With the TV cameras zooming in on the ‘few’ home fans that remained at full-time, many could be heard to voice their frustration at the final whistle. Following this 0 – 2 loss at home, former United midfielder Darren Fletcher commented, ”The chanting, the atmosphere really turned toxic for the first time. How long can this go on?’’ Ex- United defender Rio Ferdinand was also not very complimentary, “I can’t defend this. What has been invested?” Statistics show that since Solskjaer was made permanent manager in March last year, United have lost more Premier League games (12) than they have won (11). United are still chasing that all elusive fourth place, to be able to qualify for the Champions League. In spite of everything, The Boss maintains his confidence in a top four finish. United remain in 5th place in spite of two consecutive defeats but with Sheffield United, Wolves, Spurs and Southampton breathing down United’s neck, not to mention another five teams, Arsenal amongst them, all just four points behind United. United remain six points behind Chelsea.
At the start of the last decade Manchester United’s squad cost £238 million; at the start of this decade the cost is £820 million. In spite of this, United’s lack of depth of squad is very evident, both due to injuries and due the lack of action in the transfer market. In this match United had 72% possession, as well as territorial advantage but no end product. Again our forwards missed a number of chances that should really have been put away. United had 24 shots on goal, with just 5 on target. Burnley had just two on target but two goals.
In my view the player that really made an effort in attack was Wan-Bissaka. He was United’s greatest goal threat, in spite of known best for tackling well. He was clearly United’s most potent force. On four occasions he picked out red shirts with crosses before Burnley opened the scoring. Every chance was however wasted.
Burnley’s win at Old Trafford was their first in 58 years. In all fairness, it was the third season in a row that Burnley had gone 2-0 up at Old Trafford, but for the first time they hung on for all three points.
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