Inside Man Utd's latest crisis: Lack of surety behind scenes at Old Trafford
At the start of this year, Pep Guardiola remarked, "Finally, Manchester United is coming back."
Yet after a derby undressing on Sunday afternoon was followed by another thumping by Newcastle, the only returning cycle in evidence for the Old Trafford side is the one where any shoots of promise have been replaced by the familiar feeling of it all unravelling.
Louis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will offer a knowing nod. The latter encapsulated just how rapidly the atmosphere can shift at United in one, piercing sentence when discussing Ralf Rangnick, who had succeeded him on an interim basis.
"The club he found in November 2021 was different from September 2021," Solskjaer said.
Two months and bust. Now it is Erik ten Hag's initial positive work, achieved during a turbulent debut season in charge, which is being shaded by a sharp dip - albeit not one that has transpired so quickly.
United have been regressing since February, but the real scare is the deterioration in this campaign. It is an indictment for the club that the embarrassing numbers only scratch the surface of their disarray.
United have suffered the most defeats in their opening 10 league games since 1986/87.
Only Bournemouth (12 per cent), Luton (eight per cent) and Sheffield United (four per cent) have spent less time in a winning position across those games than Ten Hag's side (13 per cent).
They have managed to create just 18 big chances.
As damning as those stats are, the data is not able to capture the off-pitch environment colouring United's on-pitch struggles.
The souring of relationships from the handling of the Mason Greenwood situation lingers. The club have exiled Jadon Sancho, a £73m asset, from the first team after failing to resolve a
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