Manchester United have continued their perfect run post-World Cup, picking up wins against Bournemouth, Everton and Charlton

Since the 3-1 defeat to Aston Villa Ten Hag’s side has won 8 games in a row and the recent victory against Charlton was the Dutchman’s 20th win as manager of Manchester United. It’s still early days but the positive signs continue to shine through.

United kicked off 2023 in fine fashion with a 3-0 win against Bournemouth in the Premier League. Casemiro opened the scoring and was again excellent for the reds, but Luke Shaw stood out on the night.

He not only scored United’s second goal but his long-ranged pass to Bruno Fernandes left the Bournemouth defence helpless, to which Bruno put it on a plate for Marcus Rashford.

It was another quick turnaround for United as Everton then arrived at Old Trafford for a 3rd round FA Cup tie. Despite being a club in turmoil the toffees gave a good account of themselves against United, almost coming back twice had it not been for the intervention of VAR.

Antony opened the scoring early on for United, but Everton fought back and equalised through Connor Coady after a freak error from David De Gea. It was almost as if he forgot he was allowed to use his hands.

Coady then returned the favour for United by putting the ball into the back of his own net early into the second half. Although Everton didn’t surrender and pushed for a way back into the game. Demari Gray thought he had made it 2-2 but as previously mentioned the goal was ruled out by VAR.

A late Rashford penalty wrapped up proceedings at Old Trafford, teeing up another home fixture against Paul Ince’s Reading in the 4th round. United was far from their best but they're through to the next stage of the competition which is all that matters in the end.

Another cup tie awaited United at Old Trafford, this time it was in the Carabao Cup against League One opposition Charlton. Truthfully United never looked in danger in this match, which was reflected by a 3-0 score line.

Ten Hag took the opportunity to experiment somewhat with the line-up, playing Anthony Elanga up top and handing a debut to 17-year-old Kobbie Manoo, a young man who will likely feature much more in the future at Manchester United.

Antony once again opened the scoring with a sublime curling effort but was inches away from being outdone by his Brazilian teammate Fred with a speculative free kick.

The second half saw Charlton push to get back into the game, but Ten Hag clearly wanted the game to be seen out and thus the introduction of Rashford, Casemiro and Eriksen in a triple substitution killed any prospect of a Charlton comeback.

Once again Rashford scored for United, netting twice late on to round off a routine night of football at Old Trafford. As a result, United are now in the Semi-Finals of the Carabao Cup with a trip to Wembley on the cards.

But the hectic schedule doesn’t relent for United as now their biggest test post-World Cup awaits them in the Manchester Derby. Even though United was humiliated in the previous derby, the team has come along massively since then and hopefully, the manager has learnt from the mistakes at the Ethiad.

With Rashford bang in form, Casemiro looking fully cemented in the midfield and only 1 goal conceded in 6 games if United were to win against City, they wouldn’t be too far off the top of the league.

Let's just see how things unravel first before we start considering ourselves as title challengers.

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