Looking back now it is tempting to see Manchester United's humblings at the hands of Brentford and Manchester City as staging posts in the evolution of Erik ten Hag's team.
The 4-0 loss in the summer heat at the Gtech Community Stadium led to Harry Maguire and Cristiano Ronaldo being dropped and the 6-3 reverse at the Etihad saw Casemiro promoted into the starting XI.
So the question now is which development in this team follows the darkest of days this season, the 7-0 thrashing by Liverpool at Anfield.
On the face of it, Ten Hag's options are limited now. A run of one defeat in 22 games and a first trophy in six years had appeared to signal the project had now gathered pace, but the shambolic nature of Sunday's defeat has highlighted how much further there is to travel. READ MORE: Ten Hag can't make changes he needs after Liverpool thrashing Some of that change can only be engineered in the summer when the transfer market opens.