Manchester United's nightmare season shows no sign of improving with Ruben Amorim's team creating new unwanted records with each passing game.
United endured their worst league campaign for 51 years last term, finishing 15th in the Premier League.
But following a change of ownership and heavy investment in the summer transfer window that brought in the likes of Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo and Benjamin Sesko, it was thought the 2025/26 season would be different.
But Amorim's team are languishing 14th in the table after a chastening 3-1 defeat to Brentford.
Amorim has taken just 33 points from his 33 Premier League games in charge. The walls seem to be closing in on him with speculation intensifying over his future at Old Trafford.
Former United striker Dwight Yorke admits the team is not only struggling but lacks a discernible style of play. Amorim's tactical obduracy has drawn widespread criticism, with him refusing to compromise on his 3-4-2-1 shape and the players clearly struggling to carry out his instructions.
“[Amorim] has been there nearly a year, you expect things to kind of progress slowly. But it seems like we are making one step forward and two step backwards. There is no consistency there. And I think it's kind of left us all scratching our heads at the moment,” Yorke told The National during the launch of the Stars Golf League in Dubai.
“Where we are as a football club is not where we expected it to be. It's a very difficult stage for us. We thought after the Sir Alex [Ferguson] era we will go through a phase but did not expect it to be this long.”
Among the issues plaguing the club is the indifferent form of their talisman and captain Bruno Fernandes, who missed his second penalty of the season on Saturday.
Fernandes has been dropped into a deeper role following the summer arrival of United's attacking reinforcements and has struggled to influence games as before.
“A captain is more than just the playing side of it. He's the one that leads the team, he's a talisman. He's the one that everyone looks to rally around the team,” Yorke, a key member of United's 1999 treble-winning side, said.
“And if you find your captain is struggling, this season in particular … He has been outstanding, I think, over the last three years or so where he stood up to everything and really brought the team along and kept us where we are. But in reality, when your captain is also struggling, that's going to be a double whammy.”
Yorke believes the new signings can help United turn things around but is struggling to identify reasons for positivity ahead of a huge home game against Sunderland next weekend.
“The players that they brought in are certainly better players than what we already had. So that's always likely to improve the team, but we haven't seen that,” Yorke added.
“We expect the start to be a little bit better and now we, again, seem to go back to where we sort of finished last season when we thought we would be progressing this year. And that's a bit of a concern.
“I think at the moment we are fighting for consistency, seeing a pattern of play or something that we can relate to. We're not encouraged, we might be encouraged one week. We make one step forward and two step backwards.
“The inconsistency is not knowing what to expect. You don't really know how to identify what United are or you don't know what United is likely to turn up. And I think that's a frustrating part. If people see something a little bit more consistent and see a certain style of play, you can kind of relate to that. But at the minute we just don’t know what's going on. And it's a difficult watch.”
