The 2021-22 season was one to forget for Manchester United, with the club failing to even come close to finishing in the top four in the Premier League.
A campaign that saw them replace Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as manager with interim coach Ralf Rangnick eventually ended in a sixth-place finish, 13 points behind Tottenham in fourth and a whopping 35 away from champions Manchester City.
One player who came in for particular criticism last season was captain Harry Maguire, who has struggled to recreate his impressive form for England at club level since a big money move from Leicester City in 2019.
Speaking during United s pre-season tour of Australia, Maguire said: Last year was disappointing. As an individual I didn t play well and as a team, we certainly didn t play well.
But a good career can last 10 to 15 years and you re never going to have every year where it s plain sailing and you don t have any difficulties.
You re going to have to fight, you re going to have setbacks and last year was certainly a setback for myself on my career path.
But it s behind us now and we look forward to the future and getting this club back to winning trophies, which is what it’s all about.
6 0 Manchester United have lost six consecutive away league matches for the first time since March 1981 and have failed to end a league campaign with a positive goal difference (0 in 2021-22) for the first time since 1989-90 (-1). Onlooker.
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe)
United ended the season by losing six consecutive away league matches for the first time since March 1981, and failed to end a league campaign with a positive goal difference for the first time since 1989-90.
The club has moved to improve their fortunes next season by appointing Erik ten Hag as manager, and the arrival of the former Ajax boss has seen a renewed sense of optimism at Old Trafford.
United have made a promising start to pre-season, with a 4-0 win against rivals Liverpool in Bangkok followed by a 4-1 success against Melbourne Victory in Australia.
Anthony Elanga had been full of praise for Ten Hag s focus on improving running on and off the ball, and Maguire echoed the praise from his young team-mate about the early impact of the new manager s methods.
It s been tough. The running has been hard but we re really looking forward to the new season, he added. Everyone knows last year was nowhere near good enough but it s a fresh start and we ve got a big season ahead.
Erik and his coaching staff are bringing their ideas and the first two games you ve seen little glimpses of the principles.
We re working towards being ready for that first Premier League game, that s what matters. Everything we re doing now is building for that first game.
