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Home / Sport / Football / English Premier League

Manchester United's worst start in 27 years - stats that shame Jose Mourinho

Daily Mail
28 Nov, 2016 06:32 PM5 mins to read

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The stats behind Manchester United's worst start in 27 years are not good viewing for manager Jose Mourinho. Photo / Photosport

The stats behind Manchester United's worst start in 27 years are not good viewing for manager Jose Mourinho. Photo / Photosport

Manchester United's underwhelming 1-1 draw with West Ham at Old Trafford saw the knives come out once more for Jose Mourinho's side.

Mourinho himself was sent off for the second time this season as the Hammers returned to the capital with a point, the result leaving United in sixth place, 11 points off the pace behind Premier League leaders Chelsea.

While it's not yet a crisis, their latest stalemate has raised further questions about United this season and whether or not their bid for the title is over before Christmas.

Despite adding more than £150 million worth of talent in the summer, including £89m man Paul Pogba, United are underachieving with a whole host of statistics indicating that to be the case.

Here, Sportsmail looks at the numbers which shame both United and Mourinho...

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<2h>Shocking start

On the face of it, United's current position of sixth could be a lot worse.

But the facts don't lie and the draw with West Ham means the current campaign has seen Mourinho's men record their worst start to a top-flight season for 27 years.

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Ouch.

Off the pace

Mourinho probably isn't worrying too much about Sunderland and Swansea at the moment, he's got bigger fish to fry, not least his latest red card.

That said, as things stand United are closer to the relegation zone than they are to the top of the league. Eleven points separate the men in red from Antonio Conte's leaders Chelsea, but by the same token United are only nind better off than third-bottom Hull.

They might be in one of the Europa League spots as things stand, but at the moment it's mid-table mediocrity for Mourinho's men.

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Bring back LVG?

This, perhaps, is the most startling fact of all.

After 13 league games, serial winner Mourinho is lagging behind United's last two managers in terms of points gained.

David Moyes and Louis van Gaal, let's not forget, were labelled as United failures but both men had more points than Mourinho at this stage of their first season in charge.

As things stand Mourinho's United have 20 points from 13 games, but both Moyes (22) and Van Gaal (22) had more.

Barren spell

United's last three home games have all been draws, with the Burnley and West Ham matches following very similar patterns.

Despite dominating both those encounters, United have now drawn their last three at Old Trafford. It represents their longest run of home games without a win since the Premier League began.

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The West Ham game was United's fifth draw in their last seven league games.

Goal trouble

United have had a remarkable 91 shots in their last four home games, but they've found the back of the net just three times in total.

For a team which has spent hundreds of millions of pounds on attacking talent, that's just not good enough. Yes they haven't been helped by superb visiting goalkeeper displays from the likes of Tom Heaton, but there's definitely room for improvement in United's shot conversion rate.

Of their 161 shots so far this season, just 75 have been on target. United have just 18 league goals this season from 13 games. Liverpool, by contrast, have 32.

Mourinho's red mist

Mourinho has now been sent off as many times as he's won league games at Old Trafford for United.

The Portuguese was dismissed once again against the Hammers, taking his fury out by booting a stray water bottle. It followed his sending to the stands against Burnley when his anger also boiled over.

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Mourinho is not helping his side by being absent from the touchline at vital moments.
Feeling blue

Since leaving Chelsea last season and starting at United in the summer, Mourinho has been lagging behind new Stamford Bridge boss Conte.

Since the start of the 2016-17 campaign, the charismatic Italian has won more Premier League matches (10) than Mourinho (9).

Run of draws

Known as a band of entertainers under Sir Alex Ferguson, United fans are used to seeing goals and attacking football, particularly on the hallowed turf of Old Trafford.

But it's been a different story recently as while they might have been unlucky recently, United have now drawn four consecutive league games at Old Trafford for the first time since December 1980.

Jose's double dismissal

Mourinho has been sent off more times this season than all of his United players combined, painting a pretty poor picture of the former Porto, Inter Milan and Real Madrid manager.

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Discipline on the field is vital, particularly at the highest level, but how can United's players take advice on that from Mourinho when he's spending so long in the stands himself?

Rivals lead the way

Mourinho's arrival at United this summer saw many of the club's fans confident he would bring title success back to Old Trafford.

The signings of Pogba and Zlatan Ibrahimovic only served to raise the excitement, but United still remain well off the pace.

They're a huge 10 points behind two of their biggest rivals in Manchester City and Liverpool, further adding salt to already gaping wounds.

Winless run

It seems a lifetime ago now, but United haven't won at home in the league since their 4-1 thrashing of defending champions Leicester on September 24.

That day saw United blow away the Foxes with goals from Chris Smalling, Juan Mata, Marcus Rashford and Pogba.

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But for the first time since February 1990, United have now failed to win four league games in a row at Old Trafford. No wonder the fans are restless...

Poor discipline on the field

We've mentioned Mourinho's two red cards, but United's players aren't exactly squeaky clean either.

They've committed 179 fouls so far this season, putting them 18th on the Premier League's fair play list. With 30 yellow cards and Ander Herrera's red against Burnley, discipline is another thing United could be working on.

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