Man United 2023/24 season review and player ratings: Mainoo 9, Fernandes 8, Rashford 5


Andy Mitten
  • English
  • Arabic

Season synopsis

Premier League final position: 8th

Champions League: Eliminated in the group stage, with one win from six.

FA Cup: Winners, defeating Manchester City in the final.

League Cup: Fourth round, knocked out by Newcastle United.

Performance of the season

Manchester City 1 Manchester United 2: Tactically perfect against an opponent considered close to footballing perfection. Every selection made by Erik ten Hag – including some huge calls such as Sofyan Amrabat over Casemiro – worked. They were all helped by the 4-2-2-2 (or 4-2-4) tactics, which were defending in smaller zones and spaces and not exposing substandard or not fully fit players.

That meant that Raphael Varane, Lisandro Martinez, Amrabat and Marcus Rashford were all protected by the tactics – they would have struggled had United been asked to press all over the pitch. United went in hard with this strategy, and it worked like a dream with every player excelling.

Worst performance of the season

Crystal Palace 4 Manchester United 0: Just awful, from start to finish. United were loaded with injuries and had to play midfielder Casemiro as a central defender alongside Evans, who’d only been back in training for two days after five weeks out. The United side struggled against Palace’s direct and physical style and were 2-0 down at half time, a deficit which had doubled by the 66th minute.

The travelling fans, however, saved their best performance of the season for the night at a hard to reach Selhurst Park, singing long after the final whistle in support of their club.

Thriller of season

Manchester United 4 Liverpool 3: Liverpool were clear favourites to come to Old Trafford and knock Erik ten Hag’s side out of the FA Cup. Liverpool still had a chance of a treble. Yet United took the lead before the scoring went 1-0, 1-1, 1-2, 2-2 (Antony in the 87th minute), 2-3 (Harvey Elliot, and how 9,000 travelling fans loved it), 3-3 before Amad Diallo scored a 102nd minute winner.

“We didn’t really get control of the game, so the manager told us to be more aggressive,” said Harry Maguire afterwards. He put on an attacker and basically said, ‘Go man for man.’ I was up against the striker, full-backs against the wingers, man for man all over the pitch. It worked. It enabled us to get a bit higher up the pitch, put a bit more pressure on, because there was a period in the second half when I felt like we were letting the game drift away a little. Credit to the manager to see and recognise that.”

When Jurgen Klopp had calmed down after the game, he was quite magnanimous.

“We go 3-2 up, all good,” said the German. “Then they score, 3-3, 4-3. Come on, easily can accept that, congratulations to United, they fought extremely hard as well. That’s how it is … ”

The reaction of United’s players to Amad scoring the winner was joyous for several reasons. On one level, the obvious one – a last minute extra time winner in front of the Stretford End to make it 4-3 against Liverpool was the best moment of the season so far. But they were also delighted for Amad who’d had a difficult journey to Manchester and who felt he deserved more chances this season. After his winner against Liverpool, he’d get them.

Player of season

Diogo Dalot: The bar was set low by Manchester United’s previously high standards, but Dalot, 25, played 50 times for United in season 2023-24 and just staying fit was a big plus. And he usually played well. Diogo is quick, his strength and endurance has improved. He’s strong. He’s developed into a strong, multifaceted asset.

He’s sociable and connects with everyone in the squad. His English is excellent to bond with the English lads, but he gets on really well with the Portuguese and Spanish speakers. Cristiano Ronaldo had a big impact on him. Diogo was on awe of Cristiano, but in a good way to learn how to be a top footballer and they’re now friends.

Goal of season

Alejandro Garnacho v Everton: It’s November 2023 and Manchester United are under serious pressure as they travel to Everton who having been docked 10 points, need a win. Garnacho starts while a Youth cup teammate, Kobbie Mainoo, makes his Premier League debut. Goodison Park is febrile, fans protest with red cards calling the Premier League corrupt.

They are silenced minutes into the game by Garnacho’s overhead free-kick which sails into the Park End goal. It’s wondrous, a rare high in a season of lows and 3,000 Reds in the Bullens Road break out into ‘Viva Garnacho’ – to the tune of his hero ‘Viva Ronaldo’.

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Ads on social media can 'normalise' drugs

A UK report on youth social media habits commissioned by advocacy group Volteface found a quarter of young people were exposed to illegal drug dealers on social media.

The poll of 2,006 people aged 16-24 assessed their exposure to drug dealers online in a nationally representative survey.

