'Opportunity' to 'jeopardy' - Man Utd need a boost

 

What appeared to be a period of opportunity has now turned into one full of jeopardy.

Manchester United suffered only their second defeat in 27 Premier League trips to Aston Villa on Sunday. It followed on from that crazy 4-4 draw with Bournemouth and disappointing home performances against Everton and West Ham.

United are seventh, which is not disastrous, but they have only won two games out of their last eight and could have seven senior players missing for the Boxing Day clash with Newcastle and games against Wolves, Leeds and Burnley beyond that.

This was supposed to be the point at which United kicked on under Ruben Amorim. Now it looks like being a test of their resolve and ability to eke out positive results, which they have not been particularly good at.

Amorim is adamant the club will not buy players for the sake of it next month and that is understandable given the huge amounts that have been wasted on transfer fees down the years.

But it does feel like United need some kind of a lift, otherwise the pre-season demand for a European spot might be hard to attain.