We look back at Manchester United’s worst starts to a season following their poor form in 2024-25 so far.
Manchester United have started their 2024-25 campaign in miserable fashion. Red Devils’ fans would have thought 2023-24 was bad enough, when they won just 15 points from their opening 10 Premier League matches, but this season has seen them pick up three points fewer – just 12 after 10 games.
Their next Premier League match sees them host Leicester City at Old Trafford on Sunday 10 November, knowing that a win for the away side will see United fall below the Foxes in the table.
Erik ten Hag has gone and Rúben Amorim has been announced as his successor. With the Portuguese boss taking charge on 11 November, how bad could things be on his arrival?
Man Utd’s Worst Ever Start to a Season
One consolation for Manchester United fans is that this isn’t anywhere near as bad as their start in 1930-31. The Red Devils didn’t win a single point in any of their opening 12 games of that season, losing all 12 matches. That run is still the longest losing sequence to start an English Football League season ever… by any club.
Unsurprisingly, Man Utd ended that season bottom of the league and relegated to the second division, conceding 115 goals across their 42 matches. That defensive record wasn’t the worst in Division One that season, however – Blackpool outdid them with 125 goals shipped but avoided relegation by a single point ahead of Leeds United.
When did Manchester United Last Start a Season so Badly?
This has been Manchester United’s worst start to a Premier League season after 10 games, winning one point fewer than they managed at this stage of the 2014-15 season (13) under David Moyes. They ended that campaign in seventh place, and Moyes – the chosen successor of long-term manager Alex Ferguson – didn’t last the season in charge.
Including all seasons before the Premier League, this is Man Utd’s lowest points tally (12) after 10 games since 1986-87, when they only managed to win eight points from 10 games (W2 D2 L6). Ron Atkinson was the manager back then, but he was to last just 13 league games that season before being replaced by Ferguson, who arrived from Aberdeen.
United have tallied just three league wins this season, with the club winning fewer after 10 games of a season on just 10 previous occasions – the last being that campaign under Atkinson back in 1986-87 (2).
Are Man Utd Scoring an Unusually Low Number of Goals?
Put simply, yes.
This is the 122nd English league season that Manchester United have played in, and in only one have they scored fewer goals after 10 league games than in 2024-25 (9).
Back in 1972-73, United scored just seven goals in their opening 10 Division One matches – their worst tally at this stage of a season. They ended that campaign 18th out of 22 teams and only just avoided relegation.
There have been two other seasons where the Red Devils tallied just nine goals in their opening 10 league games – 1970-71 and 1973-74 (when they were relegated to the second tier).
Only Crystal Palace (8) and Southampton (7) have scored fewer Premier League goals than Man Utd this season, while United’s expected goals underperformance (-7.8) is the worst in the competition and their shot conversion rate (6.4%) is only better than Palace’s (5.5%).
Amorim has one heck of a job on his hands, with United’s top-four hopes getting slimmer by the week.
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