After a fifth-place finish with their lowest points tally in recent Premier League history, Manchester United hoped to banish any ghosts of the previous season and fight again for a Premier League trophy or a top-four place at least. The Red Devils announced the appointment of Erik Ten Hag after the Dutch Manager’s impressive work with Ajax over the past few seasons. They also brought in the likes of Lisandro Martinez and Antony from Ten Hag’s former club, Tyrell Malacia from Feeynord, Christian Eriksen on a free transfer and Casemiro from Real Madrid.

All hopes of having a spectacular season quickly vanished after the opening two games where the Red Devils lost to Brighton and Brentford. They looked like they did last season and couldn’t compete with their opposition. However, things started to turn around for the Red Devils after a 2-1 victory against Liverpool. They went on to win four consecutive league games including beating Arsenal but were humble by Rivals, Manchester City who scored six against the 20-time Premier League Champions.

Since then the Red Devils have been impressive with Marcos Rashford rediscovering his form, scoring 14 league goals. United also got the better of Manchester City in the second leg, beat Barcelona in the Europa League play-off and ended their five-year trophy drought with Carabao Cup success. The terrible results have been few and between. The Red Devils were outplayed by Arsenal and thrashed at Anfield a fortnight ago.

United currently sit fifth in the Premier League with 50 points, in contrast they had the same amount of points last season having played two games more than they have this season. They look a bit more formidable and have the best squad compared to last season. They’ve also shown in games that mattered and played some exciting football. However, they’ve been moments when they played like they did last season, their defence is still leaking goals (they rank 8th for goals conceded) and they’re still unable to do the basic things at times.

So, yes, they are slightly better than they were last season but they’ll only improve.