Manchester United family, happy New Year! May this 2024 be amazing to you all, but also to our club. That is exactly what we will be writing about today – what could these 366 days in front of us have in store for the Red Devils.
We are not going to precisely predict what will happen, but we will look into what is possible and what our hopes are, considering things have not been so rosy in 2023. It was a rollercoaster year for Man United, with successes and failures all over the place, but now the hope is that the ride will be on the upward trajectory in 2024.
Premier League – Top Four Seems Out Of Reach, But Fifth Place?
Manchester United welcomed 2024 in eighth place, behind the likes of West Ham and Brighton, and with mere 31 points from 20 matches. This means they are currently nine points behind Arsenal, who are sitting in fourth place. So the race for the Champions League is definitely not over, there is still so much football to be played. But with the way United have been performing, it seems Europa League is a more realistic proposition. With Liverpool, Man City and Arsenal going so strong, but also Tottenham pushing them, United would need to get on a run of results that we have not seen from them since end of 2022 and start of 2023. The good thing is that there are big chances for England to get a fifth place in the Champions League. That could be their chance.
Other Competitions
WIth United out of Europe, this first half of year will see them only play in FA Cup as well, which is set to start in a week for the Devils. Man United will hope for another good run, after last year’s final loss at Wembley, but that will probably not determine how good of a season this will turn out to be. Next autumn could see United play in revamped UEFA competitions, with eight group stage matches, but the hopes are we will not have to wait for 2025 to see Champions League football at Old Trafford.
The Team
Maybe the toughest thing to predict right now is the direction in which this Man United team will go in terms of personnel. First of all, Erik Ten Hag is not so safe in his position and if he is to remain the manager, the Dutchman will have to rapidly improve this team on the pitch. Then, there are the fans’ expectations for new signings, especially since INEOS came into the club with Sir Jim Ratcliffe. The January transfer window is now open, but with how some of the signings turned out in the past year, it will be interesting to see who will have the main say in who comes in. Ten Hag’s track record in this regard was not good and United cannot allow themselves to keep making mistakes. Our guess is Man United will not make big signings this month, while they will offload a couple of players – including Jadon Sancho.