United are not up to standard

HELLO my good football people, I trust you're all doing well. Wishing you all a safe and enjoyable festive period.

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It's lovely having a bit of time off during this part of the year, with plenty of football on TV! I'm actually having a few lads over for the first time this season (on Saturday) to watch a couple of games, chat s**t and reminisce about how we were once all able to run for 90 minutes! As we close in on the end of 2025, like most of you (I think), nothing seems to be completely clear regarding who is going to end up where on the Premier League standings? And which managers are likely to keep their jobs?

Watching Manchester United on Sunday, I thought they looked alright, however, following the 2-1 defeat to Aston Villa, Ruben Amorim said: "I think we were the better team today. We were unlucky, even with the injury of Bruno [Fernandes], but during the game even without him, we were the better team.

Were they? It was an open game, but I thought Villa always looked the more likely to score. The reality is, this United team (and coach) are definitely not United standard. I think we can all agree on that. I support the philosophy of giving time, but it just feels like the United of old is a million miles away from this current set up.

Struggling