United View: United’s slip-up against Burnley ends top-four finish.

Manchester United’s hopes of finishing in the top four have been something of a pipe dream for some time now.

Their 1-1 draw against Burnley on Saturday mathematically confirmed that they will not be finishing in a Champions League position.

United were only five points behind Unai Emery’s side back in February following their 2-1 win at Villa Park. However, since that game the Reds have only won three of their previous ten games – losing three and drawing four. Which now leaves them thirteen points behind Villa.

A win last Thursday against bottom-side Sheffield United kept Ten Hag’s side still able to catch Villa, but an 87th minute penalty from Burnley’s Zeki Amdouni officially ended Champions League qualification.

There was the belief that England would receive a fifth Champions League spot next season based on the UEFA Coefficient rankings but after every remaining English team bar Aston Villa was eliminated from UEFA competition it now looks like this place will be given to Germany.

Aston Villa would need to win both legs of their Conference League semi-finals against Olympiakos and hope that Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, and Bayer Leverkusen lose all their remaining games for England to overtake Germany.

This can come as no surprise to Manchester United as they simply do not deserved their place amongst Europe’s elite next season. Inconsistent results and below-average performances have led to this inevitability.

Saturday was another example of this at Old Trafford. Antony’s first Premier League goal of the season in the 79th minute looked to have sealed all three points for United, which would have been back-to-back victories in the league for the first time since February.

However, Onana’s reckless attempt to claim the ball resulted in him instead wiping out Amdouni. He got away with this in the opening game of the season against Wolves but was not so lucky on this occasion.

While Onana was the one who gave away the penalty, Casemiro’s header was just as questionable. The Brazilian who has been playing at centre-half in recent games, tried to head the ball back to his goalkeeper but invertedly created a dangerous situation for the Burnley forward to profit from.

At this stage of the season, placing blame on any one payer seems futile given how poor United’s defensive structure has been all campaign. And the wasted opportunities throughout the game gave Vincent Kompany’s relegation-threatened side a vital point in their bid for survival.

This was the sixth time in 2024 that United has given up a winning position in the league. Erik ten Hag addressed in his post-match interview questioning the consistency of the officials for penalties awarded but also admitting his side has a role to play in this unwanted trait.

The manager also compared this United side to the 04/05 Manchester United side saying “They also didn’t play great football; they were building, and it takes time, but everyone forgets. Even the players – they needed time to progress.”

United finished third in 2005, winning the FA Cup, with a fairly young squad with the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney. However, along with that, they had a group of experienced winners such as Roy Keane, Gary Neville and Paul Scholes.

The manager has asked for patience from the fans but whether the Dutchman is afforded that is unforeseen. United have five games in all competitions left and many will be hoping to see something to get behind in that time.

The Reds take on Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park next Monday. The Eagles have been in fine form of late, winning three of their last four previous games.