Taking stock of Manchester United’s season so far at Christmas: Erik ten Hag’s side struggles in every way

Manchester United go into Christmas Day off the back of Saturday’s 2-0 Premier league loss away at West Ham United now on a four-game losing streak across all competitions as part of a run of torrid form, which has not even seen a single goal scored by Erik ten Hag’s men.

The league form, which had been United’s saving grace for much of the past few months, has largely dried up to the point that they are at least six points off of the European places given that Manchester rivals City — currently down to fifth in the EPL — have a game in hand after winning the FIFA Club World Cup.

Next up for Ten Hag’s Red Devils is an Aston Villa visit on Boxing Day with Unai Emery’s men keen to make up for a disappointing draw at home to Sheffield United on Friday which cost the Villans top spot in the Premier League table this Christmas after Liverpool and Arsenal drew.

We will take a look at United’s season so far and try to take stock of it, starting with a general overview of how Ten Hag’s troops are faring across the board.

Season so far

League: United are eighth in the Premier League table on a run of three straight defeats and six points off of the UEFA qualification places which could grow assuming that City get at least one point from their game in hand.

Europe: United are out of all forms of continental competition after finishing bottom of UEFA Champions League Group A behind Bayern Munich, FC Copenhagen and Galatasaray, winning just one game and losing four.

Domestic cups: United lost in the EFL Cup fourth round and were eliminated 3-0 by Newcastle United at Old Trafford back in early November while the FA Cup has not started properly just yet with Wigan Athletic away their upcoming third round opponents.

Reasons to be pessimistic

United fans feel like things cannot get any worse right now but unfortunately they could with Villa up next in the Premier League and a banana skin of an FA Cup third round tie against Wigan which screams giant killing. Ten Hag looks like he has lost the United dressing room with another performance devoid of anything truly positive and not even a goal to show for their efforts at London Stadium this weekend. In fact, the goal situation is so bad that five of United’s last six games across all competitions have been scoreless and that barren run has included dropping out of Europe altogether. To make matters worse, Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s arrival at Old Trafford with a minority stake, which fans hope will mark the start of a turnaround for the club, keeps being delayed and could now drag into 2024 when the hope had been that it would be sorted and underway before the end of 2023.

Reasons to be optimistic

Although things feel bleak for those of a United persuasion right now, Christmas is generally a time to disconnect and reconnect with family and friends at a time of general goodwill — no better time that the present if you are a Red Devil. If that is too difficult to do, then at least Ten Hag’s men are fairly comfortable in the top half of the table owing largely to a good run of form which kept a significant amount of pressure off when only Premier League form was worth shouting about. Six points separates United in eighth from Bournemouth in 11th which is about equidistant to the European places right now ahead of the second half of the campaign. The business half of term itself is also a reason for optimism with players due to return to fitness which started with Christian Eriksen against the Hammers this weekend ahead of the festive period. There is also the prospect of a deep FA Cup run to consider which could be a major target for the team as they enter 2024 and start with a winnable game against Wigan.