Manchester United fans take a deep breath

Look, I know times have been tough. Jose Mourinho and Pogba were designed to bring back the glory days of The Manchester United and the accompanying swagger.

After suffering through the David Moyes and Louis van Gaal era who could blame you for becoming agitated after this recent run of poor form. And poor form it has been, I mean five points from the last six matches? That isn’t how it was supposed to be.

I’m here today to offer some semblance of hope in an otherwise bleak situation. A situation that is seeing cross-town rivals Manchester City and regional rivals Liverpool take a firm grip on their title challenge, seemingly leaving you behind.

To lead it off, this recent run of fixtures was always going to be difficult. Since September 10th, Manchester United has been subjected to an endless run of midweek madness, with the Europa League and EFL Cup.

That kind of schedule will test any club regardless of size and to compile that scheduling misfortune, Manchester United have been pitted against some of their biggest rivals. Again, in that span the gods of the schedule have graced United with Manchester City, Leicester City, Liverpool (away), and Chelsea (away). You could even toss a feisty Watford side away if you are feeling generous.

In short, Manchester United’s upcoming fixture list will get much more friendly. Now a title run probably isn’t possible without much more complete play against other top challengers, but a top four finish is certainly in the cards if United can take care of business against the weaker squads. Those weaker squads are exactly who are on the upcoming schedule.

In the next ten Manchester United Premier League matches, they only play a top five club twice and both are at Old Trafford. Premier League lightweights, Swansea City, Burnley, Sunderland, and Middlesbrough are all three points for the taking (19th,14th, 20th,17th respectively).

Another factor that could lead to a lighter load is that with a win over Fenerbahce in the next round of Europa League fixtures, Manchester United would create a scenario in which they could roll out a reserve lineup for the rest of the group stage. Currently sitting on six points with Fenerbahce at four, a win would create a five-point gap and with lightweight Zorya still to play, United would all but be sure of going through.

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Finally, despite recent performance Jose Mourinho is still a wonderful manager. I understand losing faith in someone in the knee jerk world of high-level professional soccer, but Manchester United fans, don’t do that. Just over a year ago Mourinho ran away with the Premier League title while also winning the League Cup with Chelsea. For all of his antics, Mourinho can still manage a club.

Quite clearly Mourinho hasn’t gotten enough out of star players like Pogba or Zlatan Ibrahimovic, but with the favorable schedule upcoming and a January transfer window to bring in players that aren’t focused at the bottom line (looking at you 35-year-old Zlatan), I believe United still have an opportunity at a top four finish.

It remains to be seen just how high United can climb, but with the league so tightly packed this season (five clubs at 19 or 20 points), no one is running away. Manchester United fans, you just need to bide you time and see if this experiment works.

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