Manchester United are in a state of disarray.

With the widening cracks of the Ole Gunnar Solskjaer era having been briefly papered over by the Tottenham Hotspur win, United came crashing back down to reality against Manchester City.

Much in the same way that the Red Devils were humiliated 5-0 at home to Liverpool just a couple of weeks ago, the Citizens toyed around with their local rivals across a comfortable 2-0 triumph.

Man Utd 0-2 Man City

The Old Trafford faithful were left with their heads in their hands after Eric Bailly put through his own net after seven minutes, before terrible defending allowed Bernardo Silva to double the lead.

And if it wasn't for heroics from David de Gea, which included a stunning stop to deny Gabriel Jesus, the Red Devils could have been facing yet another Premier League drubbing at home.

However, just because the scoreline didn't inflate to 4-0, 5-0 or 6-0, that doesn't mean that United fans are under any illusion that the club aren't in one of their toughest spots of the last few years.

Man Utd 0-2 Man City Match Reaction (Football Terrace)

Underperforming United players

And while thousands of supporters would die on the hill that Solskjaer is to blame for every sinew of the crisis, there's no escaping the fact that the players are at least partly responsible. 

As such, on the back of the dismal City performance, we felt as though the time was ripe to take a closer look at which United players have been thriving and which have been struggling in the league this season.

To do so, we turned over to the data gurus at WhoScored, who hand out match ratings to every Premier League player across every single game based on a number of statistics and metrics.

Man Utd players ranked by PL stats

In many ways, it's about as close as you can possibly come to objectively ranking footballers based on their performances - and the United squad's ratings have been averaged out for 2021/22.

So, without further ado, here is how every player to have appeared in the Premier League for United this season ranks based on their average match rating in the competition this season.

23. Eric Bailly - 5.33

22. Donny van de Beek - 6.01

21. Jadon Sancho - 6.27

20. Marcus Rashford - 6.30

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19. Diogo Dalot - 6.34

18. Edinson Cavani - 6.38

17. Anthony Martial - 6.45

16. Victor Lindelof - 6.46

15. Alex Telles - 6.50

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14. Fred - 6.51

13. Daniel James - 6.53

12. Harry Maguire - 6.55

11. Jesse Lingard - 6.57

10. David de Gea - 6.59

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9. Luke Shaw - 6.63

8. Nemanja Matic - 6.66

7. Scott McTominay - 6.68

6. Cristiano Ronaldo - 6.87

=4. Raphael Varane - 6.90

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=4. Aaron Wan-Bissaka - 6.90

3. Mason Greenwood - 7.10

=1. Paul Pogba - 7.14

=1. Bruno Fernandes - 7.14

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Premier League 2021/22: Fixtures, Results, Odds, Ball, Tickets And Everything You Need To Know

Fernandes and Pogba come out on top

Although his performances have by no means been perfect this season, Fernandes feels like a worthy victor having produced four goals and three assists across 11 Premier League outings.

Similarly, you can rest assured that Pogba's recent plateau has been counterbalanced by an extraordinary start to the campaign, which still sees him topping the assist charts with seven.

It is, however, perhaps surprising to see Ronaldo as low down as seventh, though certain sections of fans have criticised his wider role for the team despite having notched four league goals already.

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But once you travel further down the list, the fact that Fred finishes beneath James - who has since moved to Leeds United - will likely have many fans face-palming and Roy Keane nodding to himself.

Meanwhile, Van de Beek is a victim of having only been given 15 minutes of league action all season and Sancho's slow start to life at Old Trafford is compounded with a 26th-place finish.

Marry that to a tellingly low placement for Maguire as well as damning statistics for Lindelof and Bailly and it's easy to see why United are having so many defensive problems right now, too.

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So, sure, it's not all bad at Old Trafford and there are a few players who can hold their head up high this season, but make no mistake that something needs to change at United to turn things around.

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