Fourteenth in the Premier League, out of the League Cup and with three upcoming fixtures against top-five teams, Manchester United's domestic season could effectively be over in January.

The worst-case scenario is defeats to Newcastle and Liverpool leave United teetering above the relegation zone and their FA Cup defence ends after 90 minutes at Arsenal.

Ruben Amorim said last month it would be fair to judge him definitively after two years. He has not been in post for two months and the prospect of his sacking was raised in the press room at Molineux on Boxing Day.

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Amorim is complicit in the mess but it is on the Ineos brains trust that underestimated football and the never-ending malaise at United. As long as United are stuck in their rut, it can be traced back to the illogical decision not to change manager in the summer.

It is reasonable to question why the hierarchy replaced Erik ten Hag with a coach who operates in a system that jars with the United players. Or rather, that the United players jar with. Whatever the formation, no United side should perform as limply as they did at Wolves.

Amorim, at 39, is dynamic, charismatic and intense, the modern profile of coach that United needed. He was considered to replace Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool and Pep Guardiola at Manchester City. Any attempt to pin the club's continued decline on a coach who touched down in Manchester on November 11 is nonsensical.

He is sussing players every week: Marcus Rashford, Joshua Zirkzee and Tyrell Malacia, Antony, Jonny Evans and Christian Eriksen have been omitted from matchday squads. None of them should be at United next season.

Pre-season cannot come soon enough for Amorim but United are not even midway through this season. They are losing with such frequency it gives the illusion it is a write-off. It is not. It is still salvageable.

Sell Rashford, buy a replacement

Rashford is likely to have limited takers in January unless United can twist the arm of a club. Arsenal have been floated and Bukayo Saka is now sidelined for at least two months with a torn hamstring. The Gunners have become an elite team through exceptional recruitment and taking a surly under-performer on a bloated salary is not in keeping with how they operate.

A try-before-you-buy loan is foreseeable, a la Jadon Sancho's mid-season return to Borussia Dortmund 11 months ago. Whatever United arrange, Rashford has to go next month and be replaced with a forward with goalscoring pedigree. United have a minus goal difference again and have managed a dismal 21 goals in 18 games. A third of them came in two matches against Southampton and Everton.

United settled for a body in Wout Weghorst two years ago and he got two goals in 31 appearances. They need a much higher calibre of goalscorer in January. Next month may be out of the question, but next year Victor Osimhen has to be targeted.

The club have stressed they have to sell before they can buy after heavily investing in five players in the summer. Clubs will not be queuing around the block for these United players in the New Year but United have to be decisive and the days when they could dismiss the winter transfer window are long gone.

Bruno Fernandes and Alexis Sanchez, United's best and worst signings of the post-Ferguson era, arrived in January. As far back as 2004, United invested in an instant goalscorer in Louis Saha. Nemanja Vidic and Patrice Evra, recruited in January 2006, took time before becoming club greats. Weghorst, Henrik Larsson and Odion Ighalo were all winter loanees.

As recently as last year, Andy Carroll's crude tackle on Christian Eriksen left him sidelined for 10 weeks. Time was of the essence with the transfer window open for three more days. United brought in Marcel Sabitzer on loan from Bayern Munich at the 11th hour and the Austrian was one of the few astute deals of the Ten Hag era. Jason Wilcox and Omar Berrada are the ones on trial.

Out with the old and in with the new

You would have got reasonably high odds on Malacia playing before Harry Amass this season. Amass, the breakout star of United's pre-season tour, was in just about every predicted team on the morning of the Community Shield and then his name was not even on the teamsheet.

The 17-year-old left back has barely trained with the first team all season, never mind made his first team debut. Malacia has had four starts and been substituted in three. He was omitted from the squad at Wolves on Boxing Day.

United is a club that has long excelled at phasing out the past to make room for the future. Amorim clarified last week he was not rotating heavily to get a glance at future prospects and Amass should be treated as a present asset in a squad whose left back problems have not eased this season.

Sources have suggested Chido Obi-Martin could make his debut before the end of the campaign. That was ostensibly one of his demands if he had stayed at Arsenal. Seven goals in seven youth team games for United would suggest he has a chance with Zirkzee and Rasmus Hojlund out of their depth.

Win the Europa League

This season already feels like Europa League or bust for United. They have been here before in Jose Mourinho's first season, only United won the League Cup and it was not until early May that Mourinho conceded defeat in United's vain efforts to finish in the top four. That United side was also unbeaten for 25 league games.

The Europa League has been so diluted of quality this season that the favourites are United and Tottenham, two clubs in disarray in England. Third are Athletic Bilbao, whose stadium hosts the final, and Lazio. Both are fourth in their respective leagues.

Even this United should progress straight through to the round-of-16, avoiding a two-legged play-off in February. The Europa League is the most winnable competition for Amorim's United and doing so would ensure their name is in the Champions League draw for next season. That would constitute a successful season.

Get natural starters fit

Mason Mount and Luke Shaw are in the medical department so often they should have wards named after them. Both are causes, some would say lost, that many United fans have given up on.

What is particularly galling for Amorim is the pair have attributes that complement his set-up. Shaw can play on the left of a back three or on the wing and Mount has ample experience of playing as one of the two 10s in a 3-4-3 formation.

It is an 'if' bigger than the Beetham Tower, but if Shaw and Mount stay fit after they recover from their current muscular injuries then they should enhance United.