With 19 games played we are now at the midway point in the Premier League season, and it has not been great for Manchester United.
Here is a look at our mid-season awards for 2023/24 so far…
Best moment…
Alejandro Garnacho‘s wondergoal against Everton. This is a guaranteed goal of the season, with many even saying it is a goal of the decade.
Garnacho’s overhead kick is being discussed as the greatest bicycle kick of all time, it was that good. The moment he struck it, everybody watching around the world instantly knew it was special.
In a Premier League season with little to celebrate, Garnacho’s goal is one we will remember for years to come.
Breakthrough star…
No doubt about it, there is only one winner here, Kobbie Mainoo. The 18-year-old has bounced back from a pre-season injury and is now part of Manchester United’s best XI.
Don’t even be surprised if he ends this season in the England squad for Euro 2024, he’s been that good.
Biggest disappointment…
There are too many to choose from here. But there is no topping an instant Champions League exit at the group stage.
Having fought so hard to qualify for the Champions League last season, United managed to win just one game out of six, losing four. It was a total embarrassment, and right now, we might be lucky to even qualify for the competition next season. What a wasted opportunity.
Biggest surprise…
Jonny Evans making a return to Manchester United was the transfer deal nobody can truly say they saw coming. But even if you recognise the cheapness of the deal as being ‘typically United’, what has come next has been even more shocking.
Evans has become one of the team’s key defenders, and actually now looks like the summer’s best signing.
‘What’s he still doing here’ award…
There are two joint winners here, Anthony Martial and Donny van de Beek.
Van de Beek makes United’s bench on a weekly basis despite his loan to Eintracht Frankfurt being agreed, while Anthony Martial has recently succumbed to illness. His contract finally expires next summer.
‘Waste of space’ award…
Step up Jadon Sancho, this is your moment.
We don’t need to say too much here. Sancho has refused to apologise to Erik ten Hag for an outburst on social media, and has not made a matchday squad since August.
Hangover from hell award…
Marcus Rashford collects the ‘hangover from hell’ award after failing to look anywhere near the player who struck 30 goals in 2022/23.
He has played this season like a shadow of the player he was last, with just two goals to his name, with his last open play strike coming in September. Rashford needs to shift this hangover fast.
The ‘What If’ moment…
If there is one moment we look back on and say ‘it all could have been so different’, it is Alejandro Garnacho’s ‘winner’ away at Arsenal which was ruled out for a narrow offside, which we still aren’t convinced by, no matter how many times we re-watch it.
This would have kickstarted United’s season with a huge away win, ending the ongoing narrative about the teams’ woeful struggles against top sides, and dealt out a huge blow to a rival.
Moments later Arsenal scored to take the lead and win the game, sending the travelling United fans from ecstasy to misery in moments. This was a potential season-changer.
It can only get better award…
Mason Mount can’t possibly have a worse 2024 than his 2023. He has barely played due to injury, and when he has, he has not looked right.
Manchester United expect more from the club’s number seven, and Mount knows it. 2024 is a fresh start he desperately needs.
Best comeback award…
Harry Maguire is the undoubted winner. He went from being on the verge of an exit to West Ham, to re-emerging as Manchester United’s best centre-back, before suffering a recent injury.
Maguire’s return to form has been so convincing he even earned a public apology from the Ghanaian MP who ruthlessly mocked him in his country’s parliament.
Biggest villain…
The biggest villain, because Jadon Sancho can’t win two awards, is Sky Sports’ Dermot Gallagher.
Gallagher is wheeled out for the channel’s Ref Watch segment each week, and ties himself in knots backing whatever the referees and VAR decide, usually against Manchester United.
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