I always like to do these recaps of the season whenever we get a break. It gives us all a good chance to see where we are and check if we actually are on track for where we want to be.
In a weird way, I feel like we are although we’re 13th in the league, won just one game in Europe and just sacked a manager, who technically was two managers ago.
I know, sounds like a bit of a crisis.
But it ain’t. At least not for me.
Just hear me out.
Premier League
The bread and butter of the season came with a lot of optimism given the new signings and it being Erik ten Hag’s third season at the helm.
It started off pretty well with a solid enough 1-0 win over Fulham at Old Trafford. A goal from new striker Joshua Zirkzee gave United the 3 points putting us on top of the table.
Those were the days 😔.
All of that positivity came crashing down pretty quickly as we were handed back-to-back defeats at Brighton and at home to the greatest enemy, Liverpool. That 3-0 loss felt similar to what we’ve seen several times in the past against our biggest rivals with fears that things could get worse as the season progresses.
However, after the September international break, United came back with a bang with a great 3-0 win at Southampton although for 30 minutes, the home side were on top but thanks to a penalty save by Andre Onana, ten Hag’s team managed to pick things up and go on to get the 3 points.
A disappointing draw at Palace followed as United failed to score in a game where they should’ve had at least 3 in the first half. But despite the 0-0, that was perhaps the best and most encouraging performance we had seen from United under ten Hag in a while.
We all thought we were on the up from there.
But then came the inevitable downing tools performance, this time against Spurs.
Ange’s team came and destroyed United at Old Trafford in what was a game that was worse than Liverpool. That is saying something. Bruno Fernandes also picked up his first-ever red card but had it turned over after a couple of days as the officials admitted that they made a mistake.
That sending off made no difference as we were worse with him on the field!
Another 0-0 draw followed at Villa in what was seen as a game that could get Erik ten Hag the sack.
He managed to survive that match despite United’s board meeting up to discuss matters of the club, including the manager’s future, the following Tuesday.
Everyone was waiting for news of that future but nothing came and the Dutchman took charge of the game against Brentford upon return from the October internationals.
That turned out to be a great comeback win that gave us some much needed momentum and confidence.
That didn’t last long as we saw another Palace performance as United dominated in London against West Ham but couldn’t find the back of the net in that first half including an open goal miss by Diogo dalot.
That hurt us and I guess you know what followed.
A controversial penalty decision for the Hammers led to them getting the 2-1 win after Crysencio Summerville gave them the lead before being pegged back after a Casemiro equalizer.
That was the end of ten Hag.
The following two matches saw United draw 1-1 to Chelsea (our third stalemate of the campaign) and then that 3-0 win over Leicester to end this round of fixtures.
United are 13th in the table after having endured their worst-ever start to a Premier League season. But with recent results, MUFC are just 4 points behind the top 4 giving us a chance to recover from that terrible start.
Europa League
It has not been the greatest campaign so far in a tournament that let’s be honest, isn’t that glamorous nor one that we want to be in. It even has a new format that gives one even more room to cock up and make up for it.
That’s exactly what’s gone on for us as three draws in a row against FC Twente (at home), Porto away and Fenerbahce away meant that we only had 3 points in the first three matches leaving us in 22nd place. There are still 14 teams behind us 😐. Yes, that’s how many clubs there are.
That opening draw to Erik ten Hag’s former side was difficult to take, and even more difficult to watch. United put us to sleep in that game as we were out worked by the Dutch side resulting in a flat draw.
Not the best way to start a competition that we're favorites for.
The following two draws in Portugal and Turkey in isolation, weren’t bad results given the quality of the opposition and that it was away from home.
But because of that flat start, we had to get at least one win out of those next two to not make that opening stalemate appear too bad.
We didn’t get the win we wanted and in the end, 3 points was all we could muster in this new league format.
Thankfully under Ruud though, he finally got us our first win in the competition and first win in Europe in over a year! What an incredible (and embarrassing) stat.
But that 2-0 win over PAOK was thanks to goals from the man whom no one could understand why Erik ten Hag all of a sudden dropped, Amad, as he put in a man of the match display to get us going in Europe.
