As the jeers rang around Old Trafford after a fourth defeat in seven games to mark Manchester United’s worst start to a league campaign in 34 years, there was an easy comparison to make with the corresponding fixture last season.
Back in February, a 10-man United side dug deep after Casemiro’s 70th-minute red card to protect three points against Crystal Palace, with a rearguard action full of fight, spirit and character that had Old Trafford rocking right up until the final whistle and then beyond.
Just seven months later, many of those who would have been roused by every challenge, block and interception in February had already left by full time. Of those who stayed, some doubtlessly joined in with the booing.
Erik ten Hag could sympathise with his supporters. “I understand,” he said. “We play at home, we play Crystal Palace — we have to win, with all respect. I know every Premier League game is difficult but fans expect a win and we didn’t win. We lost.”
That shift in mood is stark and the sense of progress built over the course of last season is under threat. But how much has really changed? And to what extent could United’s struggles at the start of this season be foretold by how they ended the last?
That 2-1 victory over Palace in February was one of United’s 13 wins by the margin of a single goal last term — more than any other side in the Premier League. A narrow win earns you just as many points as a handsome one, of course, but too many can paper over cracks.
Despite the difference in mood between this season and last, one thing is consistent: United simply do not create enough and consequently do not score enough to win comfortably.
That was also the case last season when United scored just 58 goals — as many as ninth-placed Brentford, only one more than during the miserable 2021-22 campaign, and fewer than Manchester City hit in just their home games. That problem persists.
It is now six goals in seven league games. All three of their victories have come by a single goal. Only Nottingham Forest have had their defence breached more than once, in a 3-2 defeat at Old Trafford, and they had the worst defensive away record in the top flight last season.
Finishing is clearly an issue, as an expected goals (xG) tally of 11.3 compared to those six actual goals demonstrates, but the underlying numbers are still underwhelming numbers — only enough to rank mid-table going into the weekend.
United came away with 19 shots against Palace — more than enough to win, you would think — yet it was hard to describe any of those as clear-cut opportunities. Some of the best were snatched or contested headers at close range.
Arguably the best chance of the day fell to Rasmus Hojlund early on. After muscling off Marc Guehi to latch onto Marcus Rashford’s speculative ball over the top, he flicked the ball past goalkeeper Sam Johnstone, only to see Tyrick Mitchell sliding in to clear off the goal line.
Hojlund has time on his side and has shown enough in his early performances to suggest he will be a goal threat, but the form of others is coming to focus. Rashford’s difficult start continued, an ineffective display leading him to be hooked in the 77th minute despite United needing a goal.
Rashford and Onana after another frustrating United performance (Getty Images)
Alejandro Garnacho offered a spark upon his introduction after an hour but, for now, he appears to have lost Ten Hag’s trust to start games. Facundo Pellistri increasingly looks more like an impact player too. Antony will soon be back in contention, though is hardly known for his output.
Too often, the creative burden falls squarely on Bruno Fernandes’ shoulders. Unsurprisingly, the United captain created more chances, hit more accurate crosses and made more successful passes into the final third than any of his team-mates on Saturday, but it cannot always come down to him.
Despite all this, Ten Hag sounded satisfied with United’s attacking play against Palace. Up to a point, at least. “We are often in the right position in the final part,” he insisted, claiming the problem was decision-making.
“We get into the right spot and then you have to make the right decisions to create more. I think we created many occasions in front of the goal but we had to net and we didn’t. We can only blame ourselves.”
Given United’s number of shots, given a healthy 77 per cent of possession, Ten Hag was asked if he could simply consider his team unfortunate. “It’s not a matter of luck,” he said. “You can’t explain it like this.”
But any side that dominates a game in that way yet struggles to create a swell of clear-cut scoring opportunities is always leaving something to chance.
United’s fragile sense of optimism last season was powered by a lot of tightly contested matches where they fell on the right side of those margins.
On Saturday, one of last season’s narrow wins instead ended in a narrow defeat. And you only needed to look around an emptying, frustrated Old Trafford at full time to understand the difference that makes.
(Top photo: OLI SCARFF/AFP via Getty Images)
