Including the loss to West Ham in round 18 of the Premier League, Man Utd received a total of 13 defeats in all competitions in the 2023/24 season. Having to go back to the 1930/31 season, the “Red Devils” only had such a poor start to the season (16 losses before Christmas). That was also the season the home team at Old Trafford was relegated.
Man Utd lost 20 matches in all competitions in the calendar year 2023. Since 1989 until now (losing 20 matches), Man Utd has only now re-established the “achievement” of this incompetence. The season is not even halfway over, coach Erik Ten Hag and his team have lost more matches than last season.
Man Utd will end the round in 8th place. This is also this team’s worst ranking during Christmas since 1931.
In addition, according to Opta, Man Utd has gone 4 consecutive matches without scoring in all competitions – this team’s worst performance in the past 3 decades. Rasmus Hojlund, the striker, cost the Old Trafford team 72 million euros but only had 17 touches of the ball and 0 shots before being replaced in the 53rd minute of the match against West Ham.
“There are too many players who don’t deserve to play for Manchester United”, former goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel is fed up. Sharing the same opinion, Paul Scholes commented: “Even scoring goals is a difficult task for Man Utd at the moment. In 4 consecutive matches, they did not create anything positive. The attacking players are lacking confidence”.
Meanwhile, at the press conference after the loss, coach Ten Hag still thought that Man Utd played well: “A pretty good performance. What’s missing is just a goal. We controlled the match until the 72nd minute. Not being able to take advantage of the opportunity made MU pay a heavy price”.
Failure at the London Olympic Stadium caused Man Utd to drop to 8th place with 28 points. Ten Hag and his students are 6 points behind Man City’s 4th placeMan City but have played more than one match. This is also the first time in 16 years that Man Utd lost 2 consecutive matches to West Ham in the Premier League.