How well did Manchester United do in the 2021/22 Premier League season?

Yet the Frenchman was barely ever fit, the Englishman struggled to adapt under two different managers who had different ideas on how to play him while struggling to figure out how to play him while the Portuguese superstar scored goals. But there is an overwhelming consensus that United went down the hill as a team because of Ronaldo although that is neither here or there. In the end, the only reason that Manchester United aren’t playing Europa Conference League football is that West Ham United dropped the ball.

Yet while their offence was, on average, the sixth best in the league, their defence might have been a few tiers below that as United finished with the eighth-worst goals against record (57). As if that wasn’t enough, they had the fifth worst PSxG (Post-Shot Expected Goals) (60.7) although their PSxG+/- (Post-Shot Expected Goals minus goals allowed) was a +6.7.

That means United handing David De Gea their player of the season award wasn’t enough as he stopped the club from conceding at least six more goals, a tally bettered by only Wolves and Jose Sa. Although that didn’t help him keep any clean sheets as United finished with the fifth worst clean sheet percentage (21.1%). Furthermore, the Red Devils committed the sixth most errors leading to a shot (12), committed the tenth most fouls (474) and had the eighth worst successful pressure percentage (28.8%).

Improvements they’ve made so far:

So far, they have with the arrivals of Christian Eriksen, Tyrell Malacia and Lisandro Martinez but Paul Pogba, Nemanja Matic, Juan Mata and Jesse Lingard’s departures leave holes that need to be filled. That is something United haven’t even come close to filling yet although a dream move for Frenkie de Jong is reportedly on the horizon provided the club can convince him to leave Barcelona despite the fact that he doesn’t want to and ignore the fact that they (Barcelona) owe him millions.

Even then, signing De Jong won’t cover all their problems as the lack of a proper defensive midfielder will indubitably hurt the club as it has in the past. But Martinez’s arrival to help Harry Maguire and Victor Lindelof in defence will be a boon especially given the talent he possesses. And yet, the bigger problem could be Cristiano Ronaldo as reports, and his agent, have indicated that the forward has no intention of staying at Old Trafford any longer. 

How well could Manchester United do in the 2022/23 Premier League season?

This is a tricky one because, at the moment, nobody has any idea what on earth Manchester United could do and that’s a list that most definitely includes even their most loyal fans. This team, on paper, should be a top-six competitor at best but given that it is Erik ten Hag’s first season in a new country, at a new team and in a new league, it means that things could go haywire.

It should, and very likely will, be a top six place but should Arsenal and Tottenham collapse then things could happen. Even then, United fighting for a top four spot might be out of their reach unless they somehow manage to sign a defensive midfielder, a new right-back, a new forward and squad players for every other position over the next month or so. Yet even if they do manage to do that, then it’s unlikely beyond a collapse from Tottenham, Arsenal and/or Chelsea.