Manchester United have gone to the dogs. Just over six years after Alex Ferguson's departure, the club are in a place they never would have thought possible. They are miles away from contending from major honours with their form only getting worse.
The decision to appoint Ole Gunnar Solskjaer back in March now seems like the wrong one. Even if the problems at the club run far deeper than him, he certainly does not seem like the man to turn things around.
Surely things couldn't get much worse for United? Considering their spending power and the size of the club, things could surely only be up from here? According to one man, things could get very dark indeed.
Speaking on talkSPORT today, Sam Allardyce said he reckons Manchester United could actually be relegated this season if they don't begin to improve soon. More specifically, he feels that their form in front of goal needs to experience a major turnaround.
The former England manager has been involved in a relegation battle or two himself, and uses the example of the 1974 Manchester United team has an example of how quickly things can go south. That team went down just six years after winning the European Cup.
They (the 1974 team) went down with a terrific team on paper. So it isn’t beyond the realms of possibility that they could catastrophically fall into more problems if confidence goes and injuries stay like they are.
Players tend not to get as fit as quick as they would do when things are going well, that’s an absolute fact.
There’s the disturbance of [Paul] Pogba wanting away and who will pop up next saying, ‘I see this going the wrong way, I want to leave’?
Manchester United do not have enough goals and you can see it becoming a struggle. Hopefully it’s not a struggle down the bottom end, but they’re certainly heading that way.
Ole’s got a big job, I know they say it’s a rebuilding time and it is a rebuilding time, but you can’t get rid of your best goalscorer in the squad and not replace him. That’s a huge problem.
Where are they going to get the top striker that they want?
While Manchester United may have only scored nine goals this season, a relegation battle would seem like a major push. They may only sit two points above 18th place at the moment, but you would imagine they will pull further away from that mark as the season goes on.
How high they finish is an altogether different matter and it looks like it could be a long season at Old Trafford.
