Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s team came into the season with renewed confidence after an impressive unbeaten pre-season abroad.
After being linked with attacking players like Bruno Fernandes and Spurs’ Christian Eriksen, many critics felt that United’s inability to bolster their ranks would come back to haunt them as the season progresses.
But after a resounding 4-0 win over Frank Lampard’s Chelsea on opening day, supporters were over the moon and seemed convinced that Solskjaer’s young side had it in them to challenge City and Liverpool for the English crown.
But the win against Chelsea looks to have been a false start for the club with the 13-time Premier League champions managing to grab only a meagre 2 points from their next 3 games in the league.
While the alarm bells haven’t quite started ringing around Old Trafford yet and most fans seem to still be onboard with Solskjaer’s long-term vision, there is a growing consensus around the club that United need to stop dropping points in games they are generally ‘expected’ to win if they want to achieve their top-4 aspirations.
The playing style may be a major improvement from the dull displays under Mourinho and Van Gaal but the Norwegian will still need to find a way to register maximum points soon to quell the lingering doubts about his ability to lead the club to glory in the future.
Both Solskjaer and his players have talked about how United were ‘unlucky’ to drop points these last few games in their post-game pressers and it seems like they weren’t kidding around either.
A new study undertaken by UtdArena have backed these claims and show that the Red Devils would actually be in second spot behind their noisy neighbours City and above bitter rivals Liverpool if the league table was based on performances (xG) rather than points.
While most fans agreed with the idea that United have played better than their current league standing shows, many also felt that winning against the likes of like Wolves, Crystal Palace and Southampton is expected from a club of their stature and that United should be higher up the table given their relatively easier fixtures compared to other top 6 sides.
What do you think United fans? Check out the UtdArena’s findings below :
