It may be too early to declare it an official crisis, but the warning signs are there once again. For Manchester United fans, a wearily familiar feeling is starting to envelop them: the suspicion that the team is not simply enduring a bad patch but spiralling into the beginnings of another doom loop.
The script pretty much writes itself these days. A flicker of optimism and hope of a fresh start giving way to the same old frustrations, complaints and inquests, the cumulative toll of which places an ever greater strain on a club mired in mediocrity but with little reprieve from the expectations that come with bearing such an illustrious name.
Michael Carrick had a taste of what autumns and winters of discontent look like at Old Trafford as an assistant to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
But the grey, shell-shocked expression on his face in the wake of Wednesday’s 3-2 Carabao Cup defeat by Brighton again suggested that nothing can adequately prepare a manager for the tumble-dryer effect of United seemingly heading into a tailspin.
Their season will not even be a month old when they pitch up at Craven Cottage on Sunday and yet that game against Fulham already has the look of a must-win for Carrick.
Lose for a fourth time in seven matches and what is already an extra-long international break will doubtless feel like an eternity before United face a very tricky looking run of six games in 21 days in October.
Trips to Atlético Madrid, an upwardly mobile Leeds, their bitter rivals, and Stamford Bridge, where they do not have a good record, as well as Cesc Fabregas’ Champions League newbies Como? Not easy.
United have not beaten Bournemouth for 3½ years and have conceded 10 goals to them in their last three visits to Old Trafford. Tottenham at home in the first game after the international break might be the easiest of the lot.
Old Trafford faithful up in arms
It will not help Carrick’s cause either that what historically has been one of the most patient and supportive match-going fan bases in the country is so fed up.
They feel unwanted, unloved and unheard by an ownership they cannot stand and are habitually protesting against.
And when loyal supporters start to feel like mere cogs in a corporate wheel, prized only for their pennies and pounds, they are more inclined to vent their anger.
The sustained boos that greeted the final whistle against Brighton, after United threw away a 2-0 lead at Old Trafford for the first time in 50 years, should alarm the hierarchy and the mood was further encapsulated after the game in the way Diogo Dalot was targeted.
The jeers and abuse directed at the United right-back from some supporters as he left the ground in the company of his wife, Claudia, would once have been unthinkable.
That is a very difficult environment for any player, let alone one perennially facing questions about whether he is good enough to represent the club.
Whether subconsciously or otherwise, it discourages risk and creativity. The last thing Carrick needs is a bunch of cautious players looking over their shoulders all the time.
The never-ending revamp
It is less than three weeks since the summer transfer window closed and United concluded – for want of a better word – the second phase of a three-tiered rebuild of the squad.
But you look at the substitutes’ bench against Manchester City last Sunday – and the first XI and squad more generally – and think the club could still need another three summers to fix all the issues.
Fans could reasonably have made that argument after most windows over the past 13 years, hence this feeling of perpetual rebuilding.
Carrick has not yet had the benefit of being able to call on his £65m midfield summer signing Carlos Baleba, who is still working his way back from injury. But the idea that a raw 22-year-old with a lot of promise but much to improve is going to provide all the answers is as unfair as it is unrealistic.
Under the latest transfer strategy, United settled on remodelling the attack last year and the midfield this summer, with the defensive overhaul put on hold for another 12 months, despite clear signs they were weak and vulnerable in the full-back and centre-half positions.
Still structurally-vulnerable at the back
Such block-by-block construction from front to back has obvious flaws and if the foundations of the team are not sound then the whole edifice is compromised.
Equally, if United are going to operate with forwards who like to cut inside or play narrow then they are going to need full-backs who can overlap and provide quality delivery from out wide.
The closest they have to that is Luke Shaw but he is 31, injury-prone, not nearly as quick as he was and cannot be relied upon to play every week, let alone every three days. He was missing against City and Brighton.
United cannot say they did not see this problem coming. It was plainly obvious to anyone who follows the club and was trailed all summer.
There is of course time for Carrick to rectify things yet, but supporters could be forgiven for that sinking feeling of déjà vu.