If anything summed up the confusing nature of this madcap football club, it was the two contrasting statistics which emerged in recent weeks. After losing to Newcastle United in the Carabao Cup – their eighth defeat in 15 games – this officially became Manchester United’s worst start to a season since the 1960s.

Only three days later, Bruno Fernandes firing home in stoppage time at Fulham, Erik Ten Hag found himself celebrating a place in United’s history for all the right reasons. The joint-quickest manager ever to reach 50 wins in charge of the Red Devils, doing so in just 79 matches.

When you take the entirety of the Ten Hag era into account, and consider the litany of issues he has had to deal with in recent months, it becomes increasingly difficult to disagree with Neeskens’ assessment, injuries, misfortune, countless VAR catastrophes, the Mason Greenwood situation and the spectre of the Glazers hanging over his head and making an already challenging job even more difficult.