Football's wheel of fortune spins quickly. Rewind six or seven weeks and Manchester United had the genuine look of title contenders, with everything coming together for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
Now they're deep in turmoil, with that silverware challenge already dead, rivals outclassing them and Solskjaer fighting to save his job.
Paul Pogba has been United's collapse in microcosm. When the French midfielder contributed seven assists in United's first four games of the season, we wondered if he'd finally hit peak form.
Paul Pogba suffered a thigh muscle injury during a training session with France on Monday
Pogba told fans he is set for a scan in the coming days after injuring his right thigh, and he is on crutches (right) as he awaits further news on the issue
Since then, he's looked as lost and forlorn as everybody else in the team, allowing frustrations to consume him with that horrible two-footed lunge on Naby Keita to see red in Liverpool's 5-0 win at Old Trafford.
That afternoon was a modern-day nadir for United - the team, manager and Pogba himself - and with his contract set to expire next summer, some suggested we'd never see him play for the club again.
We certainly won't see Pogba until the new year - a thigh muscle injury sustained while attempting a shot in training at France's Clairefontaine training base on Monday will see him sidelined for between six and eight weeks.
Pogba would have been suspended for United next game away to Watford anyway but now he'll also likely miss Premier League matches against Chelsea, Arsenal, Crystal Palace, Norwich, Brentford, Brighton, Newcastle and Burnley plus two crunch Champions League fixtures with Villarreal and Young Boys.
But how much of a setback this actually is for Solskjaer and United is open to debate. Pogba's absence could actually temporarily solve a few issues when it comes to picking the midfield.
It caps a torrid few weeks for the midfielder, who was sent off in the 5-0 defeat by Liverpool
He was then taken off by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer after a shocking display against Atalanta
The long-standing question of where to play Pogba - in central midfield or further forward on the left - is one headache the manager won't have to deal with.
It could finally open the door for Donny van de Beek, United's forgotten £40million signing, to show us what he is capable of having been so starved of game time.
And if Solskjaer wants to persist with a 3-5-2 set-up, he doesn't have to figure out how to accommodate Pogba when he really requires two holding players in Fred and Scott McTominay.
The reality is United have learned to cope without Pogba in recent years.
It is incredibly hard to argue that he would have made the slightest bit of different in narrowing the enormous gulf in class to Manchester City had he been available for Saturday's derby.
Pogba started the season in electric form, setting up four goals in the 5-1 win over Leeds
