Last week’s Champions League exit seemed to declare this a lost season for Jose Mourinho and Manchester United. At best, they could win the FA Cup, after reaching the semi-finals following Saturday’s 2-0 win over Brighton, but with the Premier League title long gone, one domestic cup won’t be enough to declare this season a success.
So the question is, have United actually progressed since last season?
In 2016/17, they won the League Cup and Europa League, admittedly the two less coveted trophies in their domains, but tangible achievements for Mourinho nonetheless. The latter trophy was important in how the season was viewed, bringing as it did Champions League football to the club – a prize many will say United wasted with their limp performance against Sevilla last week.
Based on the expectations they had going into this season, there’s no doubt that potential second place and FA Cup success is a disappointment. But that doesn’t mean this season should be written off.
At this point last season, United were three places, eight points, and 12 goals worse off. They had only one player who scored 10 plus league goals – a number that could be as high as four this season.
Players have improved as well – Jesse Lingard, Marcus Rashford, and Anthony Martial are all better, a notch against those who say Mourinho can’t develop young players – and, for all the many plodding displays, they are playing better as a whole than last season.
The development of Romelu Lukaku is the biggest positive, as he’s getting his first real chance at a big club and showing the ability and temperament to be a top-notch striker.
Man United currently have 2.17 points per game (83-84 for the season). The average points required to win the title are 2.15 and 83 points would be enough to win the title in 10/17 last seasons. pic.twitter.com/aASbPlI0OL
— Dhagash Shah (@DhagashS) March 15, 2018
The big-game negativity is still an issue – but it’s gotten them wins against Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea, and Tottenham this season, 13 points from an available 21 so far, although only four from 12 away from home.
And, of course, there is Paul Pogba, who’s tied for third in league assists at the moment and was having a good season up until January, and then seems to have regressed – or at least, stagnated.
The reasons for this could be plenty – having too much defensive work to do, struggling to adapt to Alexis Sanchez’s arrival, or his relationship with Mourinho allegedly breaking down.
At the end of the day, he’s also a 24-year-old in his second full season in the Premier League. He’s still having more of an impact than last year, a fact that can get lost in the noise surrounding the Frenchman.
There is a chance that the season still ends trophy-less – Spurs in the semi-finals is a big obstacle in the FA Cup – and that will tint the perception of this season. And even if they do win the competition, Mourinho, for all his talk of ‘football heritage’, will admit (if only to himself) that he would have expected to do better.
Progress can sometimes come in dramatic upturns – see Chelsea last season, and Manchester City this, and the way those teams succeeded.
But progress can also come incrementally. For all the grumbling around United this season, there’s enough evidence to suggest that that’s happening.
If they hold onto second place it’ll be their highest finish of the post-Sir Alex Ferguson era. Good enough? By United’s exceedingly high standards, perhaps not. But another step in the right direction? Absolutely.
