It's not just Manchester United who've had a chastening week. The England cricket team have shown they are more than capable of crumbling, too. If losing once from a dominant position could be considered misfortune then to do it twice in four days is just plain careless.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player That is not to denigrate the achievements of Sri Lanka for chasing down a colossal 430 and Pakistan for their successful pursuit of 242 after having been 154-9. But they did expose a few cracks in England that were not really visible during the home ODI summer as Harry Brook's team recorded bilateral series wins over India and Sri Lanka. England are not in the disarray Manchester United are.
The coach won't be sacked and the captain is unlikely to be dropped for slamming the coach's tactics. But there are things to fix. Some easy, others a little more difficult.
It is worth noting that an England side sat on three defeats from three in the tri-series - they lost their first game against Pakistan after botching a chase of 303 - is missing some key personnel. Jos Buttler (injured), Jacob Bethell (recovering from injury) and Jofra Archer (rested) are not here. Adil Rashid has not been picked for the last two matches.
Josh Tongue missed Sunday's loss. Having Rashid - whose recent omission has been somewhat of a mystery - and Archer would clearly have bolstered the bowling, while Bethell and Buttler could have acted as strong sounding boards for Brook when things started to unravel in the field. Bethell and Buttler's absences were also keenly felt with the bat as, let's be honest, that is where this weekend's game was lost.
The Lahore strip was not the Rawalpindi road on which England and Sri Lanka struck a combined 859 runs but neither was it a minefield. The fact Pakistan's No 8 (Shadab Khan) scored 113 not out and England's No 10 (Gus Atkinson) hit an unbeaten 36 shows you that. England's 241 all out was under par.
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