Calamitous misfits could be United's 'worst ever team'

As Manchester United celebrated and commemorated their past, they made the wrong sort of history, the sort that led Ruben Amorim to wonder if this is their worst-ever team.

- RICHARD JOLLY

The juxtaposition of glories in previous days and current struggles can be awkward, occasionally unfair. But after the tributes to Denis Law, came the troubles. United finished with a defeat to Brighton that drew comparisons to a time almost seven decades before Law became the king of the Stretford End. For the first time since 1893, United have lost six of their opening 12 home league games. Then they were called Newton Heath, had just moved to Bank Street, were in their second season in the Football League and earned just 14 points.

Now? “We are the worst team maybe in the history of Manchester United,” said Amorim, whose 11 games have yielded just 11 points. “We have to acknowledge that and change that. In [the last] nine games in the Premier League, we won two, I know that. It is unacceptable to lose so many games for any club in the Premier League, imagine Manchester United.”

And yet it is their new norm. After a wreath was laid for Law by three 1968 European Cup-winning players, in Alex Stepney, Paddy Crerand and Brian Kidd, and the 1999 and 2008 Champions League-winning manager, in Sir Alex Ferguson, the team marooned in 13th place lost for the fourth time in five outings at Old Trafford. Yankuba Minteh, Kaoru Mitoma and Georgino Rutter chalked up Brighton’s regular win over United.

That Law’s final kick of the ball was a backheeled winner for Manchester City as United were relegated is an illustration their past is not unblemished. Nevertheless, this is shaping up as United’s poorest league season for decades. “Everybody here is underperforming, no matter what the circumstances,” said Amorim. That includes him and, as he pointed out, his results are even poorer than the sacked Erik ten Hag’s.