COMMENT: In the end there was laughter. Smiles. And three points. But the significance of Erik ten Hag's actions shouldn't be lost after Manchester United's victory at Molineux.
Post-match, Marcus Rashford was sheepish. Awkward. He was the matchwinner. But conceded team rules had been broken. United's top scorer forcing his manager to drop him to the bench for poor timekeeping.
As we say, in the aftermath, Rashford's response for his benching was awkward. A look to the sky. A shy chuckle. And an admission that he'd missed a team meeting after sleeping in. But as a matchwinner, he could grin. As victors, it could all be forgotten and everyone could move on... at least this time.
But what if 1-0 at Wolves hadn't been the result? What if Ruben Neves had beaten David de Gea with that free-kick? Indeed, what if United had actually been beaten? Luke Shaw found the right words at the final whistle. It was a "silly" error from Rashford. An error which players, for too long, had been allowed to get away with in the past. And with that lenience towards off field discipline, it inevitably would find it's way onto the pitch.
"At a top club like this it has to be like that, there has to be discipline," said Shaw, who again impressed at centre-half, just as he had at times under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. "The manager takes all of that into consideration.
"People have got away with silly things before. Like you've seen today, if you don't do the little things right then you won't play."
One rule for all. It's something United have long missed. Guido Albers, Donny van de Beek's former agent, leveled such accusations at Solskjaer earlier this season. But Ten Hag is a different manager, with a different approach. And everyone knows where they stand. Even if you're the form player. The player who the coaching staff has built their match preparation around. If you break team rules, you're out.
"The main thing for us, with the difficult moments of changing coaches, was that we now found a coach who gave us stability and a lot of discipline, which we lacked," said Bruno Fernandes after victory over Nottingham Forest on Tuesday.
"Now everyone knows what they have to do and realised that if they don't do it, they're out."
Which is why Rashford's slip needs to be taken seriously. Don't dwell on it. Don't exaggerate it. But acknowledge it. Acknowledge the weight of the predicament he had left his manager in when sleeping through his alarm. He let Ten Hag down. He left him with no choice but to drop him. For an away match. The first at home for a new manager. In the Black Country. Where the last visit of United was defeat at Aston Villa - on Unai Emery's home debut. The last thing Ten Hag needed was seeing his preparation marred by a senior player.
By his actions. With the new culture his manager is trying to drive through. Rashford undermined all that. Not deliberately. But stupidly. A "silly thing", as Shaw stated. But he did it. And with United so thin on the ground in terms strikers, Rashford put Saturday's result in serious jeopardy.
However for all that, Rashford does deserve credit for his response. Forty-five minutes in the away dugout at Molineux was enough punishment for Ten Hag. Rashford entering the fray for the second-half and finding the winner. A goal which was celebrated no more vociferously than by his manager on the touchline. A point to prove? Some making up to do? Only Rashford can tell us what was going through his mind at that moment. The manner in which fought to hold onto possession. Muscling his way between Wolves defenders before thumping a drive past and through Jose Sa in the opposition goal. There was a real determination. A ruthlessness. A show of aggression we rarely see from Rashford in those type of positions.
And in that flash interview, after the stick from Shaw, came the carrot: "He is in a really good way at the moment, extremely confident, very positive, he is world class and he can be one of the best players in the world if he keeps going."
No wonder Ten Hag celebrated as he did. It couldn't have worked out better for the manager. The player disciplined for a team breach eventually proving the matchwinner. There'd be no extra scrutiny for Rashford. There'd be no second guessing Ten Hag's call by pundits. And most importantly, there'd be no sideways glances from teammates after being let down by one of their own.
But for this column, it was a narrow escape. Fortune favoured Ten Hag on Saturday. But he should never have been forced into having to make such a decision in the first place. When news of Rashford's axing first started bubbling, sources inside the club refused to detail the incident involved, though described it as "minor" and likened it to Alejandro Garnacho's issues in preseason.
And that's just it, Rashford isn't Garnacho. He's not an 18 year-old trying to find his way. He's a senior player who is expected to set an example. Indeed, his manager needs him to embrace the responsibility of that role.
In the end, Molineux on Saturday ended in laughter and a sheepish grin. But Marcus Rashford should heed the lesson and not place his manager in such a position again.
