Ryan Giggs claimed last week that Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba should be cut a little slack, arguing that while the world's most expensive player was struggling to justify his €105 million transfer fee, he had not been "really, really bad".
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Unfortunately, the Welshman's timing could not have been much worse, as Pogba's numbers in Monday's FA Cup quarter-final loss at Chelsea were abysmal, prompting further criticism of the floundering Frenchman.
Indeed, while the game was conditioned by Ander Herrera's foolish first-half dismissal, giving Pogba little opportunity to show what he can do from an offensive perspective, he was also dire defensively.
The former Juventus ace made just two tackles during the game - Marouane Fellaini made one more, even though he was only on the field for 53 minutes - and only managed to win a dismal 27.3 percent of the 22 duels he was involved in.
Furthermore, Pogba was a liability in possession, giving the ball away a shocking 21 times, making him the most wasteful player on the pitch.
The 23-year-old was only able to complete just under three of every four passes he made (74.1%), in stark contrast to the other three central midfielders to start the game, Herrera (83.3%), N'Golo Kante (89.8%) and Nemanja Matic (90.3%).
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Chelsea boss Antonio Conte, who had got the very best out of Pogba during their time together in Turin, insisted beforehand that his former charge should not be compared to compatriot Kante, because "they are two different players with different characteristics".
However, Kante offered the Blues the kind of all-round brilliance that United thought they would be getting from Pogba, with the former Leicester man capping a fantastic display with the only goal of the game.
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The 25-year-old Parisian won a whopping 78.6% of his duels, as well as making four tackles and four clearances. The contrast with Pogba was stark.
Of course, the four-time Scudetto winner could claim that there were mitigating circumstances, given he was left with a thankless task following his Spanish team-mate's dismissal for two wholly avoidable bookings inside the opening 35 minutes.
However, his statistics at Stamford Bridge only strengthened the view of Frank Lampard, who claimed ahead of the Cup quarter-final that the France international is not "a game-changer". Not yet, at least.