I could hardly believe it when I read that Manchester United have only lost once – in 90 minutes at least – in 17 competitive games since the sacking of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in November.
You’d be forgiven for thinking the club was in somewhat of a crisis on the pitch, given the way we’ve been playing and how the experts have been talking about us.
Clearly, that’s not the case – although anyone who watches us week in, week out knows that the warning signs are very much there.
Ralf Rangnick has come in and made us organised again. We’re shipping significantly fewer goals, despite remaining suspect to a mistake or three. However, in doing so we seem to have lost some of our spark going forward, which has resulted in far too many 1-1 draws as of late.
We’re not losing many matches, but we’re not winning enough either. In those 17 competitive games since Solskjaer’s departure, we’ve only won 9 – and two of those were when Michael Carrick was in charge.
In the last few games, we’ve played some of our best football since Rangnick took over at Old Trafford, but we’re never able to maintain our performances for an entire game.
My biggest issue is that if you look back at the teams we’ve played since the German’s arrival, they’re almost all sides you would expect Manchester United to beat.
Our fixtures are about to get much harder, with a March from hell – where we play City, Spurs, Atletico Madrid and Liverpool – looming. I fear an embarrassment or two unless there’s some drastic improvements in the next few weeks.
There will have to be, as the first leg of our Champions League double-header against Spanish champions Atletico Madrid at the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium next Wednesday is unquestionable our biggest game of the season so far.
The Champions League is now our only chance of silverware this season, so it’s absolutely vital that United give it everything.
Betfred make the Reds 11/5 outsiders for the first leg in Spain – while Atletico are 7/5 shots.
To win the competition outright, United can be backed at 20/1, way behind noisy neighbours Manchester City who are our clear 9/4 favourites after all but booking their ticket to the quarter-finals with a 5-0 romp over Sporting Lisbon on Tuesday night.
I’m hoping our 2-0 win over 10-man Brighton at Old Trafford on the same night, which pushed us back into the top four (United 7/4 at Betfred to achieve a top-four finish), can be the catalyst for an upsurge in form.
Meanwhile, what an opening weekend to the new Betfred Super League season we were treated to.
Champions St Helens kicked things off last Thursday, sending out a daunting message to the rest of the league as they ran out comfortable 28-8 winners over last year’s League Leaders’ Shield winners and narrow Grand Final runners-up Catalans Dragons.
Saints are our 2/1 favourites to make history and win the Grand Final for an unprecedented fourth consecutive year.
Wigan and Hull FC were victorious at Hull KR and Wakefield respectively, while new boys Toulouse suffered a heavy 42-14 defeat to Huddersfield in their first game in the Betfred Super League.
They face my hometown team Salford Red Devils – who massively upset the odds in beating Castleford 26-16 at The Mend-A-Hose Jungle – next and could already start looking like favourites to face the drop with another defeat.
In fact, the French side are already 1/3 favourites with us to finish bottom of the table come the end of the season.
Finally, I was absolutely chuffed with Channel 4’s free-to-air coverage of what was a highly-entertaining affair between Warrington and Leeds on Saturday.
They did a fantastic job of showcasing our great sport for the first time – and I’m told they are delighted with the numbers having reportedly attracted an average audience of 531,000.
Those are very promising figures, and I can’t wait to see what they have in store for the rest of the season.
It’s fair to say viewers were treated to an absolute cracker at Headingley, with the Wire running out narrow 22-20 winners in a game which saw a late try go in, a sending off and a sin bin.
Warrington are second-favourites with us for Grand Final glory at 7/2.
Tuesday night saw Ashton United pass up on the chance to set up an all-Ashton Manchester Premier Cup Final, with Tameside neighbours Droylsden picking up a shock semi-final victory at Hurst Cross.
Following their loss at home to Real Madrid last week, knocking them out of the Champions League, Manchester City faced arguably a tougher test against Arsenal in the Carabao Cup Final on Sunday.
Local gymnast Poppy Blair has delivered an inspiring return to competition, showcasing resilience, determination and exceptional commitment after a year of significant challenges.
Bloods victorious in all-Tameside clash
United View: Reds held on South Coast
City Watch: O'Reilly shines at Blues win at Wembley
Local gymnast shines on return
