If this humiliating defeat to Falkirk doesn’t represent a crisis for Dundee United and their manager then I don’t know what does.
Talk of bouncing back, of putting it behind them, of it being just one result and of the gap to St Mirren only being six points with a game in hand will be trotted out by the end of the week.
But, make no mistake, results like these leave scars.
Only the real loyal Tangerine foot soldiers, who endured the calamitous performances of the relegation season and the capitulations at Livingston and at home to Inverness Caley Thistle that did for Ray McKinnon in this campaign, will know where to place the Falkirk thrashing in their hall of shame.
That it is in there at all, and has happened at such a crucial stage of such a crucial season, is all that matters.
Teams that win leagues lose when it isn’t expected. It happened to Hibs last year, Rangers the year before and Hearts the year before that. But teams that win leagues don’t lose by this sort of margin, past the half-way point of the campaign and after they have been well beaten by their rivals eight days previously.
Csaba Laszlo has already made three January signings. There won’t be many more. This is pretty much the squad that he will have to rely on to take United into the Premiership.
If the Tangerines aren’t destined for the play-offs (and I haven’t seen a Premiership side they could reasonably expect to beat over two legs) then they must make a big statement soon.
And it has to be away from home because rolling over sides at Tannadice isn’t their problem and, barring an unlikely St Mirren collapse, isn’t going to be enough.
Their next three league away games are at Dunfermline, Inverness and Livingston – probably with the rearranged fixture in Dumfries in there as well.
Laszlo has to work some magic to transform his soft touch road-trippers into a side who can win at three out of the four.
The way United performed at Falkirk, that task looks like one that would even keep Pep Guardiola up at night.
