The 23/24 season won’t go down too well in the memory of most United fans as it was quite the torment of a campaign.
Or was it?
That’s the conundrum of such a turbulent 9 months in that while there were several, several times when I and many just wanted the season to be over, I have never seen so many standout moments from a campaign in my life.
Incredible.
Whether Erik ten Hag stays or not, one thing’s for sure is that 23/24 had it’s fair share of talking points.
Premier League
The start of this final third of the campaign saw United travel to West London (twice) to face Brentford and Chelsea.
After that win over Liverpool in the FA Cup, the usual agony of the international break was not quite so painful as thanks to Amad’s goal, all United fans were feeling on top of the world.
Unfortunately, it seemed that the players weren’t 😩.
Brentford was the worst performance of the season and one of the worst we’ve seen in a while. Which is saying something.
United were utterly dominated by the Bees and by hook or crook, ten Hag’s side somehow managed to walk out of the GTECH Community Stadium with a point.
Brentford hit the post/bar on multiple occasions, Andre Onana pulled off save after save, and it appeared as if they just didn’t have their shooting boots on.
Mason Mount’s 96th minute goal still wasn’t enough for United to take the 3 points as a familiar issue reappeared. Not being able to hold onto a lead resurfaced and Brentford got a 99th minute equalizer.
Both sides didn’t deserve the draw. For differing reasons.
That stalemate was followed by a trip to Chelsea where the Blues were in their own spot of bother.
Our worst performance was quickly accompanied by one of the better ones.
Despite Chelsea taking a 2-goal lead, there was no panic amongst anyone associated with United (which was weird) but rather, a quiet confidence which did show where the two sides were at.
Alejandro Garnacho and Bruno Fernandes then scored two quick-fire goals that brought us back to level terms and took us into the break at 2–2.
Erik ten Hag’s team continued their momentum from the first period as a third was added by the impressive youngster Garnacho, his second of the night.
As the minutes ticked on, much like not feeling worried about being 2 behind earlier on, the feelings were quite the opposite given United’s ability to throw away games late on.
They threw it away late on.
And how.
Not only was a late (second) penalty awarded to Chelsea in the 100th minute, 60 seconds later, MUFC switch off from a short corner and Cole Palmer makes it 4–3 to complete his hat-trick and give the Blues an unlikely victory.
Erik ten Hag and co were well and truly feeling the blues.
These two matches sort of set the tone for this period as United couldn’t buy a win.
Two 2–2 draws in the league to Liverpool and Bournemouth followed that defeat at Chelsea which left us all longing for the end of this stressful season.
The only highlight of this period was that it looked like that draw at Old Trafford was Liverpool’s final nail in their title charge coffin.
A win’s a win tho 🤷♂️.
Victory at last arrived during the week as bottom of the log and worst side in Premier League history Sheffield Utd came to town.
I mention those things because not only are they true, but it showed just how unreliable MUFC can be even against the worst of the worst.
United did come out 4–2 winners although not without it’s moments that made us shit ourselves and question why we support this football club.
Sheffield took the lead not once but twice and brought back memories of their last visit to Old Trafford as they walked out 1–2 winners.
Thankfully, an inspired Bruno Fernandes performance put things to right as he managed to drag us to the 3 points in the end with 2 goals and an assist.
Fuck me lads, that was unnecessarily stressful 😨.
An even poorer run of form ensued as United drew with Burnley and lost 0–1 to Arsenal in the next two home matches.
But sandwiched in-between that was a performance reminiscent of the past.
A 4–0 thumping at Crystal Palace brought PTSD of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s final game in charge where he lost 4–1 at Watford.
The players in this game displayed nothing that would suggest they were behind the manager. It looked like it was that time again for players to down tools as they dropped in my new worst performance of the campaign.
Nobody was good at Palace and it really seemed to be the end of Erik ten Hag at Man Utd.
Yet strangely enough, it gave us one of the standout moments of the season.
After the match, the United supporters were singing and chanting almost as if we had won the league! It was an incredible moment as it’s not often that you see this type of support after your team has been hammered and no player having truly showed up.
