Erik ten Hag is remaining dignified in defeat. He entered the hushed press conference room at the Community Stadium and addressed the assembly with a "good evening".
There was nothing good about Ten Hag's evening. Long-time United supporters likened the debacle at Brentford to Frank O'Farrell's last sorry stand - a 5-0 humiliation at Crystal Palace in 1972. Before full-time, Sir Matt Busby had approached the Scotland manager Tommy Docherty in the directors' lounge about succeeding O'Farrell. Docherty did.
United have shipped at least four goals in seven of their last 33 Premier League fixtures and their next opponents, Liverpool, inflicted an aggregate evisceration of 9-0 last season.