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It is fair to say that this Premier League season has not been a very auspicious one for one of the most successful clubs in the history of English football, Manchester United. Sitting fifth on the league table, dominated by their rivals Liverpool, this season's results will hurt the club even more.
Since the departure of Sir Alex Ferguson, United have never been the same ever again with the club suffering some tough times in the past decade. This new decade also hasn't started very well for them, considering 4 losses in the 7 games played this year.
Last midweek's home loss against Burnley summed up the Red Devil's situation currently where the Theatre of Dreams, Old Trafford. was visibly vacant in the latter part of the game when United were losing 2-0 to the bottom-half club.
Today we take a look at the top three things that have been going wrong for the men in red this season.
#3 Poor defensive setup despite signing Maguire & Wan-Bissaka
Manchester United fans had a lot to rejoice at the beginning of this season when they signed Harry Maguire from Leicester City for an alleged £80 million. This was apparently the final piece in the jigsaw puzzle for them, in a team which, on paper, was fairly complete in all other departments.
Maguire was brilliant in the first few games for United but soon the lack of another supporting centre-back exposed the flaws in the English defender too.
The Red Devils have been shambolic in defending this season having conceded 29 goals in the Premier League, which shouldn't have been the case considering two defensive reinforcements in Maguire and aaron Wan-Bissaka.
Chris Smalling moving to Roma on loan and Ashley Young having finished his transfer move to Inter Milan leaves United with very less options to shuffle their defensive setup to find that perfect back four which they need desperately.
#2 Lack of recruitment & injuries
Time and again, it has been evident that many of the United players are either past their prime or just not Manchester United material, but the Board has failed to make proper replacements for the same.
Lack of quality in midfield has resulted in both low number of goals scored as well as poor creativity in the middle of the park.
Moreover, the red half of Manchester has also been plagued with injury concerns since the beginning of the season. French international and key man Paul Pogba being sidelined for a long term, his replacement Scott McTominay also facing some time away from action and now Marcus Rashford being out with a fairly long-term injury has just reduced the United squad to subprime levels.
The list also includes many of the players facing short-term fitness issues throughout the season, namely Marcos Rojo and Axel Tuanzebe who are recovering from minor injuries.
Overall, the injuries and lack of recruitment has just resulted in no squad depth to sustain at the level of the Premier League and manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has had no option but to bring in young talent to compete in all the competitions.
Even if the young talent has been great for them this season, a club needs some big names with good experience to win leagues or cup competitions and that has made all the difference for the Red Devils this season.
#1 Over dependence on Marcus Rashford for goals and creativity
A complete United academy product, Marcus Rashford has been undoubtedly United's most consistent player for the past few seasons.
Not only through the goals for the club, Rashford is very instrumental when it comes to attacking the opposition on counter or giving United a few extra paces in the game, thanks to his speed with and without the ball.
Lately this season, United have been too dependent on their academy graduate for goals as well as creativity upfront. The England international has 14 goals and 4 assists which makes him directly attributable to 50% of all the goals that United have scored this season.
One player contributing to half of the team's goals, it is surely not a very great statistic for the United team and only shows how average the rest of the squad has been recently.
Since Rashford's injury, United have failed to score in either of the two matches played and have been very poor in attacking the opponent's goal, highlighting his importance.
With Sporting CF's Bruno Fernandes rumoured to join the squad in this transfer window, the United fans will only hope there is upside from this pretty disastrous position they find their club in.
The club also faces a tough round of fixtures in the next one month, playing Manchester City away, Wolves at home and Chelsea away in the Premier League, post the FA Cup tie at Tranmere tonight.
