Is This the Worst Season in the History of Manchester United?

After a shocking 4-0 defeat to 14th Crystal Palace, Manchester United falls to eighth in the league. Micheal Olise, got the scoring started off in the 12th minute after running through the United defense, sitting down Casemiro, and placing it past André Onana. Jean-Philippe Mateta then doubled the lead for the home side with a booming strike that left Onana with no chance. The third goal was then an easy tap-in from Tyrick Mitchell and when United summer transfer target, Olise doubled his goal tally with a curling strike from outside the box for the fourth goal, any hopes of a United second-half comeback were wiped away. This loss puts United in serious danger of having their worst-ever finish to a Premier League season. Their previous worst-ever performance in the league came in 2013-14, just a season after legendary manager Sir Alex Ferguson retired. This left new manager, Louis Van Gaal, with impossible shoes to fill, causing them to skid all the way down to seventh in the league. With United currently sitting at eighth they will be hoping to avoid a repeat of the 13-14 season or worse.

However, being unlucky has been the story of United’s season. Having a total of 64 cases of injury or illness that have caused a player to miss a match this season and only being able to field their best 11 once, a large portion of their struggle can be attributed to injuries. The United injury bug even got to their invincible captain, Bruno Fernandes, who missed a club game due to injury for the first time in his entire 11-year career today. The injuries have particularly affected their backline, where they had only one healthy center back today. This forced Casemiro, who normally plays in the midfield, into the back four, where he had an absolutely dreadful performance, losing the ball or running off his position for virtually every Palace goal.

While the injuries for United may have been difficult to watch, their play on the pitch hasn’t been much easier to see. This has been quite possibly the worst United side in recent history and their place in the table is very reflective of their play on the field. With today’s loss, they now have the most losses in a season in United’s entire history with 13 losses. Furthermore, after conceding four goals today, they are now likely to concede their most goals in a premier league season, having 55 goals allowed this season. This is only two off of the record 57 goals allowed, but with three games left, they are very likely to hit it, because of the staggering amount of goals they have conceded, and without the offense to match, they currently sit at a -3 goal differential, which if that continues, would be the first time for United to finish a Premier League season with a negative goal difference. 

While United have looked awful this season, they do still have three games to make up their place in the league table, however, it will be difficult. In order to finish above seventh and avoid their worst league finish, they would need to leapfrog both Newcastle and Chelsea, who sit at sixth and seventh respectively. And with their last three opponents being Arsenal, Newcastle, and Brighton they have no easy fixtures. This makes it seemingly impossible with their recent play that they will pick up points through that schedule. Yet, despite this poor season, Manchester United is a club where the impossible is possible. And with their next two at home and possibly the final games in Ol’ Trafford, the place they call “The Theater of Dreams”, there is always a fighter chance they can snatch a victory from the jaws of defeat and avoid this being their worst season in history.