Of those admitting to seeing drugs for sale online, 56 per cent saw them advertised on Snapchat, 55 per cent on Instagram and 47 per cent on Facebook.

Cannabis was the drug most pushed by online dealers, with 63 per cent of survey respondents claiming to have seen adverts on social media for the drug, followed by cocaine (26 per cent) and MDMA/ecstasy, with 24 per cent of people.

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The burning issue

The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE. 

Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on

Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins

Read part two: how climate change drove the race for an alternative 

The years Ramadan fell in May

1987

1954

1921

1888

The Voice of Hind Rajab

Starring: Saja Kilani, Clara Khoury, Motaz Malhees

Director: Kaouther Ben Hania

Rating: 4/5

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Company profile

Date started: January, 2014

Founders: Mike Dawson, Varuna Singh, and Benita Rowe

Based: Dubai

Sector: Education technology

Size: Five employees

Investment: $100,000 from the ExpoLive Innovation Grant programme in 2018 and an initial $30,000 pre-seed investment from the Turn8 Accelerator in 2014. Most of the projects are government funded.

Partners/incubators: Turn8 Accelerator; In5 Innovation Centre; Expo Live Innovation Impact Grant Programme; Dubai Future Accelerators; FHI 360; VSO and Consult and Coach for a Cause (C3)

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Test

Director: S Sashikanth

Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan

Star rating: 2/5

Evacuations to France hit by controversy
  • Over 500 Gazans have been evacuated to France since November 2023
  • Evacuations were paused after a student already in France posted anti-Semitic content and was subsequently expelled to Qatar
  • The Foreign Ministry launched a review to determine how authorities failed to detect the posts before her entry
  • Artists and researchers fall under a programme called Pause that began in 2017
  • It has benefited more than 700 people from 44 countries, including Syria, Turkey, Iran, and Sudan
  • Since the start of the Gaza war, it has also included 45 Gazan beneficiaries
  • Unlike students, they are allowed to bring their families to France
THE BIO

Born: Mukalla, Yemen, 1979

Education: UAE University, Al Ain

Family: Married with two daughters: Asayel, 7, and Sara, 6

Favourite piece of music: Horse Dance by Naseer Shamma

Favourite book: Science and geology

Favourite place to travel to: Washington DC

Best advice you’ve ever been given: If you have a dream, you have to believe it, then you will see it.

Washmen Profile

Date Started: May 2015

Founders: Rami Shaar and Jad Halaoui

Based: Dubai, UAE

Sector: Laundry

Employees: 170

Funding: about $8m

Funders: Addventure, B&Y Partners, Clara Ventures, Cedar Mundi Partners, Henkel Ventures

Company Fact Box

Company name/date started: Abwaab Technologies / September 2019

Founders: Hamdi Tabbaa, co-founder and CEO. Hussein Alsarabi, co-founder and CTO

Based: Amman, Jordan

Sector: Education Technology

Size (employees/revenue): Total team size: 65. Full-time employees: 25. Revenue undisclosed

Stage: early-stage startup 

Investors: Adam Tech Ventures, Endure Capital, Equitrust, the World Bank-backed Innovative Startups SMEs Fund, a London investment fund, a number of former and current executives from Uber and Netflix, among others.

While you're here
The years Ramadan fell in May

1987

1954

1921

1888

The burning issue

The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.

Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins

Read part two: how climate change drove the race for an alternative 

Read part one: how cars came to the UAE

The specs
  • Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
  • Power: 640hp
  • Torque: 760nm
  • On sale: 2026
  • Price: Not announced yet
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Pharaoh's curse

British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.

Specs

Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric

Range: Up to 610km

Power: 905hp

Torque: 985Nm

Price: From Dh439,000

Available: Now

Red flags
  • Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
  • Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
  • Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
  • Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
  • Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.

Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching

The stats

Ship name: MSC Bellissima

Ship class: Meraviglia Class

Delivery date: February 27, 2019

Gross tonnage: 171,598 GT

Passenger capacity: 5,686

Crew members: 1,536

Number of cabins: 2,217

Length: 315.3 metres

Maximum speed: 22.7 knots (42kph)

Jurassic%20Park
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It

Director: Andres Muschietti

Starring: Bill Skarsgard, Jaeden Lieberher, Sophia Lillis, Chosen Jacobs, Jeremy Ray Taylor

Three stars

Updated: May 29, 2024, 1:29 PM`