Manchester United’s dismal start to the season has sparked an uncomfortable question at Old Trafford: are the Red Devils genuinely at risk of a relegation scrap? With just seven points from nine games, the numbers make for grim reading.
Manchester United (Credits: BBC Sport)
The Brutal Math Behind United’s Start
If United continued their current points pace for the full season, they would finish on fewer than 30 points — a tally that almost always means relegation. Manager Michael Carrick knows this story all too well: he was relegated once as a player with West Ham in 2002-03, a Hammers side that had David James, Joe Cole and Jermain Defoe yet still went down with 42 points, the highest relegation tally in a 38-game Premier League season.
United have not sat in the relegation zone after nine games or more since November 1986 — Sir Alex Ferguson’s first month in charge. Their current 17th-place standing matches their lowest position at this stage since 1989-90. It is now nine games in all competitions without a win, their worst run since 1988-89, with a single Premier League win all season — a comeback victory over Ipswich in August.
Chelsea Defeat Piles on the Pressure
The latest blow came Saturday, as Chelsea beat 10-man United 2-0 at Old Trafford, with Lisandro Martinez’s sending-off and goals from Morgan Rogers and Cole Palmer heaping more pressure on Carrick. Asked whether his players can handle the mentality shift required, Carrick responded: “We’ve got to keep moving forward and winning games, simple as that.”
The fixture list offers little mercy. United face Aston Villa at home on 8 November, then trips to Liverpool, Newcastle and Arsenal among their next seven games. There is as yet no word on Carrick’s future, though before Saturday the expectation was that he would be in charge for Tuesday’s Champions League tie with Roma.
Uncharted waters, indeed — but as Carrick himself put it, in order to save themselves, United need to win matches.
Also Read: Chelsea 2-0 Man Utd: Martinez Red Card and Rogers-Palmer Goals Leave Carrick on the Brink | Oliver Glasner Fears He Will Be Nottingham Forest’s Next Sacking as Brentford Defeat Leaves Them 19th
Source: BBC Sport — read the full story there.
