It is an old truism that you can't win a league title with an unreliable goalkeeper and David De Gea produced further evidence of that brutal reality as Manchester United's Premier League ambitions suffered a devastating blow with a 2-1 defeat against bottom club Sheffield United.
The mistakes of one man are never solely to blame for a defeat. There are always other factors involved when a team fails to measure up, but while United lacked creativity, a cutting edge and defensive solidity against a team that had scored just 10 goals in 19 league games prior to their trip to Old Trafford, the fallibility of their goalkeeper was why they finally wound up in a hole they couldn't climb out of.