Manchester United are facing the same problem as Newcastle and there is absolutely no excuse for it

It took all of 90 minutes for the pre-season optimism that accompanied Manchester United's encouraging business in the transfer window to be extinguished. The Reds kicked off their Premier League campaign 16 days ago and there have been more downs than ups in the time that followed the forgettable win over Wolves.

Armed with Andre Onana and Mason Mount, and with new striker Rasmus Hojlund in the directors' box, the generally held view among fans was that United had addressed three key positions in the squad and were in a position to kick on from their encouraging 2022-23 campaign.

United toiled to an undeserved victory against a team that had an overtly turbulent summer on that predictably rainy Monday night in Manchester. They were unconvincing at Old Trafford once again on Saturday, conceding twice inside four minutes before mounting a comeback and winning against the 10 men of Nottingham Forest.

Sandwiched between those two results were injuries to key players in Mount and Luke Shaw, another meek away loss, more takeover speculation and, far more seriously, and damagingly, the effective end of the Mason Greenwood saga.

Not many people were tipping United for a title tilt at the beginning of the season and little has happened to change that as the September international break approaches.

Within days of United's season resuming at home to Brighton on September 16, they will get their Champions League campaign under way. Erik ten Hag is already contending with injuries to key players and United's three games so far this season were stretched across a 12-day period. The intensity of the season is only going to increase between now and the new year.

There is no winter World Cup to interrupt this season but there is still