Manchester United: 5 things to fix to get anywhere close to the Sir Alex Ferguson era

#2 Old Trafford – The Fortress!

Old Trafford - The Mecca of Football

The best of the managers in Europe will gladly acknowledge that winning @Old Trafford against a Sir Alex Ferguson team wan an achievement worth cherishing. A vast majority of the Premier League teams were elated to take a point from an Old Trafford fixture. Even leading against a Manchester United team @Old Trafford with 10 minutes on the clock did not guarantee a point, forget three. You had fight through your skin and defend for your life to get a favourable result. Is the same true today? A part of the legacy has been destroyed in the last five seasons. “Old Trafford is a fortress” is more or less a myth now.

In Sir Alex Ferguson's last 5 seasons at Manchester United, the aggregate results at home were: W-81 D-6 L-8; that's an average of W-16.2 D-1.2 L-1.6 per season. Now compare that to the subsequent five seasons and the aggregate results at home were: W-58 D-22 L-15; that's an average of W-11.6 D-4.4 L-3 per season. And in the current season, the results at home are W-6 D-3 L-1. As you can see, Manchester United has already conceded points in 4 out of 10 games this season at home in contrast to the 14 out of 95 games during the last 5 seasons of Sir Alex Ferguson.

Not conceding points at home game after game after game will be of utmost priority for any manager, including Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. That's exactly what the Manchester United faithful expect. Anything less and the original vibes of Old Trafford would be missing.