For the Manchester United fans streaming out of Old Trafford on Saturday evening there was just one question: "What on earth has happened to this team?".
A team which finally looked to have clicked into gear at the end of March with blistering performances against Tottenham, Liverpool and Aston Villa, followed up by an enthralling victory against Manchester City, now looks to be back at, if not square one, then at least the low points of January and February which had disgruntled fans chanting "attack attack attack!".
Louis van Gaal had seemed to stumble across a winning formula; a 4-3-3 formation with Maraoune Fellaini as a target-man No.10, Wayne Rooney up front, Juan Mata causing discreet havoc on the right and Ashley Young doing it more overtly on the left. Ander Herrera was precise in the heart of the midfield as Michael Carrick sat deep, conducted the orchestra. Carrick has been out these last three matches, which have brought three defeats, and the others have struggled to do anything. Indeed, it is four hours and 17 minutes since Chris Smalling headed in United's fourth against City. That was the last goal the Red Devils have scored.
It begs the question, did things click at all? Football journalism, a reflection of modern society, is a cynical business. But when it comes to the good performances of football clubs there is a strange, pervading optimism. Pundits and fans alike start looking towards the next step, assuming that, at long last, everything is well with the world.
But just as teams are capable of having uncharacteristic poor runs of form, they are just as capable of uncharacteristic good runs of form.
The trick is to keep that level of performance week in, week out, no matter the players you have at your disposal or the opponent. That is what separates the best from the rest, and why the accusations of "boring" football levelled at Chelsea should be disregarded out of hand. Good form, winning forms, is not easy to keep up.
The worry now is whether that exhilarating run which had United fans dreaming of second place, if not the title, was a false dawn.
Van Gaal, even when United fans were crying for 4-4-2, was producing results. It wasn't pretty a lot of the time, but it was getting the job done.
But three defeats have followed that victory against Manchester City, when hopes hit their peak. In the lengthy analysis of United's shape on Sky Sports' Monday Night Football 24 hours later, Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher may not have gone all the way in suggesting United could compete with the best in the Champions League, but the suggestion was there. This was, supposedly, a team which was moving in the right direction. There was no looking back.
Van Gaal, too, talks about the "process" after every match, win, lose or draw, and often sees an improvement in his side week on week. But nobody could look at that performance against West Brom and think it was an improvement even the worst United showing this season, let alone the golden period of late March and mid-April.
Think back to January 11 when United passed the ball from side to side and eventually lost to Southampton at Old Trafford. That was a low point, prompting questions among the support about what kind of football they want their team to play and whether things had moved on from the David Moyes era at all. Worryingly, this was essentially the same performance.
West Brom, for all of the magnificent discipline and know-how they showed at Old Trafford, the type which is extremely difficult to pull off, do not have the attacking weapons of Southampton. Barring Chris Brunt's heavily deflected free kick, they offered little in attack. United had 80 per cent possession, and more importantly a penalty. Robin van Persie missed it.
This was a smash and grab victory, but if United continue to play this stodgy football, looking to starve the opposition of the ball but without creating too many chances themselves, it is likely to happen.
The problems facing Van Gaal now are the problems he faced three or four months ago. What's worrying is that fans have been shown a better way, their expectations, a year on from Moyes' sacking, were back at the top, even if their team weren't quite.
How has this collapse - it cannot be considered anything else - have come about? Those brilliant victories came using more or less the same XI, the same specific players doing the same specific, key roles. Several injuries picked up in that defeat of City have proven extremely costly. It appears that, without that specific XI (and especially Carrick), the team looks as lost as it did for much of the season.
Next week United must travel to Crystal Palace in another Saturday evening kick-off. It will not be a welcoming environment and Van Gaal will be hoping his side can not only control the game, but break down their opponents.
"You think that I am god but it’s not like that," the Dutchman said after this defeat. "What is happening is happening always because when your team is playing better always, your opponent defend more and that you can see. Everton at their home had a very defensive organisation, and Chelsea at home also. Teams come here like that you can expect, but also in our away matches they are defending.
"We have to disorganise that organisation, but that is the next step in the process. We have more time on the ball, they have more time to break, we need to play with higher ball speed and that is difficult."
So the process goes on. Just as it is easy to be too optimistic it serves nobody to assume the worst. Manchester United and Louis van Gaal, though, have a long way to go. That's realistic.
