The Damned United are back! Pitiful Fulham defeat shows Red Devils' revival was built on sand - Sir Jim Ratcliffe will have to settle for the Europa League at best

United suffered their first setback at the start of the week with the announcement Luke Shaw would be out for a number of months with a hamstring injury. More bad news followed on Friday, as it was revealed Rasmus Hojlund would be out for around three weeks.

Those twin blows completed a miserable month for injuries which had begun with Lisandro Martinez hurting his knee against West Ham, ruling the Argentine defender out for another two months after he had just returned from a four-month lay-off following foot surgery.

The day before facing Fulham, Ten Hag tried to play down the significance of the injury to Hojlund, who he had insisted was not 'the main man'.

"In our last games, the frontline is an absolute threat, they score so is it Rasmus Højlund only? No, it’s [Alejandro] Garnacho, also [Marcus] Rashford, Scott McTominay. Bruno [Fernandes] can score," the Dutchman said. "What gives me the confidence is that in autumn the frontline wasn’t scoring, they were not even a threat. At this moment they are in very good form and a threat continually."

But soon after kick-off against Fulham, it became clear that Hojlund, who had scored in his last six Premier League outings, had been the real difference between United's form before and after the New Year. The £72 million ($91m) striker had answered his critics by spectacularly ending his goal drought, but his hold-up play was just as crucial to United's improved form. And without the Danish hitman as a focal point, they were woeful in attack.

United failed to trouble their opponents for most of the first half and much of the second period too, until their frantic end to the match, in which Harry Maguire equalised and McTominay and Fernandes spurned chances to get a winner, before Iwobi took his third opportunity of the match and condemned United to a first defeat since the end of December.

Just as at the start of the campaign, when Hojlund had an injured back and Anthony Martial was not fit, Rashford was back playing at centre-forward, a position he has admitted he does not relish taking up. It did not look as if his attitude towards leading the line has changed, either. He was unwilling to press, meaning it fell to full debutant Omari Forson to try and chase down Fulham's defence and goalkeeper Bernd Leno.

Forson, a surprise inclusion in the starting line-up over Antony, did not look ready for this level and was put out of his misery after 53 minutes. The fact that the 19-year-old was given the nod despite having just four minutes of first-team football under his belt was a damning indictment of how little faith Ten Hag has in Antony right now.

The manager encouraged the club to pay £85m ($107m) for the Brazilian winger in 2022, but the day before this game, he admitted his former Ajax charge was not "showing his potential". Bizarrely, he decided to bring him on in the 98th minute.

Antony has one goal and no assists this season and continues to look like one of the worst signings in Premier League history. But Ten Hag might have to start calling on him again, such is the paucity of options he has up front.

Shaw was an equally huge loss, as Victor Lindelof is not a left-back and never will be. The Swede did not know how to contain Timothy Castagne or Harry Wilson, and he was scarcely seen in Fulham's half, offering none of the support in attack which Shaw provides so readily.

And while United should at least get Hojlund back by the time they host Everton, they might have to keep playing Lindelof at left-back for the remainder of the season due to the severity of Shaw's injury.

"We don't have a left full-back," Ten Hag glumly admitted after the game. It was the only point he was telling the truth on after insisting, with an admirably straight face, that his side had shown "great character" and had deserved to win the match.

But Ten Hag and current sporting director John Murtough must shoulder a lot of the blame for this situation after they decided to cancel Sergio Reguilon's loan spell at the start of January, before Tyrell Malacia had returned to full training.

The Dutch left-back has been out of action since injuring his knee last June and has faced several setbacks in his recovery. Reguilon certainly has his flaws, but unlike Lindelof, he is at least a left-back and provided a semblance of a threat in attack.

Ten Hag has never tired of blaming United's miserable season on their injury problems, and when results started to improve he was happy to cite the return of key players such as Martinez, Casemiro and Hojlund as the reason for the revival.

But the Fulham result demonstrated that the revival was built on sand, and now United look back to square one, lacking the resources to mount a top-four challenge.

"It is the truth. They [injuries] come, we don’t have a left full-back, then the drop out of Casemiro, a big drop out, Licha Martinez. We have to get the injuries back, then we will be more in balance," Ten Hag said.

But United are far from alone in having an injury crisis. Liverpool have had just as many absences to key players yet they are top the Premier League table. Manchester City missed Kevin De Bruyne for five months and Erling Haaland for two, yet managed to keep on winning regardless. Tottenham's injury list has been even longer than United's and they also had to make do without talisman Son Heung-min while he was at the Asian Cup.

United are unique, however, in falling apart when just a few of their core players are unavailable. When Ten Hag has a full squad at his disposal, United are just about capable of making a top-four challenge and going deep in domestic cup competitions.

But injuries are a reality of top-level football and inevitable over a long, punishing season, and United seem at a loss to cope with them. Their vulnerability to injuries could cost them their place in next season's expanded Champions League, which Ratcliffe has acknowledged is crucial to them meeting their Financial Fair Play obligations.

The defeat by Fulham has opened up a chasm of eight points between United, who are currently sixth, and Aston Villa in fourth. Tottenham, sitting in the fifth spot which might also prove enough to qualify for the Champions League, are three points ahead of United and could be six points better off if they win their game in hand.

Ratcliffe wants United to be a word-class institution again and that means being in the Champions League, but in the short-term, he and his INEOS crew would be better off making peace with the fact they will not be listening to that mythical music at Old Trafford next season.

Instead they should get acquainted with the Europa League anthem, as that is United's level at the moment. And if they want to have loftier ambitions, they will need to construct a more durable squad, one that does not fall to pieces after one strained hamstring or twisted ankle.