Down and out! 2020 has seen Manchester United hit rock bottom twice and rise from the bottom twice

Entering the year 2021, first of all, I would like to say happy new year to all readers, and hope that you will be healthy and successful in the new year. And this article I continue to review with you the 2020 drop, the protagonist of this article is the focus of the fans of the public - Manchester United.

As we enter the year of 2020, the performance of Manchester United is far from satisfactory. Manager Solskjaer's magic aura from the previous season is no longer there, and the team lost several key league matches in January against Arsenal, Manchester City, and Liverpool, and even more disappointing to the fans is the same loss to Burnley in January. The four defeats dragged United down to the fifth place in the league. Fortunately, Bruno Fernandes was brought in mid-season as the savior, and he has been the core of the team's offense since joining the team, and he played a significant role in United's final push for the fourth place in the last season.

After being suspended due to the epidemic, United came back and performed like a different team, with six wins and three draws in their nine post-epidemic matches, and ultimately managed to outperform Chelsea and Leicester City, two of their rivals in "let's make it four", to finish third. The third place is a secondary issue, because although it is called third place, in terms of the recent season's third-place scoring, Manchester United's third place is just a coincidence in terms of scores, and their performance is not up to the standard they should be. However, a return to the Champions League will help United in all aspects, especially financially, as prize money and broadcasting revenues have become more important in the post-epidemic economy, which is suffering from a lot of problems.

Manchester United has a lot of goals for this season, and the final harvest has always come true, with Cavani, Ales Teles, Van Der Beek and other powerful players joining the team; of course, they have to be criticized for the same transfer practices, the first two of them are one of the main players of the season, but they are delayed due to the problem of the transfer fee, the contract, or for different reasons, and they dragged to the last minute to reach an agreement on the transfer of the players, which has a certain impact on the players' integration. There is a certain impact on the players' bonding. But in any case, this season's results of United's attraction alone is still qualified, and individual players such as the next performance is also worth the price of admission.

Coming into the 20/21 season, United got more rest due to the late break last season, but were beaten 1:3 by Crystal Palace in the first game of the EPL. A humiliating defeat against Tottenham Hotspur brought Solskjaer to the brink of dismissal, and although the manager was to blame, there were a number of mistakes by individual players in the squad, with the defensive triangle of David de Gea, Victor Lindelof and captain Harry Maguire all making individual errors that led to the team losing points. It is worth noting that individual players such as Harry Maguire and Greenwood have also been criticized for their personal behavior, with the latter once being sent to the bench by Solskjaer.

In contrast to the league's decline, United's Champions League campaign was unexpectedly smooth, beating fellow strugglers Paris Saint-Germain and then second-placed Leipzig, giving United a much better chance of qualifying. However, United's performance this season is quite "characteristic", that is, the more optimistic they are, they will be disappointed, the less optimistic they are, but they will often come up with a great comeback. In the UEFA Champions League, they unexpectedly lost to Istanbul, the weakest team in the group, making them lose their earlier advantage. After losing to Paris Saint-Germain and Leipzig in the second round of the tournament, they finally finished third in the group stage, which is extremely disappointing, and they have been missing out on a ticket to the last sixteen for a long time.

After dropping to ninth place in the league, and exiting the Champions League group stage, United were criticized to the bone, but they took action to get out of the predicament, with four wins, two draws, and a good record in their last six matches. Although in fact, there's still a lot of room for improvement in terms of on-the-field performance, but with three points already in their pocket, United have indeed come out of the gloom and doom of the middle of the table, and are gradually continuing to move towards the front of the line, or even the championships. Unbeknownst to me, Man Utd were already in second place at the time of writing (2-1 Villa in the 17th round of the first EPL game of the new year, and are now level on points with Liverpool).

In 2020, United started the year at a low point, and finished the season in third place. They hit a few snags in the new season, dropping to a new low in the league, and exiting the Champions League, but then recovered quickly at the end of the year to finish 2020 in second place in the Premier League. I believe Man U will focus on the league next season and aim to win the Champions League? Maybe, we may not agree, but with the unstable situation of the top teams in the Premier League this season, it may not be impossible to appear in the Manchester United.