United this season have been, well, poor to put it mildly.
Sitting in 14th in the league with just two wins in seven games and only 5 scored, there really isn't much to shout about in terms of positivity. Even in the Europa League, MUFC have managed just two draws against Twente at home (1-1) and Porto away (3-3) putting us 21st in that competition.
Draws have been our thing this campaign so far as well as Erik ten Hag's team have picked up four out of our 10 games played. We've also only won three in that time one of which was a demolition job against League One Barnsley.
The three losses were at the hands of Brighton (2-1), Liverpool (3-0) and Spurs (3-0), the last two of which were at Old Trafford.
When looking at the big six table, we are dead last with 0 points, 0 goals and 6 conceded in two matches. A pretty terrible record against the league's big guns to add to a pretty terrible record against the league's big guns under ten Hag across his time at the club.
However, there have been some signs of improvement and areas where we can be positive.
With 4 clean sheets, Andre Onana is at the top of the pack in that list and has been one of the side's better players. United's ability to create chances up front this season is much improved to last even if we are failing to convert them. We also don't concede as many chances to opposition's as much as we did last term as well.
In terms of personnel though, who has been the standouts for playing surprisingly well and absolutely shite?
Surprise top performer
Christian Eriksen
The Dane has been the surprise package of the season. I'm not doubting his quality as he is one of those players who define 'form is temporary, class is permanent.'
It's just surprising as to how good he's been and how important he's become to Erik ten Hag. His performances and importance are almost akin to his first season at the club.
The midfielder seems to have been revitalized since the last international break. Erik ten Hag has used Eriksen in every of the last seven games starting him in six of those whereas in the first three, he played all but 4 minutes.
Eriksen was a surprise starter during the 3-0 win at Southampton but proved the manager right as he was one of the best players on the pitch.
He was correctly in the team for the next game which was that 7-0 victory over Barnsley. He then started the draws against Palace and Twente before being benched for the loss to Spurs.
The number 14 was then back in the lineups for the draws at Porto and Villa.
During these seven games, Eriksen scored 3 and grabbed 3 assists, 1 of which was the late equalizer for Harry Maguire in the 3-3 draw in Portugal. These 6 goals and assists puts him amongst the top performers in the team.
A lot of fans have been pleasantly surprised at Eriksen being in the team so often and are even calling for him to play further forward in Bruno's position with the magnifico dropping to the bench.
Fernandes' form has been poor and his risky style of play has been quite frustrating as he gives the ball away too cheaply and too often. Eriksen's more measured and simple approach works better as we retain possession of the ball and keep it rotating without that foolish Hollywood pass or shot that loses possession.
I believe that this is part of the reason as to why he's been so good and important in recent times for ten Hag. Considering we want to be more possession-based this season, he is one of our better midfielders when it comes to keeping the ball.
What caused this sudden change of heart? With several of our midfielders underperforming, unreliable (ahem Mount) and Ugarte struggling to settle in, Eriksen has stepped up and shown his class.
He's taken his opportunity and is now one of our more undroppable players. Since returning from the international break, he's played 515 minutes out of a total of 630, the most out of any other midfielder for United in that time including the machine Bruno Fernandes who played 511 although he was sent off in two games.
We all thought that with Eriksen's age and heart condition, playing a lot of football and every few days is nigh on impossible for him. Yet he's proved us all wrong not only in his stamina but quality on the ball.
Fair play Christian 👏.
Surprise shite performer
Bruno Fernandes
He has been one of our worst players this season, let's not kid ourselves.
I know that Bruno has been underperforming for a while but I felt like last season was just 'one of those' seasons where he experienced a blip although he was still the player with the most goals and assists (28). That shows he still displayed some quality.
When looking at him this season so far though, he's gotten even worse which is saying something given how crap he was last year and how good we know he can be.
He's only picked up 3 assists in 10 games as well as two back-to-back red cards which were the first times in his entire career where he's been sent off. He was unlucky to see two reds in my opinion and he did get the red against Spurs overturned but the fact that he's in those precarious position's in the first place is concerning.
He is still Mr reliable as he's started 9 out of the 10 games - he came off the bench for 28 minutes against Barnsley in the other in which he grabbed 2 of his 3 assists - so we know that we can always count on him to be available.
But is that a good thing? Was overturning that straight red against Spurs a good thing?
Due to his lackluster and frustrating performances, a lot of fans were actually looking forward to seeing how we play without him.
Like I said, Eriksen further forward would make sense as he doesn't have the legs or physicality to run up and down the pitch constantly as a CM and in the final third, we do need to be patient with the ball, something that Eriksen is and Bruno is not.
Without Bruno, that would've forced Erik ten Hag's hand as he would've had to select someone to replace his captain.
As Bruno is haphazard, having someone else like Eriksen in his position could've been a good thing as Eriksen's style seems more suitable for what ten Hag wants compared to Bruno's.
However, now that he is available again, ten Hag has selected him in every game yet still, the captain's performances haven't improved. It's almost as if they're trying to force it at this point.
More than not performing to the best of his abilities it's also his lack of leadership as a captain and experienced player that's been disappointing. He doesn't lead from the front in terms of his performances on the pitch.
When the team is down in the dumps, he doesn't pick them up and is often nowhere to be found. Some of his whining has diminished which isn't necessarily a bad thing but I always felt that that was a key characteristic that made Bruno Fernandes Bruno Fernandes.
That fire seems to have died down quite a lot. We need that spark again.
Perhaps playing all the time for club and country could be a reason as to why he is performing badly. This constant football leads to burnout and drop in quality. Maybe some time out of the team could do him some good even though we know he wants to play every minute of every game.
This is where the manager has to come in and make a decision although the evidence would suggest Erik ten Hag will not rest Bruno. Some of that 'rotation' he's doing with some players needs to be done with his skipper.
This is all coming from a player who's been at the club a long time, was made the skipper by this manager and signed a new contract extension in the summer. I'm not questioning Bruno's professionalism and dedication to the shirt because that is something we absolutely cannot complain about but as he is playing like he's never seen a football before, perhaps some time off could be what he needs?
Do you agree with me that Eriksen has been the surprise top performer and Bruno the surprise crap performer of the campaign so far? Who caught your eye unexpectedly?
Background Image: Christian Eriksen and Bruno Fernandes | Image via Manchester United official X (@ManUtd)