There was a sense of resignation by the time the full time whistle blew at Old Trafford on Saturday. The Manchester United support knows that with the final stretch of the season coming into sight their team are once again likely to miss out on a top four place. Jose Mourinho all but admitted as much afterwards.

“It’s possible that you see me play in the Premier League with a team where I’m going to protect the players that I consider fundamental for the Europa League,” the Portuguese said after the goalless draw against West Brom, United’s eighth draw in 15 home Premier League fixtures this season, revealing that he might prioritise one over another. But there is more than just results to concern the Old Trafford match-goers.

After three years of stagnation Mourinho was appointed to make Manchester United Manchester United again, and there are signs to suggest he has made some progress on that front. There is a resolve to the side that hasn’t been seen since the days of Sir Alex Ferguson. They are once again difficult to beat, with United now going 19 games in the league without suffering defeat.

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But how has that unbeaten run been achieved? It masks the real issues Man Utd face under Mourinho, with the inability to break down a mid-table West Brom side illustrative of a team a long way short of where they should by now. Mourinho might have been without a number of key players, with Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Henrik Mkhitaryan and Paul Pogba all missing at the weekend, but the performance was indicative of their campaign as a whole.

A large part of what makes United United is the attacking, dynamic identity forged for them over the eras of Ferguson and Sir Matt Busby. Teams that call Old Trafford home play in a certain manner, with a certain swagger, but there has been little sign of that with Mourinho in charge. Under the Portuguese Man Utd have laboured just as much as they ever did under Louis Van Gaal or David Moyes.

Consider that in Ibrahimovic, Mkhitaryan and Pogba Mourinho was handed three of the most creative players in Europe last summer and his struggle to spark United into life in the final third is all the more peculiar. There appears to be a fundamental fracture in the framework of Man Utd as an attacking outfit that has yet to be fixed.

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Of course, Mourinho has this season as something of a free pass. He is charged with restoring the spirit around Man Utd as a club, something that can’t be illustrated by a run of form or charted on a league table. There has been progress in that respect, but more of the same old insipidness next season will see Mourinho test the tolerance of the Old Trafford faithful. He might already be crossing that threshold, with murmurs of discontent heard among the home fans on Saturday.

Van Gaal found himself in a similar situation heading into his second season as United boss. He too enjoyed some initial success in making them more difficult to beat, even finishing in the top four before a lack of progress saw patience at the club run dry, with the Dutchman dismissed to make way for Mourinho.

The same fate could still befall Mourinho. Qualification for the Champions League through the Europa League, coupled with a EFL Cup triumph, would represent a reasonably successful first campaign for the new boss, but this must only be a springboard for the Portuguese at Old Trafford.

Bigger and better things must follow, that’s why Man Utd turned to him in the first place. The club expects him to deliver more, and deliver it in style. The latter part of that demand might prove most challenging.