If there was any semblance of hope still left in Ole Gunnar Solskjaer after Manchester United's thrashing at the hands of Liverpool in October then it was extinguished two weeks later.
That was when Manchester City turned up at Old Trafford and did a similar number on Solskjaer's team. The scoreline might not have been as X-rated but this was a one-sided and comfortable a 2-0 away win as you're ever likely to see.
Somehow, Solskjaer was allowed to stumble on for another two weeks and through the November international break before being sacked after the horror show at Watford, but whatever had happened at Vicarage Road the writing was on the wall for the Norwegian.
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United were humiliated in successive home games by their biggest rivals and there's no coming back from that. Now, four months later, they head across town under Ralf Rangnick, although labelling this as a revenge mission is pretty unrealistic. United might have improved under the German but they are nowhere near the equals of City, although getting a result in 90 minutes isn't beyond them.
It will be interesting to see how United have improved when they take to the field at the Etihad on Sunday, although the fear is they will be as outclassed this weekend as they were back in November.
The post-mortems of those devastating autumn defeats could have landed at any number of conclusions, but it was hard to escape the idea that the midfield was the primary cause of the maulings. In the Old Trafford derby, City made 852 passes, more than double the number of United.
Competing with the Blues' midfield on an equal footing can be beyond most teams in Europe but this was grievous, to the point Donny van de Beek was serenaded by the Stretford End.
With a quiet January transfer window passing United by, it feels like not a lot has changed. Maybe Van de Beek remains the symbol of a dysfunctional midfield, passed over by Solskjaer and Ralf Rangnick now but doing a reasonable job at Everton, where he is certainly proving the conclusion of successive United managers and their staff that he is ill-equipped to the Premier League to be nonsense.
Van de Beek played 70 minutes against City for Everton at the weekend and produced a combative, battling display. If United can cause them as many headaches as Everton did for most of that game they'll probably be happy.
With Van de Beek gone the personnel in midfield has been unchanged. There was a shift to a 4-3-3 but that has been scaled back a little recently as well and it would be absolutely no surprise if United line up at the Etihad in the 4-2-3-1 favoured by Solskjaer throughout his reign. If Scott McTominay is fit he could partner Fred in midfield, with Bruno Fernandes ahead of them. Vive la révolution this is not.
Paul Pogba has excelled for United recently but Rangnick is unlikely to be as bold as playing the Frenchman and Fernandes in the same midfield. If Pogba is to play it could be on the wing. Sound familiar?
Rangnick could yet have a surprise for us all on Sunday, but it does feel like United will go into this game with could be an identical system and identical players to the worst of days under Solskjaer, so don't be surprised if that midfield is bypassed comfortably once again.
It could be another afternoon when the need for reinforcements in midfield are laid bare. The lack of goals and Cristiano Ronaldo's struggles have exposed some issues in attack this season, but it's midfield that has to be the top priority this summer and Sunday could be another example why.
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