It is a testament that we are the best fans in the world, something Erik ten Hag has pointed out on several instances.
While we did then lose to Arsenal, it came across as if the players were spurred on by that amazing support from Palace and actually didn’t play too badly. They displayed some of that energy portrayed by the fans despite being defeated.
This momentum was taken into our final matches as United signed off the season with two great wins over Newcastle and Brighton, two games that many would’ve thought we wouldn’t get anything out of given our recent performances.
Erik ten Hag also delivered a motivating speech after the Newcastle win in the final home match. That brought everyone even more together almost like some sort of rally cry ahead of the FA Cup final.
But so finished our worst-ever season in terms of position in the Premier League. 8th and out of Europe entirely was embarrassing with a -1 GD.
It was also a campaign where we broke two other unwanted records: MUFC conceded their most ever in PL history (58) as well as their most defeats with 13.
Glad that that shitshow is over 😌.
FA Cup
Well, as you know, it ends pretty well. But how we managed to get there…
There were only two games (potentially) left of the oldest club competition in the world.
The first was the easy task of getting over the line against Championship outfit Coventry City. This was the draw we wanted as United fans as it meant we avoided City and Chelsea.
At 3–0 up, those thoughts that this was going to be simple proved to be true. Goals by Harry Maguire, Scott McTominay and Bruno Fernandes at the hour mark all but sealed the tie and put us in the final.
However, this was a match of Man Utd cocking up on steroids.
That final half hour was something that I’ve never seen from my team before. Yes there were games over the years where we blew leads and threw away wins even under Sir Alex Ferguson but this was another level.
When it became 3–1 on 71 minutes, we still felt relatively comfortable,
until the 79th minute when it became 3–2.
Oh God, here we go again 😬.
95th minute penalty. Goal.
3–3 🙃.
How just, how???
I suppose that that is just this United side. We never know when we have won.
Extra time gave us one hell of a scare as Coventry scored a 4th but thanks to VAR, they found that Haji Wright was just (just) offside in the buildup.
Probably the most squeaky bum I’ve ever witnessed.
I was glad to see penalties.
Luckily, other than the one (horrendous) miss by Casemiro, every other spot kick was smooth sailing. Andre Onana made a save as well as a Coventry player missing the goal entirely.
Rasmus Hojlund rifled in the final kick to get us through 😓.
Good Lord. We made it.
Much like most of the team, celebrations were a little subdued by myself. Relief at reaching the final yes, but not much else.
Let’s just move on.
The second Manchester derby FA Cup final in as many years took centre stage with City the heavy and obvious favourites.
United and ten Hag had other ideas though as goals by academy products Alejandro Garnacho and Kobbie Mainoo in the first half was enough to get the 2–1 win.
Mercifully, this game was without much incident.
Leave it to us to put in our best display of the season in the last match of 23/24. I suppose better late than never because what better match to do it in 🤷♂️.
This match was important for so many reasons other than just beating City (which is always great). We stopped them doing a double, we won a trophy of our own, qualified for Europe, displayed what this club is all about with the two youth players scoring and one in Mainoo getting the MOTM award, and perhaps keeping Erik ten Hag as manager, at least for a little longer.
Rumours emerged on the Thursday before the final that no matter the result, the Dutchman will lose his job.
He is still manager (at the time of writing this).
That is why that win was so important and I think INEOS not only did they not expect United to win which would’ve made their decision a lot easier, I don’t think they realized how together everyone associated with United will be after the game should we have won.
Sacking him not long after would’ve been a stupid decision. It’s a stupid decision anyway but they had to give it time. But what this time will do is allow them to properly assess everything before making a call and hopefully they can see just how much he is loved by the fans and players.
And so ended the 23/24 season. Quite the adventure at Man Utd. Full of ups and downs, full of heartache and ecstasy. But we wouldn’t have it any other way.
It’s what makes it our club. It’s what makes it Manchester United. Nobody does it like us.
Season rating — 6/10.
Background: Man Utd win the FA Cup | Image via Manchester United official X (@ManUtd)