Rewind to the early weeks of this Premier League season and it felt like Manchester United had a team of players talented enough to challenge for trophies.
When United beat Newcastle 4-1 in September it was a performance with flaws in it but they were rendered almost irrelevant because of the individual quality on show. That had tended to be the formula under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, so when his reign fell apart by the following month it felt like improvement would come about when a sharp tactician stepped in the dugout.
But the problems were deeper than anyone could have imagined back then. After another desperate day in this most despairing season, the idea that this squad is even close to competing for the title has been blown out of the water.
