We're not even at the end of September and already Ten Hag has been through the cycles of a United manager this term. Two successive defeats had him staring down the barrel. Two convincing victories in a row had him back on track. Now two successive draws leave him back to square one.
It's worth asking the question: is there any point to this any more?
Every performance, every result, every run of form is being framed around the future of a manager who came as close as possible to being sacked this summer, without actually being sacked.
But while Ten Hag might have survived Ineos' end-of-season review, the slapdash nature of a public search for a replacement before backtracking and keeping faith with the man you had lost faith in fatally undermined him.
He has been a dead man walking ever since and at some point Ineos will almost certainly need to hold their hands up, admit their mistakes and move on.
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