Nowhere close. Not just today. But over the season as a whole .
Honestly, we pick up a few wins and everybody loses their minds over the quality in this squad(cue McTominay potential thread after 1 good game), we go on a poor streak and others lose their minds over Ole being shite.
Its exhausting now.
There's also an obsession with comparing to the past sides which needs to end now. It's time to move on.
But just this once, I'll indulge that final season and our arguable first XI, if I can remember it.
Goalkeeper: Still De Gea. I'd say this is about the same then to now. He was really raw that season, but since last season, De Gea has regressed a little and still has some of the same problems he had back then.
Defence. We had 3 of the world's best defenders in our team back then. They were massively on the decline but their ability back then was still far above what exists now. Vidic, Ferdinand and Evra in a much more expansive team were certainly vulnerable but you'd still trust them more than you trust the current lot. We also lost Vidic a lot, so we saw a much greater deal of Jones and Evans in the team.
Rafael was a bit suspect defensively but did a good job going forward. Was meant to improve but never really did. Had a great influence over quite a few of our games, so I'd still keep him over AWB.
Midfield. Laughable comparison. Fred- McTominay or Carrick-Cleverley(Scholes). It'd a strange one cause on one hand you see Cleverley there but his level that season meant we didn't have to rely on Scholes or go with make shifts. He seemed to have done enough.
Rooney- Fernandes is where it's truly contested. I guess a lot of bias will decide here. Rooney had 12 goals and 10 assists(League only) that season, and I'm inclined to keep him as the slightly better player. However, this thread is about how the current side compares, and Bruno is the one that gets up there and matches the very best.
Wingers: Valencia and Young or Greenwood and Rashford. A serious lack of quality back then. Rashford would definitely get in over Young, but Valencia gets in on the other side for actually being a RW.
Upfront: Van Persie. Not even going to assess. Was a massive component in driving us to number 20. What have the current lot done?
An example of the falling standards of this club when we deem Martial to be good enough to succeed when the likes of Van Persie, Cole, Cantona, Van Nistelrooy and so on graced these grounds, and yet a 25 year old who shows no improvement ever is deemed to have the potential to join that lot.
I imagine some might have an issue with the comparison, but in my personal comparison, 3 players get into that XI.
So, well, that's that.