Fitness Is the Key to Manchester United Finding Groove After Lack of Pre-Season

Manchester United secured a dramatic three points away to Brighton at the weekend with penalty awarded after the full-time whistle had blown. Because of course they did.

Referee Chris Kavanagh gave the spot-kick for handball after he'd already blown the whistle, following a VAR check. It sent rival fans into meltdown and was another instance of VAR-mania running wild on the Premier League.

While the rule changes have seen some ridiculous decisions given this weekend, this one was admittedly a clear handball from Brighton striker Neal Maupay. If it wasn't for the tech intervention, however, the Seagulls would've held onto a 2-2 draw that they more than deserved. United again looked tired and struggled to get going from the first whistle, allowing the Seagulls to pile on the pressure and not having much to say in response.

In a dramatic game, it was a lifeless performance, and one that's becoming all too familiar with fans of the Red Devils.

Yes, fresh faces are a must and would've likely helped them at the Amex, but no amount of signings will compensate for virtually no pre-season, which is impacting Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side - among many others - immensely.

In their first two league games of the season, it's been a rinse and repeat process for United; relying on glimpses of liveliness to muster up a positive or two around an otherwise lacklustre performance. The squad haven't yet found their groove and are struggling to efficiently assert themselves against opponents, both on and off the ball.

With United's largely explosive and reactive style of counter-attacking play, players are climbing a very steep hill to recoup enough fitness to effectively deploy the system on the field. Good counter attacking football requires supreme concentration and fitness levels - with most of the work coming off the ball. Yet, if those things simply aren't there, it's a lot of chasing the game and not much in the way of putting slick, well-polished attacks together.

Be it loose passes, shots that fly off target, or miscommunications with running patterns and small sequences of play, an inconsistent United haven't yet found a rhythm that they managed in the earlier months of 2020.

It's not just United, however. The proof is in the pudding that a late end to last season and the subsequent lack of a pre-season ahead of the current campaign is hurting sides throughout Europe. Manchester City slumped to a 5-2 defeat against Leicester and Bayern Munich were decimated 4-1 by Hoffenheim - ruining just about everyone's accumulator this weekend.

Bayern are feeling the after-effects of winning the Champions League so late on into the year in a hard-hitting, ever-attacking Bundesliga, while City are struggling to find any real defensive consistency and are dealing with a hefty injury list. The quick turnaround to start this season has resulted in naturally high-scoring games with all teams feeling fatigued and still trying to regain full fitness. Naturally, it's those who finished their season later who are now feeling it the most.

Realistically, a one-week delay to the season for United was never enough in helping them get up to speed. The Red Devils haven't helped themselves either by signing just one player in the transfer window so far.

For United, the proof that this counter attacking style would cause burnout among the players started to show at the tail end of last season and was evident in their Europa League semi-final defeat.

The club are still confident of signing Jadon Sancho from Borussia Dortmund before the 5 October deadline, but having the deal done sooner would've allowed the club to move to other targets and ease the burden on Solskjaer's squad heading into this season, making the battle for fitness slightly more manageable.

Whether or not United pull off a few more signings before the end of the transfer window remains to be seen. Regardless, the squad will continue to suffer throughout the coming weeks, but they will pick up and find their feet again. Champions League finalists Paris Saint-Germain have shown proof of that; they slumped to back to back defeats against Lens and Marseille in their opening two games this season, but now seem to be finding their feet again.

The 2020/21 season was always going to throw up an intriguing first few weeks as a result of the delayed ending to last season and subsequent rushed start. It's up to fans to remain patient and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and his squad to remain vigilant - the fitness and form will come with time and more minutes under the belt.