They really were a loooong way off, they played shit football under OGS, and nothing about them made them look like a top 4 team (they didn't when they finished 2nd under the dinosaur too). To this day don't get why anyone thought Ronaldo was a good signing for them, he wasn't for Juve, why would he be for Utd? Turns out he wasn't. I think Varane is a very good player, but he's not going to make them a good side on his own and Sancho is just a kid (who's hasn't had a single good game when selected to play for England, so the signs were there that he's a long way to go yet before he reaches the same level of hype that surrounded him). OGS was their manager.
They literally scored 72 goals last season and they finished 2nd, how were they a long way off?
Yeah but despite all that their squad looked incredibly strong going into the new season, those predictions were done before the season started not during...if you didn't predict Utd to get top 4 then who did you replace them with?