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The Red Devils have made a sluggish start to the campaign, increasing scrutiny on manager Ruben Amorim, who has secured only 25.8% of his Premier League games in charge.

United have just a pair of wins from their past 13 top-flight matches and produced another lacklustre display in the recent 3-0 loss to local rivals Manchester City.

In spite of increasing external concern around Amorim, exacerbated by the Manchester defeat, club hierarchy remain completely behind the 44-year-old boss.

Moreover, insiders maintain that on most statistics, United are doing better than last season even though sitting a lowly league position.

It follows on the back of their worst start to a season since the early 90s, with only a handful of points from their first four games.

Underlying Statistics Show a Slight Improvement

A number of their performance stats in fact reveal a gradual upturn in the last half-year, but this frequently been offset by problems in attack and defence.

From the beginning of March, United have netted nine fewer goals than might be expected from the quality of opportunities they create.

Their xG figure, excluding penalties, paints a picture of wasteful finishing, whereas they have let in 3.4 more goals than expected—numbers suggestive of uncertain goalkeeping.

Form vs Outcomes: A Concerning Gap

The problem is that their underlying progress is not translating to actual results.

From 1 March, the Reds have recorded a relatively respectable non-penalty xG difference, with just teams performing better.

Yet, his side have gathered only 13 points in that period—equal worst total of any current Premier League club, along with West Ham.

Subtle Signs of Change, But Time is Running Out

So while there could be some early signs that Amorim has started to turn the tide, a more tangible upturn is drastically required if the Portuguese wants to get longer at the helm.

For now, United remains in a phase of change, amid stats and results painting very different stories.