Mark, I will be totally honest with you and say that I was pondering the very same question just as Evanilson curled in the third goal on Sunday.

In the Premier League, if you do not do better than a point a game, you are officially in a relegation fight. United currently have seven points from eight games. It is of course early days but as you correctly note, even on good form, the run of games coming up would not be comfortable.

Away at Chelsea is tough, even if they wobbled at the weekend without Joao Pedro. Chelsea are also not encumbered by European football so could be fresher. After that it's Aston Villa, who, having beaten Man City, clearly have their mojo back after a difficult start. Liverpool at Anfield is the last thing United need while struggling to get any spirit together in the group. You do not win at Anfield unless you have a spirited performance and a team willing to fight from start to finish as a unit.

On top of this, they have Roma and Sporting Lisbon to face, and considering the lashing they got from Como, those aren't going to be straightforward and will drain them whatever happens.

So could they drop into the bottom three? The answer is yes they could, they are only a point above the zone just now. Once you are down there, it can be extraordinarily hard to dig yourself out, especially if fear grows and confidence withers.

Will it happen? Will they be in and around the bottom three next April and May? I suspect not, but unless they fix the ethos within the entire club structure, unless they remember how to run and fight for every point, unless they make the right decision regarding the manager, then it is not beyond the bounds of possibility.

Everyone else around them will be fighting tooth and claw and sometimes that is enough to save you.

There is a phrase within business – responsibility without control or authority leads to failure. That is what too many football managers have to live with now. Meanwhile, control without immediate responsibility and consequences sits in the comfy boardroom seats above them.

The first seeds of a changing landscape were sown when West Ham fans saw through this nonsense for what it was and turned on their sporting director.

Five years in, irate Chelsea fans have adapted their club's philosophy in a similar way, so Xabi Alonso gets more control than the previous coaches, for the moment anyway.

I am saddened for Michael Carrick today but there is a large part of me that also thinks 'you are probably better away from there mate'. Fine coaches have been made to look ridiculous under their methodology.

Maybe they will finally give the next coach a decent level of control, especially regarding signings, and also some time to build.

Somehow, I doubt it though. People with power tend to grimly hold on to it.