The 2025\u201326 campaign for Manchester United unfolded in two distinct stretches. A difficult end to 2024\u201325 left the club with a long list of issues to address, after six defeats and five points from the final nine matches, a worst league finish in 51 years and no European football. Expectations were modest at kick-off.<\/p>\n
Ruben Amorim began the season with clear signs of progress. An opening-day defeat to Arsenal was decided by a controversial set-piece, but by mid-December United had matched the Gunners for goals scored, 30 in 16 matches, with only Manchester City having a higher total across the division. A run of 10 games that included just one loss suggested momentum, yet the side still looked disjointed at times. Amorim left suddenly after a 1\u20131 draw with Leeds on Jan. 4, the conclusion of a run with one win in five and three draws. That solitary victory came against Newcastle when Amorim abandoned his preferred 3-4-2-1.<\/p>\n
After a short caretaker spell from Darren Fletcher, Michael Carrick\u2019s appointment proved decisive. Carrick simplified instructions and reset the team\u2019s approach. The immediate response was four straight wins, then a draw and two more victories that took United into the top three by the start of March. Carrick finished the season having managed 17 games, winning 12 and collecting 39 points, more than any other Premier League side in the same period. Champions League qualification was secured with a victory over Liverpool at Old Trafford with three matches to spare. A two-year contract agreed in the days before the final game means Carrick will begin next season in charge.<\/p>\n
Individually Bruno Fernandes enjoyed a landmark year. He was Sir Matt Busby Player of the Year for a record-breaking fifth time, United\u2019s Players\u2019 Player of the Year for the second season running, FWA Footballer of the Year, Premier League Player of the Season and set a new all-time Premier League record for assists in a single season. He created 136 chances across the campaign compared with 78 for the next player. \u201cI genuinely love the club,\u201d he said in December.<\/p>\n
Other notable developments included the signing and rapid impact of Senne Lammens on the recommendation of Tony Coton, the emergence of Patrick Dorgu as a left-sided attacker in Carrick\u2019s first games, a remarkable availability turnaround for Luke Shaw who started all 38 Premier League matches, and Kobbie Mainoo\u2019s return from a freeze-out to become a key starter and sign a new contract in April. United finished third in the Premier League and exited the FA Cup at the Third Round.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
United rallied under Carrick finished third and Bruno Fernandes produced a record number of assists.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14061,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[179,172],"tags":[1637,342],"class_list":["post-14062","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-manchester-united","category-epl","tag-assists","tag-bruno-fernandes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14062","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14062"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14062\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}