THE HOLY TRINITY MAKE A DIFFERENCE?

On the 18th January 1964 Manchester United beat West Bromich Albion at home 4-1 with the "holy trinity" each scoring: Denis Law 2, George Best 1 and Bobby Charlton 1.

It was the first time that the three had played together. I am not suggesting they played every game after this but it is worth knowing how many games United had to deal with in the season, before and after the Holy Trinity. Charlton played 54 times scoring 17, Best 26/6 and Law 42/46....

Overall United had Gaskell and Gregg as goalkeepers,  Dunne, Brennan, Cantwell, Crerand, Foulkes as defenders, Stiles, Setters, Herd (44/27), G. Moore (not Bobby!), Charlton, Best, Quixall, Sadler, Ian Moir and Law in the regular team. Chisnall, Anderson and Tranter appeared a few times.

Before January 18th Man United had won 17 matches (cup and league) = 53%, drawn 5 with 10 (31%) defeats from 32 games.

In August, the season started badly with a 0-4 defeat to Everton in the FA Charity Shield. They played 3 matches in the month. In September they had 8 games, in October 6, November 5 and in December 7.
Before January 18th they played 2 games in the month.

After the 18th January, the "second half" of the season, they won 13 (56%) drew 5 and lost 5 (21%) from 23 games.

United opened its account on January 4th with a league game beating Southampton away 2-3, then had two league matches on consecutive Saturdays 11th v Birmingham City lost 1-2 and they played  WBA on the 18th, as described above.

The following Saturday (Jan 25th) United met Bristol Rovers home in the FA Cup in Round 4 winning 4-1, making a total of 4 matches in January.

There were two leagues games on February 1st and 8th.
They met Barnsley away in Rd 5 on February 15th winning 4-1,
then Sunderland in the 6th Rd three times, with draws and an eventual win 5-1.
Overall they played 7 games in the month including  the European Cup Winners Cup 1st leg v Sporting Lisbon (see below).

They finally bowed out of the FA Cup to West Ham 1-3 in the semi-final on March 14th and
Four days later (March 18th) lost in European Cup Winners Cup semi-final to Sporting Lisbon 0-5 away having been 4-1 up from the  February 26th 1st leg.

From March 21st to 30th they also had 5 league games making it 10 games in the month.

In April between 4th-25th they played 5 games. Overall they won 23 out of 42 league games and drew 7, scoring 100 goals and conceding 72. Free-style football??

If these numbers don't add up. sorry!