United, in the main, do not look like a well-coached team. There are certainly days when they do — when things click into place as they did most recently in the 5-1 victory over Leeds United on the opening day of this season, or when they carry out a diligent defensive game plan as they have done against Chelsea, Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain on occasions under Solskjaer — but far too many performances are incoherent. Far too often they look vulnerable in defence, weak in midfield and guileless in attack.
And yet… they are only one point behind leaders Liverpool in the Premier League, where they have not lost an away game since January 2020. Their two defeats this season, away to Young Boys in their opening Champions League game and at home to Aston Villa on Saturday, can reasonably be said to have hinged on a red card and a missed penalty. They somehow seem to combine being much worse than the sum of their expensive parts with being better than the sum of their individual performance levels.