Friday 4 October 2019 12:58, UK
As the Autumn rain comes down - it never rains but it pours for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Manchester United right now.
No away win in 10 games, stretching back 212 days to that famous night against Paris Saint-Germain, the fact they had no shots on target against AZ Alkmaar, and it's seven goals in nine games.
When you trot out those statistics, you realise the manager and the players are in pretty choppy waters.
You have to say it was another difficult night against AZ Alkmaar, who were confident of getting a result and maybe disappointed not to have got a win.
I do sympathise with Solskjaer's assertions that United should have had a penalty when Marcus Rashford was brought down late on. But then there's a pretty strong argument that Alkmaar could have had a penalty themselves if VAR had been in operation.
What was really telling is a few AZ Alkmaar supporters said they couldn't believe it was the mighty Manchester United, and were disappointed their team didn't make them pay on one of the worst pitches United have played on.
You look to the fact there were no shots on target; no cutting edge - there was no cutting edge against Arsenal on Monday Night Football either - and you start to think the problems are piling up and perhaps you can't see a way out at the moment.
They've got four points, they've got a draw away from home, and there were plenty of performances like that in Europe under Sir Alex Ferguson - but those were in the Champions League. What we also had were Premier League performances going alongside those, so they were mitigated.
All eyes go to Newcastle on Sunday. Solskjaer has to lift them again. He doesn't want it going 11 games without an away win, stretching to 216 or 217 days. But that's what we're looking at, at the moment.
These are troubling times.
'Injuries mounting'
There were other injuries last night too. Solskjaer has not had a lot of luck on the injury front.
This time it is to Jesse Lingard and the other worry is that Victor Lindelof limped off with a bad back. I think the game took its toll on a few of them.
Solskjaer said afterwards that he doesn't think Lingard's injury is too bad but that he probably will not be fit for Newcastle on Super Sunday.
That means a growing treatment room that includes Paul Pogba, Anthony Martial, Luke Shaw, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Phil Jones, Eric Bailly and Timothy Fosu-Mensah.
'Solskjaer still has fans' support'
I don't think the fans wanted to hear that Solskjaer was very pleased. I could see the point he was trying to make; he did change things around, there was plenty of huff, puff and twirl on that pitch - but there was also that against Arsenal.
It was interesting watching the crowd. I think a lot of Manchester United fans would have gone into last night wondering 'where is this going?'
They started very supportive, just as you'd expect the hardcore that make these regular trips abroad to do. But that then faded into nothing and they started trotting out songs about legends.
Solskjaer got a couple of songs - I think more songs than anyone else did - and then he was good enough to come over to the fans and they gave him quite the ovation.
So there is still the support there for him.
'Brandon Williams debut'
The only bright spark was maybe Brandon Williams's debut at left-back. He looks like he has potential.
At only 19 he looked assured, especially as it was on a plastic pitch in a European game. He looks to have pace and a good positional sense and didn't look out of place or unruffled by the fact he was playing alongside Marcus Rojo.
He also contributed well to some of the attacking build-up and was one of the players attempting to get United on the front foot.
He was probably my man of the match last night and recovered well after the ball was blasted into his face with 17 minutes left.
Newcastle vs Man Utd is live on Super Sunday from 4pm; Kick-off is at 4.30pm.
Sky Sports customers can watch in-game clips in the live match blog on the Sky Sports website and app.
Highlights will also be published on the Sky Sports digital platforms and the Sky Sports Football YouTube channel shortly after the final whistle.
