Three wins in nine games, a daunting fixture list ahead, and a team full of players who look lost and a manager who seems out of ideas.
That is a position Manchester United fans have become all too familiar being in post-Sir Alex Ferguson, with the odd toxicity or false dawn thrown in.
Generally, that is the pattern Ineos wanted to break when they gave Erik ten Hag a contract extension in the summer.
Not many thought the cycle would begin repeating just six league games into the season, of which United have won just two, scored five, and conceded eight.
Stretching back to last season, that is genuinely bottom-half form with a flirt with even relegation, a situation unheard of at Old Trafford.
Needless to say, another repeating part of the cycle has been players downing tools just about any minute now…
Erik ten Hag’s biggest ‘win’ at Man Utd
It spelled the end for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Jose Mourinho had his turn, Louis van Gaal felt it, and David Moyes was the first to experience it.
Evan Ralf Rangnick got the full “Man Utd players don’t feel he’s the right man” treatment despite being in the job for just six months.
The rumblings were never that loud for Ten Hag, which perhaps showed in the FA Cup final to end the last season but the form right now is atrocious.
However, The Telegraph reports that the Dutchman still retains the support of the senior players in the dressing room.
They believe that he is the man to turn things around and are unhappy at their own form which has contributed to the downturn in results.
There are unhappy players in the dressing room, but that discontent stems out of frustration at not being able to do better, instead of it being directed at the manager.
That is a departure from what every other previous United manager has overseen which leads some credence to the fact that maybe Ten Hag is doing something right behind the scenes to earn this long a leash.
What it means in the long run
Before taking this endorsement at face value, it is worth noting that after overseeing spending of nearly £600 million since taking charge, most of the players in the team right now are his.
Even those who were here before him, like Luke Shaw, Harry Maguire, or Bruno Fernandes, are bonafide favourites, with Shaw and Fernandes, in particular, undisputed starters when fit.
Therefore, it makes sense that the players will be behind him when the majority of them were signed by him and he has generally been loyal to them.
Losing the backing of the dressing room is the quickest way to getting the sack which is why Mourinho and Solskjaer were gone even when their points/game leading up to the sack was better than Ten Hag’s is at the moment of writing.
However, it still won’t mean much in the long run because results speak for themselves and backing the manager but dropping below-par performances can’t be allowed to continue.
It is ironic that the one time players refuse to down the tools, it is for a manager under whom the structure genuinely looks suspect more than the players underperforming.
The clock is ticking.
Receive a digest of our best United content each week direct to your mailbox
