It is probably a mix of overrating and underrating here. Emotions cause people to get extreme in both directions.
I think the biggest difference with the top 2 is the managers they got. They lift the players to new levels and Ole is not doing that. Most players are underperforming under him in my view.
Who exactly is underperforming under Ole?
For players who've played for more than 1 manager here:
Under Ole ...
- Rashford is playing his best football at United
- Martial is playing his best football at United
- Matic is playing his best football at United
- Paul Pogba is looking truly world class
- Fred is playing his best football at United
- McTominay is at the very least maintaining his level
- Shaw is playing his best football at United (apart from maybe just before the leg break)
- Lindelof - I don't rate him hugely, but is playing his best football at United
- DDG has been struggling, and that preceded Ole
New players ...
- Maguire, AWB, James ( to a lesser extent, but from the Championship), Ighalo, and Bruno have all come in and done well - better than most expected.
- Greenwood's come in and has 12 goals
Before you refer to the table, we really shouldn't be thinking of the season as 1 homogeneous set of results, because it's really not.
The first half of the season was woeful and inconsistent - mostly due to the inability to break 'smaller' teams down when they defended with a low block, however, our main flair players (Pogba, Rashford, Martial) have all missed huge chunks of the season through injury. Now they're back and with the addition of Bruno, we've looked a completely different side since the turn of the year, so lumping everything together doesn't give a true picture of the trend of improvement.