Lack of goals makes it hard for Erik’s men
UNBEATEN in 2024, with five wins in six games, Manchester United are starting to look like a winning machine again.
That’s not to say they have become trophy challengers again. They clearly now have the jump on faltering Aston Villa in terms of form, but there is one underlying issue that means Spurs, or Villa, will pip them to fourth place.
Despite an upturn this year, United’s Premier League goalscoring record is poor. Just 33 goals. Everyone else in the top seven is in the 50s.
Maybe Rasmus Hojlund is finding his touch, and while they have Alejandro Garnacho and Marcus Rashford too, all are stuck on five goals in the league.
You don’t finish top four with Scott Mctominay as your top marksman. He’s currently on just seven goals.
MIKE WALTERS
TWO lucky wins, in which they had to survive 45 goal attempts, doesn’t make United Champions League material.
They were flattered by a 3-0 win against West Ham, and pinned back in their own half for long periods at Aston Villa on Sunday, so spare us the propaganda that Erik ten Hag (top) is a genius.
He still doesn’t know his best central-defensive partnership and he’s still more likely to get a tune out of a subway busker than £85million enigma Antony.
Let’s put it this way: If United had to play at Tottenham, Brighton or Brentford tomorrow, would you back them to win? If the answer is ‘no’ in one, two or all three instances, then a top-four finish is unlikely.
As for going to Anfield, the Etihad or the Emirates... don’t even think about it. So Champions League football at Old Trafford next season? If there are only four places up for grabs, the chances are slim and none. And slim is out of town right now.
JOHN CROSS
THE top four, in my opinion, will end up being Manchester City, Liverpool, Arsenal and Tottenham. That means United will be relying on the Premier League to sneak a fifth Champions League slot. There are extra places available for next season’s new-look competition and at the start of the season it looked like a shoo-in for English clubs to get a fifth slot. But United crashing out in the group stage did no-one any favours – especially themselves. However, if City and Arsenal go deep into the knockout stages then all is not lost.
And I fancy United to push Aston Villa very close for fifth. In their next seven games they only face one opponent who is above them: Manchester City.
If United are to get into
Europe they have to expect to beat Luton, Fulham, Everton, Sheffield United, Brentford and Chelsea. I think they will sneak into the Champions League by the skin of their teeth.
NEIL MOXLEY
YES, but only if qualification extends to the fifth place. United aren’t going to catch the top three – forget that – so you’re talking about fourth or fifth place to qualify for the Champions League.
With potentially four more games in the FA Cup, Ten Hag’s players aren’t going to be overworked, so they’ll stay relatively fresh. I think that will matter because a few of them are still in their first full season – Alejandro Garnacho, Rasmus Hojlund and Kobbie Mainoo – for instance, so that will help.
Their problems are at the back with Lisandro Martinez’s absence. Villa should have earned themselves a point and Ten Hag’s side got out of jail at Molineux.
Who are they going to overhaul? It was a big weekend for Spurs. I think they’ll nab fourth but United might sneak fifth from Villa who are struggling themselves, defensively. So, a tentative ‘yes’ but they still look miles off the pace set by the top three.
ANDY DUNN
AFTER 24 Premier League matches, United have a goal difference of zero and you have to go as far down as 13th-placed Bournemouth to find a team that has scored fewer.
So, let’s not get carried away by a run of three victories, the last of which was against an Aston Villa team who dominated large parts of the game.
While there has been distinct improvement in this United team, is it better than Villa and Spurs, the sides above Ten Hag’s men? The answer, quite simply, is no. And that is why there will be no Champions League football at Old Trafford next season.