After winning 14 of his 19 games in charge as caretaker manager, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has only won five in 17 since taking the permanent job. The momentum is gone, the fear factor has evaporated - quite simply, Manchester United aren't very good.

The club's descent from title challengers to Europa League maybes has been painful for United fans to watch and recent performances have done little to suggest this is a team capable of achieving anything more than the bare minimum. More worrying is what does the minimum even look like for 2019/20 Manchester United? Why are they worse than last season?

Why Manchester United have struggled this season

Jose Mourinho was fully aware of how limited his squad was and implemented a dull, defensive style of football that supporters and neutrals disliked equally. Without dependable centre-backs, quality full-backs or a solid, hard-working midfield, United couldn't afford to open up against teams poised to hit them on the counter-attack.

Too few players made forward runs off the ball and passing options were limited in attack, yet two seasons ago United finished second with 63 goals scored and 28 conceded - the best defensive record of any side in the league.

Mourinho's pragmatic approach sucked the fun out of Old Trafford but it got results. Solskjaer's have dried up. He wants to play dynamic attacking football and to hurt teams on the break but opposing managers have figured out that if you let United have the ball, they run out of ideas: Southampton had 41.4 per cent possession in a 1-1 draw, West Ham had 46.2 per cent possession in a 2-0 win, Crystal Palace had 28.7 per cent possession in a 2-1 win.