On reflection, Michael Carrick concedes there was an air of inevitability about Manchester United's stumble and fall as they took their first steps without Sir Alex Ferguson. It had all been so good, for so long, that, when the shock therapy came, the realisation that everything would be different simply took too long to sink in.
"At some point, it had to come, didn't it?" Carrick said. "Whether it was straight after he (Ferguson) left or further down the road, there was going to be some point in time when we wouldn't be going into the final couple of weeks aiming to win the league.
"It was always going to be hard when the boss left. Everyone was waiting to see how it would go and that's how it went. Now, it is all about trying to get back to where we were."
When United travel to Aston Villa on Saturday, they will do so with the dark clouds of the last 12 months having been lifted in recent weeks by the six-game winning streak overseen by Louis van Gaal, the man charged with repairing the damage inflicted during David Moyes' traumatic eleven-month reign as manager.
Under Van Gaal, United sit in third position, eight points adrift of leaders Chelsea, but with the old self-confidence and swagger returning to the team.
The winning run has coincided with the return to fitness of Carrick, the England midfielder who has tasted victory in every game he has started since ending his three-month ankle injury lay-off, and he insists that the club's rise is being viewed merely as the start of things at Old Trafford.
"I don't want to say we are going to win the league, but certainly at this point, it is what we are aiming to do," Carrick said. "We are not just looking to be happy for top three or top four.
"We want to be looking, over Christmas and into January, to be up there and then taking from there. But winning the league has to be the aim.
"At this stage of the season, we are exactly where I think we should be and talking to the lads, we have that mentality that we want, and expect, to be challenging.
"It's not a case of thinking that third is great because we have improved. We are looking past that and want to be challenging right up at the top."
So what has changed and why did it become so bad, so quickly, last season?
"It was unusual," Carrick said. "In some ways, you get used to always being at the top and challenging and expecting to win things, so last year made you appreciate how hard it is to stay at the top.
"As players, we were thinking like most people, that it would get better and that things would turn.
"It wasn't that we weren't trying. The same group of players won the league the season before, so it was really strange.
"We had the belief, we were thinking: 'it's going to get better,' because there were one or two signs in some games.
"But then we would have a setback and it just never got going. It was just difficult all round.
"We tried and wanted to do the right things, kept believing, but when it doesn't come, it's hard to know why. It's about small margins, but we slipped up and finished seventh.
"Over the years, those small margins, we always managed to get on top of and it enabled us to finish where we did, but what happened last year showed how difficult it can be.
"You always believe it will change and maybe there is some naivety in that.
"But there were times, yes, when you would be questioning things -- personally, not as a team -- and asking why, having done something for so long, it is no longer working.
"You think why is it not working as a team, what have we lost, what ingredients aren't there?
"But hopefully last season's experience can help us in some ways. At the moment, we are a looking a bit better and sitting in a decent position, but we can certainly get a lot stronger."
A notable aspect of United's resurgence has been the victories at Arsenal and last weekend's 3-0 home victory against Liverpool.
Under Moyes, United were unable to win away against any of their traditional rivals, with the Scot's safety-first approach jarring with the club's attacking DNA, while a 3-0 Old Trafford defeat against Liverpool in March proved the nadir of the manager's reign.
Last Sunday's win against Liverpool was achieved by a starting line-up consisting of players Van Gaal inherited from Moyes and, while too respectful of the previous manager's efforts to find fault in his approach, Carrick admits that Van Gaal's personality and pedigree has been a crucial ingredient in United's revival.
"He (Van Gaal) is obviously a different personality to the managers that we have had," Carrick said. "You guys see it yourself, with how he talks to the press! It is hard to describe, but he is definitely the boss and he knows what he wants.
"He has an aura about him which means you can tell he is the boss without him even speaking, which is important, especially at a club like this. Louis has that presence which gives off the sense that, if you do it my way, we'll win. It is a great thing to have.
Louis van Gaal has transformed United's self-belief (Reuters)
"Rightly or wrongly, if you get the belief of everyone, it goes a long way. He certainly gives off that feeling that he is the leader. When you get in those pressure situations, you know he'll know how to handle it."
Van Gaal's self-belief in his methods has seen the Dutchman deploy numerous line-ups and formations, use players in unfamiliar roles - Ashley Young has been re-invented as a left wing-back by the manager - and impose his personality on a squad that has been overhauled since the summer.
Initially because of injury and then due to Van Gaal's tactical philosophy, Carrick has found himself occupying the central defensive role handed to him only in emergencies by Ferguson.
But despite admitting he continues to regard himself as a midfielder, the 33-year-old claims he has no qualms about extending his run at the heart of the defence.
"I don't mind," Carrick said. "I probably feel more at home in midfield, but the more I play in defence, the more I feel comfortable and, so far, it has gone ok. When I have done it over the years, it maybe hasn't been ideal because there have been injuries, but now it is because the manager wants to play a certain way.
"It depends on the manager and what he wants to do, but I don't mind either way. I am naturally a midfielder, that is my instinct, but who knows?
With his 34th birthday approaching next summer, Carrick's pragmatism may be based upon the knowledge that his versatility could help him extend his United career beyond his current contract, which expires at the end of the season.
The club and player both have an option to extend that deal and that is understood to be a formality, with Carrick admitting to being relaxed about the situation.
But with the summer of upheaval seeing fourteen team-mates leave United and Ryan Giggs retire to take up a full-time coaching role, Carrick now finds himself as the oldest player in Van Gaal's squad.
"It came quite quickly really." Carrick said. "I had a lot of older guys around me, like Pat (Evra), Rio (Ferdinand), Vida (Nemanja Vidic), Scholesy and Ryan, but all of a sudden, they have all gone and I am now the oldest, and by some distance!
"It was always a case plenty being ahead of me, but Giggsy retired and three of them left, so it is me now."
But can the old and the new come together quickly enough to mount a sustained title challenge in the new year?
"We didn't take success for granted, but we always expected to be at the top and believed we would be," Carrick said.
"You take a knock, but last season hasn't affected the mentality that this club has built up over the years. I don't believe you lose that after just one bad season.
"The run of wins games gives you confidence, it brings back that feeling of winning and you can't over-estimate what that means because confidence is a huge thing in any sport."
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