3 reasons why Manchester United have struggled so far this season

#1 Injuries

Paul Pogba is still out injured

Solskjaer has been ridiculously unlucky with injuries of late. Even before the start of the season, United lost Eric Bailly to a knee injury that required surgery and the Ivorian is not expected to return this year. Timothy Fosu-Mensah is also recovering from a cruciate ligament surgery and his return day is also unknown. Diogo Dalot, who was expected to hit a higher gear this year, missed 5 games due to a hip injury at the start of the season. He made a brief return in September but picked up a groin injury and has been out of action since mid-October. Axel Tuanzebe looked the real deal at the back before he too picked up a back injury before the Liverpool game.

Anthony Martial missed 9 games this season due to a hamstring injury before returning recently and he was perhaps the player United missed the most. Luke Shaw picked up a hamstring injury at the end of August and his return was jeopardized with a muscle injury picked up in mid-October. As of now, the Englishman has already missed 14 games.

But perhaps the biggest miss has been Paul Pogba in the middle of the park. The Frenchman is the creative heart of this United team and Solskjaer's tactics have taken a beating due to his absence. Pogba missed almost the entire month of September due to an ankle injury. He returned to action against Rochdale in the Carabao Cup and also started against Arsenal in the Premier League. However, the Frenchman was subsequently ruled out due to ankle problems and has not featured since. Incidentally, he has missed 10 games so far already.

If Solskjaer had all of his players fit since the start of the season, it might have been an entirely different story.