To lose one game 9-0 is a misfortune, to lose two games 9-0 is careless.
Ralph Hasenhüttl’s reputation is back on the line, make no mistake.
Understandably, the instinct is to recall how the drubbing by Leicester at St Mary’s towards the end of October, 2019, somehow acted as a long-term positive.
They actually lost their next three matches following the Leicester game but did enjoy a notable resurgence after that.
But in the immediate aftermath of Tuesday’s abject capitulation at Old Trafford, things felt even grimmer than they did 16 months ago.
Yes, Hasenhüttl had already been forced to field a severely weakened team. Yes, the recklessness of Alex Jankewitz was a crushing setback so soon into the contest.
But for those of us inside Old Trafford, the sound of Southampton silence was the sound of surrender.
As soon as Aaron Wan-Bissaka had started the United ball rolling, there were has hardly a vocal presence in Saints ranks.
A team depleted in quality and quantity was up against a full complement of very decent Manchester United players but the acceptance of inevitable defeat jarred.
As did Hasenhüttl pretty much hanging 19-year-old Jankewitz out to dry. Presumably, the counselling starts now because the Southampton manager was not sparing the teenager’s feelings in the rawness of immediate post-match interviews.
But even after a little time to consider the wider ramifications, Hasenhüttl still said: “Everything that happened today was based on a mistake from the very beginning from a young player. It’s something that we have to live with.”
And something the promising Jankewitz is going to have to live with, by the sound of it, which is unfair, because everything that happened against United was not just down to his mistake.
Hasenhüttl and his ten-man team simply could not organise themselves even half-properly. Even against a good United and even allowing for the late dismissal of Jan Bednarek when the score was 6-0, it was a defensive humiliation.
The manager must have felt it, hence his reluctance to sound any rallying calls.
Perhaps that was because Hasenhüttl knows there is the chance the problems are more deep-rooted.
Southampton asking for Mike Dean and Lee Mason not to referee future games is, quite frankly, an embarrassment.
Officials are not to blame for another amateurish, landslide loss. Nor are they to blame for a run of nine Premier League games that has produced five defeats, three draws, one win and three goals scored.
The win and one of those goals was against Liverpool a month ago, prompting Hasenhüttl to collapse to the floor, in tears.
Now, he needs to pick himself, young Jankewitz and the entire squad off the deck.
And this time around, it is going to be even harder.
Regardless of the reaction to the last post-nine-goal calamity, Hasenhüttl is a manager under serious pressure.
After Tuesday night, so he should be.
