Manchester United ended 2021 as they started it, with a win at Old Trafford and without a clean sheet.
The 2-1 win against Aston Villa on New Year’s Day kept the pressure up in the title race last season, but almost a full year later this win was required just to keep the heat on in the race for the top four.
The occasionally freewheeling win against Burnley had some positive signs in it, but it closed the book on a year when United regressed despite a transfer window to remember.
It was early January when United won at Burnley to go top of the Premier League and spark dreams of an unexpected title challenge, but vertigo struck the moment they hit the top and it’s mostly been mediocrity since then.
This victory to see out the year meant United have won 21 of their 41 league games in the calendar year. Long-term that's only ever going to be good enough for sixth or seventh.
A year ago it felt like Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was getting things right at United, but that momentum came to such a shuddering halt that now a new year dawns with more changes afoot.
The highlight might well have been what happened off the pitch in the summer, when Raphael Varane, Jadon Sancho and Cristiano Ronaldo were added to a squad that now had the sheen of potential champions.
That’s not going to happen this year but if 2021 was a year of regression then 2022 has to be when United get it right.
There are many decisions to be made. Senior players are out of contract, not least Paul Pogba, and there is a manager to be appointed in the summer.
For now, it falls on Ralf Rangnick to steady the foundations. His appointment was from leftfield and he’s limited as to what he can achieve in six months, but this performance felt more like his opening salvo and the win against Crystal Palace, rather than those underwhelming displays against Norwich and Newcastle.
It was also a badly needed win, not only to avoid the embarrassment of failing to win at least half of their Premier League games this season, but to strengthen their challenge for that crucial fourth spot.
If Manchester City, Chelsea and Liverpool look like they’re over the hill, there is only one spot left for next season’s Champions League. United simply have to beat Arsenal and Tottenham to it.
If they can do that they can recruit aggressively next summer and pick the manager they want. Failure to secure fourth would set this team back in a year when they will bring up their ninth without a league title.
That has to be Rangnick’s brief. If 2022 isn’t about a title challenge it is at least about laying the foundations for one.
In this win there are signs of positives. The width provided by the youth of Mason Greenwood and Sancho should be perfect for a modern, aggressive team built to press. The goal-scoring prowess of Edinson Cavani and Ronaldo should be unrivalled.
The failure to keep Burnley out is an obvious area for improvement. Of those 41 Premier League games this year clean sheets have been achieved in just 12 of them. That isn’t good enough.
Not good enough is a fitting epitaph for United’s 2021, but they can only keep getting it wrong for so long.
This is a squad assembled at great expense and it’s time they started performing as the sum of their parts, at the very least. Rangnick’s approach is all about the system and there were some signs against Burnley it might be coming together, in attack at least.
That has to continue in the early stages of next year if United are to finally start making meaningful progress towards the title.
