Craig Burley explains why Manchester United’s latest poor performance is an organizational failure. (2:02)
Manchester United ended 2024 with their worst-ever Premier League calendar year points tally, and the club’s worst since 1989, after Monday’s 2-0 home defeat against Newcastle United saw the team earn just 51 points between January and December.
Head coach Ruben Amorim, who replaced Erik Ten Hag in November, has won 4 and lost six of his 11 games in all competitions, with United now in the Premier League relegation zone, either in trouble and positions, which the champions League qualification place.
Six defeats in December have been United’s most since September 1930, and they conceded 18 goals for the month, equaling the high in March 1964.
United’s overall points tally for the calendar year is by some distance their lowest since the Premier League began in 1992-93. The club’s previous low tally was set in 2022 when United registered 59 points over the 12-month period — the first time the team had failed win at least 60 points in a year of Premier League games.
The current United race reflects the form shown by the Sir Alex Ferguson team in 1989, when the team won 50 editions throughout the year.
In December 1989, United fans wanted Ferguson sacked and displayed banners at Old Trafford urging him to leave his job. Six months later, Ferguson won his first major trophy for the club by lifting the FA Cup.
United, who face runaway league leaders Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday, have now suffered five defeats in a month for the first time since 1962, and the Newcastle defeat ensured that they lost three successive home league games for the first time since 1979.