Sir Dave Brailsford might as well get used to it now. This is what watching Manchester United is all about these days: one step forward and one step back. Hope gave way to the realization that the biggest club in English football is indeed mediocre.
Four days earlier, Brailsford were at Old Trafford on Boxing Day to see United complete an exciting second-half comeback to beat Aston Villa 3-2.
But if Sir Jim Ratcliffe's right-hand man thought for a moment that this was the norm, it was a sobering visit to the City Ground to bring him back down to earth.
Alongside Sir Alex Ferguson, he saw United slide to their first Premier League defeat to Nottingham Forest in 29 years.
It was also Forest's second win under new manager Nuno Espirito Santo, who has now beaten Newcastle and Manchester United in the space of five days. A well-deserved victory thanks to two excellent goals from Nicolas Dominguez and Morgan Gibbs-White, who scored the winner in the 82nd minute shortly after Marcus Rashford had equalized.
Morgan Gibbs-White scored the winner in Forest's 2–1 win against Manchester United
Ineos sporting director Sir Dave Brailsford (right) sat next to Sir Alex Ferguson (left) for the match on Saturday evening. John Murtough (front, center) sat in front of them
Nicolas Dominguez scored his first Premier League goal to open the scoring for the home side
So once again United follows an encouraging win with a damaging defeat. Another step forward and another step back. This has happened no fewer than seven times in the Premier League this season, not least after they bounced back to beat Forest 3-2 at Old Trafford in August.
Erik ten Hag desperately needs a level of consistency in performance and results, otherwise he will find Ineos not nearly as patient as the people they are replacing.
Brailsford was known for its marginal gains in the cycling world, but he will have already realized that the club Ratcliffe has invested in has a lot of ground to make up. Apparently £1.3 billion doesn't buy you much these days.
If the Ineos sporting director wants to digest some statistics on Sunday morning, he can start here: this was United's fourteenth defeat of the season and they have not managed that at the turn of the year since 1930.
The club has lost nine of its first twenty league games for the first time since 1989. And 21 defeats are United's worst in a calendar year since 1972.
Even worse was the manner in which this defeat occurred. United were timid, ponderous and predictable in the first half, blocking just one shot on target from Aaron Wan-Bissaka.
As the match started in the second innings they were outplayed by a Forest side for whom Gibbs-White was excellent and former United man Anthony Elanga clearly had a point to prove following his £15million summer transfer from Old Trafford.
The nearest team made a breakthrough before the break in the 12th minute when Elanga raced onto a pass down the left and crossed to the edge of the six-yard box.
Raphael Varane stuck out a leg to try to cut it off, but the Frenchman's attempt was unconventional at best and lazy at worst.
Varane made contact with the ball, but sent it over his own goal with goalkeeper Andre Onana wrong-footed.
It was his luck that the ball didn't fall to a Forest striker or, worse, into his own net.
On this occasion, Ten Hag's side at least avoided falling behind by two goals at half-time, as they had done against Villa.
United actually had more possession with 53 percent of the ball, but didn't do nearly enough with it. Time and again they worked alongside Antony on the right or Alejandro Garnacho on the left, but the final pass failed to materialize and they were unable to create significant opportunities.
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Matt Turner was responsible for United's equalizer after his poor pass was cleared by Garnacho
Marcus Rashford scored his third league goal of the season and his first since the win against Everton at Goodison Park in November, but it would ultimately prove to be in vain
Gibbs-White curled his shot around Johnny Evans and past Andre Onana in the 82nd minute
The second half didn't start promisingly for United either, although Forest quickly got back into the lead and Scott McTominay – coming on as a half-time substitute for Kobbie Mainoo – was relieved to see his ball rebound straight to Elanga wide of the goal. .
Ten Hag made his second substitution in the 54th minute as Amad Diallo made his first appearance of the season as a substitute for the unmarked Antony, and it almost set up a goal from United's best effort of the match moments later.
Diallo started the action on the right and Bruno Fernandes passed the ball wide to Wan-Bissaka.
The defender was standing 25 yards from goal towards Diogo Dalot and his first-time shot curled against the foot of Matt Turner's left post.
It brought some life into the match and Gibbs-White and Dalot were cautioned after a fight. Varane went by the book for a drive at lively Elanga before the former United man was involved in the move that led to Forest's goal in the 64th minute.
The ball was quickly moved to him on the right and Elanga played a pass inside to Gonzalo Montiel who was just onside. The Argentine took one touch and picked out Dominguez, who was unmarked 15 yards from goal, and swept the ball into the bottom corner.
The pressure continues to increase on Ten Hag, who is back to square one after this latest defeat
After being in front, Forest let United back into the game in the 79th minute, and they had only themselves to blame.
Moussa Niakhate played the ball back to Turner, who tried to pass to Danilo. However, Garnacho read the situation and slipped in to intercept before heading towards Rashford.
United's number 10 was leading in the absence of Rasmus Hojlund and Anthony Martial, who were both ill, and this was his first sight of a goal. However, Rashford did not hesitate and stroked the ball home just like Dominguez.
United's tail was up, but when Christian Eriksen forced a save from Turner with his pile driver in the 82nd minute, it was the precursor to Forest's winner.
They broke straight into the field with Elanga running towards Dalot before sliding the ball to Gibbs-White. He produced the best result of the lot, scoring a great effort past Onana and inside the post for only his second goal of the season.
Forest fans feared the worst when 10 minutes of extra time were added, but the closest United came was Fernandes' volley from Eriksen's corner, which Turner touched.
They celebrated a famous victory and Brailsford walked away with plenty to think about.