It's arguably too soon to read into statistics like this, but Manchester United are in an identical position after nine Premier League games as they were three years ago.
Back then, David Moyes was manager and Jose Mourinho was in-charge at Chelsea. Any suggestion that the pair are equal in managerial terms would be completely dismissed out of hand by most football fans.
Mourinho has won everything, Moyes looks set to take Sunderland into the Championship (if he's allowed to stick around that long).
However, after Moyes' first nine Premier League games as United manager, the team sat in seventh position. After Mourinho's first nine games as manager, the team are in seventh place with 14 points.
While Moyes had, in fact, a slightly better record than the current United boss after his first 14 games.
https://twitter.com/MisterChiping/status/790238988938403840?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
United would finish seventh in the 2013/14 season, and Moyes was sacked when Champions League qualification became impossible in April 2014. However, there's still plenty of time for Mourinho to avoid that, despite the team's patchy form, uninspiring performances and crushing 4-0 defeat to Chelsea on Sunday.
After all, regardless of what the numbers at this point say, Mourinho is a proven winner as a manager, whereas Moyes had achieved little to suggest he was capable of delivering success at United when he was appointed in 2013.
Under Moyes, United were cautious bordering on negative, unorganised, unimaginative and appeared to rely on crosses into the box as their sole attacking outlet. They were also capable of losing heavily to their direct rivals.
While, under Mourinho, United are, well...
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