Carabao Cup
At least there was one competition where we had no issues and to say it was straightforward is putting it mildly.
United had to get through Barnsley and Leicester in the opening two rounds to get to the quarter finals. It ended up being a pretty easy start as we avoided some of the heavy hitters allowing us a better chance to progress.
Barnsley hardly put up a fight and ten Hag’s team managed to put 7 passed them! That 7-0 thrashing was the first time United had scored 5 or more goals under the Dutchman and more than that, gave us some hope that perhaps our season was finally taking off especially as this match followed on from the 3-0 win at Southampton.
As we know, that wasn’t the case but it was nice while it lasted.
That may have been the first time we scored such a large amount of goals under ten Hag but in the first game since his sacking, his deputy Ruud van Nistelrooy managed to match that by scoring 5 in his first match as interim. That 5-2 victory over Leicester was reminiscent of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s first game in charge as he won 5-1 at Cardiff.
Those two impressive wins have given us something to smile about and keeps the hopes of lifting a trophy in the third straight season alive however, we do travel to Spurs in the quarters.
That is a tough assignment.
Sacking
Of course, in between all the football was the pretty big but kind of unsurprising news that United sacked Erik ten Hag.
That defeat at West Ham was the last straw for INEOS as they ended up calling time on the Dutchman’s tenure at Old Trafford.
After two-and-a-half years, ten Hag left his station as manager of Man Utd. A lot of the problems stemmed around the poor performances and results as he left United puzzling in 14th in the table and languishing in 22nd in Europe.
Regardless of what may have been the main causes of the shiteness whether it be the manager, coaches and/or players, being in those positions really was asking for the sack.
There were also a lot of noise surrounding the players being unhappy with ten Hag both in terms of personality and coaching and while I have a problem with the players as these sort of issues isn’t something uncommon with our squad, even as a ten Hag inner, some of the things he was doing or not doing in terms of tactics, in-game management, substitutions, what he was saying in press conferences and more, I was at a point where something had to change.
The manager always gets the flack and I do think that this was the right call but there are still large question marks over that squad.
However, INEOS wasted no time and appointed Ruben Amorim as ten Hag’s successor. He was recruited out of Sporting Lisbon despite being contracted till the end of the season but he himself said, if he didn’t take the contract now, chances were that Amorim wouldn’t get another shot.
He obviously said yes and signed a two-and-a-half year deal with us all now waiting in anticipation for his first game at Ipswich next Sunday.
Before Amorim took over though, ex-legend and assistant to Erik ten Hag Ruud van Nistelrooy took interim charge for four games. He started off with that 5-2 win over Leicester in the Carabao Cup before drawing 1-1 with Chelsea and then picking two more great wins against PAOK and Leicester again, this time in the league.
What Ruud did was get our season back on track as even though we are 13th, United are only 4 points behind Arsenal in 4th. Ruud also brought back some smiles toOld Trafford and restored some of the faith in the fans and gives Amorim a bit of a platform to build on for the start of his reign.
Final thoughts
It’s been a ride and to think that we’re only in November! We still have 2/3s of the season left.
Honestly, very disappointed with how this campaign has gone under ten Hag as I wanted it to work out with him but looking at where we were before his sacking, he had to go.
The season has been shite let’s not kid ourselves as we should be in and around the top 4 but thanks to good seamless progression in the cup we are on par to win another trophy (which is a good thing), the fact that the Europa League has a new format gives us a chance to recover the poor start although it’s not ideal, and 13th in the league is terrible but 4 points off top 4 makes it sound a little better.
Erik ten Hag needed to go because he was majorly at fault for all of this but with there being a lot of excitement about Ruben Amorim taking over, I hope that we can start to see some improvement.
What have you made of the season so far? Good, average, bad?
Background Images: Erik ten Hag | Creator: Michael Regan | Credit: Getty Images Copyright: 2024 Getty Images via Goal
Bruno Fernandes receives a red card against Spurs | Creator: Carl Recine | Credit: Getty Images Copyright: 2024 Getty Images via Man Utd News
Ruud van Nistelrooy, and Ruben Amorim | Images via Manchester United official X (@ManUtd)