For Michael Carrick, it is now a question of when, not if. When the axe falls, when he reverts from being head coach of Manchester United to a season-ticket holder, presumably despairing of the next manager, when he pays the price for a calamity of a start to this season.
Responsibility stretches from the boardroom to the dressing room but as Bournemouth eviscerated United with embarrassing ease, their buoyant supporters in a corner of Old Trafford targeted Carrick. “Sacked in the morning,” came the predictable chant. Whether or not they have got the timing right, the outcome appears inevitable.
