Manchester United lost again on Tuesday night, but this defeat to Nottingham Forest set an unwanted record for the club since the departure of Alex Ferguson in 2013.
Manchester United suffered their 13th defeat of the season on Tuesday night as they went down 1-0 to Nottingham Forest at the City Ground. That total is already their second highest in a single Premier League campaign, and with eight games still to play in 2024-25 there’s a strong chance they’ll surpass their current record of 14, which they only set last season.
Since Ruben Amorim’s first league game in charge on 24 November – a 1-1 draw at Ipswich Town – the Red Devils have won just 22 points from 19 matches and have suffered more defeats (9) than they have collected wins (6) in the Premier League.
Those results mean that Amorim currently has the worst record of any Man Utd manager in the Premier League era, with the lowest win rate (31.6%) and points-per-game average of any previous manager (1.16). The latter is much lower than the previous worst set by Ralf Rangnick (1.54).
United’s decline isn’t something that’s only come about since Amorim arrived at the club, though. Since the legendary Sir Alex Ferguson retired at the end of the 2012-13 season, the last season they won the Premier League title, they have gradually fallen away from the leading teams in the competition.
Premier League Table since Ferguson Retirement
They’ve collected 786 points from their 448 Premier League games under 10 different coaches (including caretakers) since Ferguson’s retirement, 209 fewer than rivals Manchester City (995) and also behind Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham.
Amazingly, last night’s defeat to Forest was their 114th in the Premier League since Ferguson left the club, equalling the tally suffered during Ferguson’s reign in the competition (not including Division One results).
Most alarming is the fact that this tally was equalled from nearly half the number of games. Ferguson lost 114 of his 810 Premier League games as Manchester United manager, while the 10 coaches since have totalled 114 losses in just 448 matches.
Manchester United Premier League Defeats
Amorim may be saved by United’s good form in Europe, with the Red Devils in the quarter-finals of the UEFA Europa League, but he’s contributed to what could be their worst league season in generations.
Unless United win all eight of their remaining Premier League games this season – which looks a stretch considering they’re yet to win back-to-back fixtures in 2024-25 – this will be their worst points tally in a Premier League season, outdoing last season’s tally of 60 under Erik ten Hag.
They still need to win 11 points from their last eight games to even equal 1989-90’s 48-point tally, which was the last season they won fewer than 50 points. That season was also the last that they finished outside the top half in the division (13th).
Next up for United is a home Manchester derby against City on Sunday, and given they won the reverse fixture at the Etihad Stadium earlier this season, this game presents them with an opportunity to do the league double over their rivals for the first time since 2019-20. United and Amorim could both do with a positive result.
Opta Stats Hub Premier League
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