anthony Martial and Alexis Sanchez.
One forward cost in the region of £55m to buy, the other the best part of £2m-a-month to pay. Martial an unknown bought above the heads of the scouting department. Sanchez bought just because he was prepared to say no to Manchester City.
Manchester United are playing a walk-on part in a title scrap between their two biggest rivals
Here, as City prepared to walk out of Old Trafford with one foot over the finishing line of the Premier League title race, Martial and Sanchez walked on to the field with absolutely nothing to offer and no time left to offer it. As a symbol of a directionless, ailing football club, it was pretty appropriate.
By that time, one of City's own substitutes had sealed the game. Leroy Sane is a young German bought as a work in progress.
He has not played as much as he would like recently but here his impact was devastating. By contrast, the only devastation wrought by any of United's modern signings has been on the club's balance sheet.
Before Martial and Sanchez had arrived from the sidelines, for example, Romelu Lukaku had also done so. He cost about £90m two summers ago and was bought from the club who beat United 4-0 at the weekend, Everton.
Solskjaer sent on Anthony Martial and Alexis Sanchez with seven minutes to go on Wednesday
So the pattern here is not hard to detect and the reasons that United continue to splash about in the shallows are clear. Their players are largely not good enough and it is this that will undermine Solskjaer as he tries to move his club forwards now.
The defeat here was only by two and for a part of the first half, United were competitive. They played with some energy and we have not always said that.
But once again the chasm between the two Manchester clubs was obvious and there are some other statistics that tell us much about that.
United had one shot on target and it was hard to recall it. At Everton on Sunday, they also had one. Against Barcelona two weeks ago they had none.
They recently scraped past West Ham with two penalties and it is now 527 minutes since they scored from open play.
So as they sang for Solskjaer here before kick-off and again in the second half it was easy to understand why.
Leroy Sane, one of City's own substitutes, had sealed the game by scoring the visitors' second
At Old Trafford what else is there to sing for? They have no
