Manchester United will sit outside of the Champions League places come Christmas Day, slipping to fifth after a frustrating 2-1 defeat at home to Norwich City on Saturday.
With the loss adding further pressure on the opinion splitting Louis van Gaal, one must wonder how much time the Dutchman has left on his side, especially with both Jose Mourinho and Carlo Ancelotti available for hire.
It did look for a while like United were going to claim at least a point, with Anthony Martial's second half goal bringing them back into the game, but earlier strikes from Cameron Jerome and Alexander Tettey had done the damage, with Norwich racing into a shock 2-0 lead.
Red Devils had no goals to show from early dominance
Van Gaal made four changes to the United side who were beaten by AFC Bournemouth last week, with the biggest change seeing captain Wayne Rooney recalled to the starting 11, making his 500th appearance for the club in the process.
The changes seemed to have taken some effect, with the hosts getting off to the better start, actually having the ball in the net just past the 10 minute mark. It was Rooney who scored it, but the flag was up for offside against Marouane Fellaini, who had strayed into an offside position before receiving the ball to set up his teammate.
Memphis Depay was looking lively, nutmegging Russell Martin before swinging a cross into the box, only to see the ball worked back out to him on the edge, only for the winger to strike over the bar.
Norwich strike either side of half time
However, for all United's dominance in possession, they struggled to break down a deep-lying Norwich defence, and it was the visitors who grabbed the first goal of the game, with 38 minutes gone.
Nathan Redmond ran at Phil Jones on the counter-attack, edging the ball to Cameron Jerome, who did the rest single-handedly. Riding a challenge from Michael Carrick, he didn't let give Chris Smalling a chance to get a foot in, before stuffing the ball past David De Gea.
Things got worse for the Red Devils upon the resumption of play in the second 45, as Alex Neil's side doubled their lead less than 10 minutes after the restart.
Turning creator this time around, Jerome took advantage of Norwich winning possession high up the pitch, slotting in Tettey who made no mistake in charging away and toe-poking the ball into the corner of the net.
Martial gives United late hope
Plan A wasn't working, and Van Gaal changed things up soon after that second goal, with Ander Herrera replacing Fellaini. If Norwich going ahead hadn't livened the home side up, the Canaries doubling their lead did, as United's players quickly set about trying to resurrect what was quickly becoming a nightmare day.
It looked like they were going to, as Martial pulled one back. Ashley Young's ball into the box fell to the feet of the Frenchman, who celebrated being crowned as the winner of this year's Golden Boy award by ramming an effort into the top left hand corner.
No late equaliser to be found
You'd have thought that Martial's goal would have been the catalyst for United to go on and level up proceedings, but determined defending from Norwich ensured that it wasn't to be the case. Depay had one of the better opportunities, his toe inches away from connecting to Young's low ball.
Declan Rudd needed to be alive to keep out Juan Mata's free-kick late on, something to be expected, unlike De Gea having to make another save to prevent Norwich getting their third. Substitute Dieumerci Mbokani broke clear on the counter, eventually playing the ball across to Mulumbu, who saw his curled effort palmed away by United's Spanish number one.
With Chris Smalling shifted up front as the game entered the dying minutes, United were desperate for an equaliser, and resorted to some route one stuff in their attempts to get it. The centre-back did get something of a chance to make it 2-2 at the last, but headed wide from Mata's ball in.