Manchester United Need New Inspiration At Old Trafford

The Premier League table currently makes for uncomfortable viewing for Manchester United.

Five games in to the new season United are mired in fifteenth position just three places above the relegation zone.

Following their 0-0 draw with Chelsea on Saturday United have now won just twice in their opening five league games.

The most alarming problem for this stumbling United side is their continuing inability to win at home at Old Trafford.

United have so far lost 3-1 to Crystal Palace, been humiliated 6-1 by Tottenham and on Saturday failed to find a way past Chelsea, which makes this season the first time since 1972 that they have failed to win in their first three league home games.

This comes at the same time United cannot stop winning on their travels, and their impressive 2-1 win at Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League on Tuesday set a club record for 10 consecutive away wins in all competitions.

The United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is struggling for answers why his team can’t repeat their away form at Old Trafford, but is increasingly highlighting the lack of fans.

'If we had that stadium or the Stretford End full we could have created more urgency [against Chelsea], it lacks, that game lacks,” Solskjaer complained on Saturday.

“You're here watching the game and it's a different sport. We miss the fans. It's the same for all teams but everyone agrees that football now has a little less in it, the edge has gone and we can't wait to get the fans back.”

Solskjaer does have a point. In the final stages of Saturday’s game United were attacking the Stretford End and desperately trying to find a late winner.

But in an empty stadium, where the only noise was the players’ voices on the pitch, United looked flat, without the inspiration of 76,000 fans.

The clichés about the Stetford End being worth an extra man or almost sucking the ball in to the net do have some foundation.

All those dramatic “Fergie time” winners under Sir Alex Ferguson probably wouldn’t have happened in empty stadiums.

But fans have not been allowed in to Premier League stadiums since the coronavirus outbreak in March, and there are no signs they will be let back any time soon.

This is the new normal and United will have to adapt quickly.

Solskjaer did try to tweak United’s pre-match routine to help make this game feel more familiar.

Normally United spend the night before each home game in a central Manchester hotel before travelling together on a coach to Old Trafford.

But during the pandemic United’s players have been spending the night at their own homes and driving themselves to Old Trafford.

For Chelsea’s visit to Old Trafford, Solskjaer returned to staying in a hotel, but it made little difference to their plodding performance.

United couldn’t recreate their midweek Champions League heroics and drifted through an unremarkable ninety minutes.

To some surprise Solskjaer started with the same side who had beaten Newcastle 4-1 a week earlier, which meant the retention of Dan James, while Mason Greenwood, Paul Pogba, Donny van de Beek and Edinson Cavani had to be content with a place on the bench.

Throughout the game United struggled to create chances, with Marcus Rashford spurning the best one in the first half when he went through one-on-one against Edouard Mendy, but could only hit his shot at the Chelsea goalkeeper’s legs.

In the second half Pogba, Greenwood and debutant Cavani were all thrown on to find a winner, but the nearest United came was when Mendy thwarted Rashford again.

Chelsea offered little threat themselves, but should have been given a penalty when Harry Maguire had Cesar Azpilicueta in a headlock while they waited for a corner, but both the referee and the VAR assistants surprisingly ignored the incident.