Another day, another embarrassment for Manchester United. The London Stadium was the site of their latest setback, falling to 2-0 defeat at the hands of West Ham.
United never really looked like scoring, and their attack was all but non-existent by the end of the game. In fact, they would be forced to use Jesse Lingard as the lone striker for the final 30 minutes after Marcus Rashford was withdrawn due to injury.
If you wanted something to signify what a mess Manchester United have become, this is it. Jesse Lingard as your striker as you are chasing a vital goal.
While injuries can happen to any club, rarely has there been a top team so incapable of dealing with those setbacks. Marcus Rashford was forced off, with Anthony Martial missing his fourth game on the spin.
This didn't help, but the reality of the situation is that only one of those players lines out as a striker, while the other operates out wide when both are in the team.
Who is United's backup striker? A 17-year old. When a club that has spent the second most amount of money in world football this decade is depending on a youth player to play significant minutes, you know something has gone wrong.
Giving opportunities to youngsters is admirable, but to count on such players in this manner is bordering on negligent.
How did they get to this point? Their transfer policy in the post Ferguson era has been baffling at times. They have continually ignored glaring needs in the team in favour of chasing big name players, rarely with any real success.
Those who did come in have often been done so at way over the odds, be it in terms of transfer fee of wages. The likes of Angel Di Maria, Alexis Sanchez, and Bastian Schweinsteiger (to name only a few) have all been costly flops.
This past summer saw seemed to be a big shift in this policy. An emphasis was put on young British talent, although this certainly did not come cheap. £130million was spent on two defenders, but they have not really looked improved at the back so far in this campaign.
It was said opportunities would be given to products of the club's youth academy, a noble prospect when carried out in the correct manner. But Mason Greenwood, Angel Gomes and Tahith Chong are not being put into a position to succeed.
Far from the opprtunity that the famous 'class of 92' were given, this group find themselves dropped into a team is disarray. There is no Roy Keane, Eric Cantona or Mark Hughes in this team. Instead there are a group of players who are more well known for their achievements on Instagram than anything they've done on the pitch.
So this is the result, finishing an important Premier League game with your lone striker being a midfielder who has registered four goals and two assists in all competitions since the start of last season.
£900million spent and nothing to show for it.
Where do they go from here? It is clear the team needs a massive overhaul, but they have already proven that they are completely incompetent in terms of player recruitment. Does anyone really believe they will solve their issues by throwing even more money at them?
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer may not be the problem at the club, but it doesn't seem like he is the solution either. He has not shown any sense of tactical knowledge, man management or acumen in the transfer market. He should probably be given time to turn things around, but it is far from certain that he will.
The problems at the club run much deeper. While this summer was met with some sense of optimism from the club's supporters, things only seem to have gotten worse.
If Jesse Lingard playing up front doesn't prove that fact, we're not sure what will.
