Manchester United’s stunning start to season isn’t as good as first thought… they’ve played seven of the bottom eight teams
Jose Mourinho's unbeaten start has rightly been praised, but new look squad is yet to truly be tested
MANCHESTER UNITED enter the international break in mightily impressive form.
Jose Mourinho's new look side are unbeaten in the Premier League, have maximum points in the Champions League and have won six in a row.
The only two blemishes on their stunning campaign so far are the 2-1 Super Cup defeat to Real Madrid - a glorified friendly - and a 2-2 draw at Stoke, who have picked up seven points from four games at home.
New signings Romelu Lukaku and Nemanja Matic have become key contributors.
Lukaku already has 10 goals and Matic is making Chelsea look stupid on a weekly basis.
Gone is the 'boring' tag that has plagued the club in the post-Sir Alex Ferguson era.
United are not just impressing because they are winning games - they are also playing brilliant attacking football and smashing teams.
Mourinho's men have scored four goals in SIX of their wins and conceded in only three matches - they've scored 32 and conceded five in 10 games.
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Man Utd results so far
- Man Utd 4 West Ham 0
- Swansea City 0 Man Utd 4
- Man Utd 2 Leicester 0
- Stoke 2 Man Utd 2
- Man Utd 3 Basel 0
- Man Utd 4 Everton 0
- Man Utd 4 Burton Albion 1
- Southampton 0 Man Utd 1
- CSKA Moscow 1 Man Utd 4
- Man Utd 4 Crystal Palace 0
Man Utd upcoming fixtures
October 14, Premier League - Liverpool (a)
Oct 18, Champions League - Benfica (a)
Oct 21, Premier League - Huddersfield (a)
Oct 24, Carabao Cup - Swansea (a)
Oct 28, Premier League - Tottenham (h)
Oct 31, Champions League - Benfica (h)
Nov 5, Premier League - Chelsea (a)
Nov 18, Premier League - Newcastle (a)
Even Marouane Fellaini has become a fan favourite at Old Trafford.
And yet...
This is not to take anything away from the performances of the team, as the old cliche says, you can only beat what's in front of you - and United are smashing their opposition.
But look a bit closer and United's record and it DOES flatter.
United are yet to be tested, even the Special One would admit that.
The Red Devils have played SEVEN of the bottom EIGHT teams in the Premier League so far.
Even those sides who would have been expected to put up a bit of a fight - Everton and Southampton - have had terrible starts to the season.
Ronald Koeman is the favourite to be the next manager sacked, while the Saints are struggling to adjust to new manager Mauricio Pellegrino.
Last weekend's opponents Crystal Palace have lost all seven of their games and sacked Frank De Boer last month, while West Ham boss Slaven Bilic is another manager in the hot seat.
Their Carabao Cup win came against Burton Albion - they currently sit 21st in the Championship.
Even in the Champions League, United have benefited from an easy group.
Basel won the Swiss league by a landslide last season but have had a rocky start to this term.
They are already eight points off leaders Young Boys and sit third in the Super League.
Similarly CSKA Moscow, who finished second in the Russian Premier League last year, are down in fourth at the moment, seven points off Zenit St Petersburg.
United beat Basel 3-0 and swept CSKA aside 4-1 last week.
Mourinho will now know that the real work is set to start.
After the international break, Manchester United easily face their toughest game of the season so far, away at Liverpool.
Jurgen Klopp's Reds might be in atrocious form (they have one win in the last seven), but forget form for this one.
Anfield will always be a massive game for United against their biggest rivals.
They have a decent record at the ground in the post-Ferguson era - two wins and a draw from five matches - but Klopp is starting to feel the pressure and faces a must-win.
That game is the start of four away matches in a row, with games every three days in October.
Four days after playing Liverpool, United face what should be the hardest game of their Champions League group, away at Benfica.
They are then away at Huddersfield and Swansea in the Carabao Cup.
At the end of October and going into November, United then face a very difficult run of Tottenham, Benfica, away at Chelsea and then Newcastle.
With injured Paul Pogba not expected to be fit for any of those matches, October and November will let us know if this Manchester United team are for real.