I am looking at points count.
After 25 matches, you've had 3 seasons where you have been on 35 points or less, 6 seasons where you've been within 3 points of where we are now.
As bad a season as we are having though, we're not in a terrible position squad wise, it's not like we have a hugely bloated squad of average players. We've just cleared out most of our deadwood and are in this position due to how thin our squad is.
De Gea, Romero, (Henderson)
Maguire, Lindelof, Taunzebe
Wan Bissaka, Williams, Shaw
Pogba, Bruno, Fred, McTominay
Rashford, Martial, Greenwood, James
That's a hell of a core of 17 players and only the 2 goalkeepers are over 26 years old.
We can probably rule Pogba out and raise £100m extra for the kitty. With a net spend of £120m we could have a squad that's comfortably top four next season and challenging for the league in two.