In late July, amid the idyllic surrounds of the Austrian Alps, Southampton midfielder Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg told Sportsmail that, under boss Ralph Hasenhuttl, they would be ‘disgusting to play against’.
As summer made way for autumn back in the UK, it transpired that Saints were disgusting to watch.
A return of one point from seven matches - including a club-record 9-0 home defeat by Leicester - had Hasenhuttl on the brink of the sack.
The Austrian did not even get a response in the wake of the that humiliation.