Sure, Manchester United had a nice October. And OK, they are currently in sixth place in the Premier League. But, I mean, have you seen them play?
United eked out a recent stretch of five wins from six matches, thanks to five of those matches and all of those wins coming against teams in the bottom half of the table. Although United are just two spots out of fourth, they have the 12th-best goal differential in the 20-team Premier League. The worst goal difference to finish fourth in the Premier League was Everton at minus-1 in 2004-05. Next-worst after that was Chelsea at plus-15 in 2019-20. The average is plus-27. Man United are at minus-3.
In other words, they're incredibly fortunate to even be in sixth place.
United just lost 3-0 at home to Bournemouth. And their previous loss came to a reeling, injury-plagued Newcastle team that's been getting run off the field by every other team they meet. Next up, Bayern Munich come to Old Trafford for the Champions League. Then, it's off to Anfield to take on the team sitting atop the Premier League table, Liverpool. Although Bayern have nothing to play for in the last game of the Champions League group stages, United are still underdogs, according to ESPN BET. And although United finished ahead of them last season, United's implied win probability against Liverpool is just 15%, based on the betting odds.
After last season's third-place finish and a summer that saw more than €200 million spent on transfer fees for four players at key positions, why is this team suddenly so bad?
Let us rank the reasons, from the most blameworthy to the least.