What United is going through now reminds me a lot of what Liverpool went through to start last season. Liverpool in 21/22 played the most (or close to) matches of any team prior season. They started the season sluggish. There were a ton of injuries. It looked like wheels were falling off and some started questioning if Klopp’s time was limited.

United played the most (or close to) matches in 22/23. Now they have started the next season slow. They have a ton of injuries, players are sluggish, and people are questioning ETH. Albeit they do have 5 more points than Liverpool had after 10 matches last season.

I wonder if what we are starting to see, as UEFA and FIFA keep packing the schedule, is teams that can’t field two squads, will go through more cycles of ups and downs as they run teams in ground one year to compete on multiple fronts, and then have to spend a year recovering.