Like cross-town rivals Manchester City who are playing dismally, the Manchester United poor form continued, as they suffered yet another defeat against Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League on Boxing Day. The 0-2 defeat to Wolves meant that the Red Devils were now 14th in the league table with 22 points from 18 matches.
It was their fourth defeat in their last five league matches and they are now 10 points ahead of 19th-placed Ipswich Town, who have a game in hand. United are still clear of the relegation zone by some distance, but that difference is not enough for them not to worry about it.
Ruben Amorim unable revive Manchester United poor form
The young Portuguese manager has an unenviable job in his hands at the moment. His team has played more attractive football than it did under Erik ten Hag, his predecessor, but that alone is not enough. The results have been pretty awful of late and the Red Devils genuinely run the risk of finishing with their lowest-ever points tally at the end of the ongoing season.
Most teams fancy their chances against Manchester United these days, with the fear-factor associated with the sides managed by Sir Alex Ferguson long gone. United are not even in a position to think about ensuring continental football for the next season, as the teams that are in the top-six at the moment, are playing much better football.
The 3-4-2-1 formation of Manchester United threatened to make the difference with some improved passing only momentarily, as the Manchester United’s profligacy in the final third becoming their bane. After having 25 attempts at the opposition goal against AFC Bournemouth last weekend, United again had 11 shots against Wolves, but failed to score in either of those matches.
In such a scenario, dropping Marcus Rashford, who is the best of United’s forwards, does not seem to be a very bright idea. Aside from Amad Diallo, none of the other United forwards has looked even remotely threatening.
Manchester United have a few important matches coming up
The Red Devils will take on Newcastle United in their next Premier League match on December 30. Thereafter, they will face the might of traditional rivals Liverpool in their first match next year, which might turn out to be quite embarrassing for them, given Liverpool’s red-hot form.
United will then take on Arsenal in the third round of FA Cup in the second week of January. Thus, each of their next three matches should be really challenging and not even the staunchest United supporter will hope for something really positive from any of those matches.
With the season about to enter into its second half, the threat of Premier League relegation for Manchester United has started to appear on the horizon for United. As mentioned earlier, they are still away from it by some distance, but might not remain so if they continue losing games like this.
It is simply unthinkable for a club of Manchester United’s stature, but with most of the other teams in Premier League improving considerably, their job has become really tough. It is time to probably accept that a lot of other clubs in England are run in a better way than Manchester United at the moment.