Instead of only having to wait a week – sometimes even fewer days if playing in European competition – to make amends for a defeat, the international fixtures make fans chew over their club&aposs performance for longer.
Manchester United&aposs defeat against Arsenal last weekend was a brutal kick in the teeth and this week has dragged on for most supporters, who would have been walking on air if Alejandro Garnacho&aposs goal hadn&apost been disallowed.
Garnacho had thought he&aposd won it when scoring in the 88th minute, only for VAR to review his effort and chalk it off. The international break would have certainly been made easier to endure if victory at the Emirates had been claimed.
Erik ten Hag, who is relatively composed in press conferences, was visibly irked during the post-match debrief with journalists, but he insisted he was content with the performance and that United deserved to have won the game.
He told Sky Sports: “The performance was alright from us. I thought we played a very good game but everything went against us – then you don&apost win the game. We needed a little bit more luck to win the game.
“You can say you need to finish your chances and that you shouldn&apost concede. This is all true, but I was happy with the performance.”
The result was deflating for everyone involved with the club. It felt like there were just a few positives from the game and the most obvious was Rasmus Hojlund&aposs promising appearance from the bench in the final 20 minutes.
Hojlund has been forced to wait for his debut and he appropriately played like someone who was raring to go. He put himself about when he came on and his physicality immediately caused problems for Arsenal&aposs defensive line.
Anthony Martial started the match and William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes had an easy afternoon dealing with him, however, they suddenly knew they were in a contest when Hojlund was brought on to ruffle some feathers.
Hojlund has given supporters something to look forward to when the Premier League returns, but Diogo Dalot&aposs performance at the Emirates was also deserving of praise and it might have gone under the radar in the post-match inquest.
Dalot started at left-back on Sunday and it was his best performance in a red shirt for over six months. He was excellent defensively throughout and when he emptied his pockets in the changing room, Bukayo Saka might have been found.
Saka is one of the finest right-wingers in the world and he was kept quiet by Dalot. The 24-year-old intercepted passes well, he showed superb positional awareness and vindicated the decision to start him in that role.
Although Dalot is a natural right-back and prefers to play in that position, he&aposs always been versatile and has previous experience playing on the opposite side, although that shouldn&apost take away from his accomplished display.
Tyrell Malacia and Luke Shaw are currently sidelined with injuries and Sergio Reguilon was signed on deadline day, leading some to suspect the Tottenham loanee was set to be given his debut for the club against Arsenal.
Ten Hag selected Dalot instead and that was the correct decision. Nonetheless, the pressure was on the full-back to deliver and he did, which should guarantee him a start against Brighton at Old Trafford when the league schedule resumes.
Sir Alex Ferguson famously described complacency as a &aposdisease&apos and he understood competition for places raised standards. Dalot thought he was a certain starter at left-back when Malacia and Shaw were injured but deadline day changed that.
