The current Man Utd situation What’s going wrong?
D
oes the drought and failure to play good football on a regular basis go back to 2013 with the departure of Sir Alex? There was no shortage of Managers employed to emulate Sir Alex’s successes. David Moyes had followed Sir Alex as boss in 2013. Ryan Giggs had taken over in 2014. Louis Van Gaal had a go from May 2014. Jose’ Mourinho took over a couple of years later in May 2016. That only lasted two and a half years until Ole became boss on the 19th December 2018. In the meantime, United’s last Premier League win was in Alex Ferguson’s last season, 2012/2013. The last FA Cup trophy was won in the 2015/2016 season. The last League Cup, in 2016/2017 and lifting the Charity Shield, in 2016 (shared). And the last European Trophy – the UEFA Europa League, in 2016/2017. Many observers claim that the downhill slide began a few years before Sir Alex managed his final season. The club, they claim, failed to plan for the future. Many of the players United had on its books by Ferguson’s final season
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were either nearing retirement or were of very poor quality. It was the brilliance of Robin Van Persie that won us the league but many claim that the writing was already on the wall that the club would struggle in the upcoming seasons because the other clubs were building formidable teams. What matters now is that United have now gone four straight seasons without a trophy and one season away from equalling their worst trophy drought since the club was last relegated in 1974. At the time of writing, United’s performance had clearly gone off the rails. How could a team with so many star players, with experience in playing together, end up in this situation? International stars Paul Pogba and Fernandes, England defenders Luke Shaw and Harry Maguire, strikers Mason Greenwood, Marcus Rashford and Edinson Cavani. Sancho was brought in as well as Varane and the great Cristiano Ronaldo, to join Van de Beek. Hard
by Kenneth Abela
to believe that United are in this situation. Admittedly every team hits a bad patch at some point. United get criticized that they do not seem to realize that it’s bad. And that’s sad. The question often gets put: Is it then the Manager’s fault? Is the boss playing to ensure that he doesn’t lose, instead of going all out for a win? Or could it be the players’ fault in not following the Manager’s instructions? Are the players fearful of being benched, or worse, sold, if they don’t play to the manager’s plan, or if they don’t maintain possession, or if they try something risky? Take that game United versus Liverpool at Old Trafford as an example. This was the opportunity for United to show that they were back on the right track. They had beaten Atalanta in added time during the week, after having lost to Leicester City in the previous match. United started well, but Fernandes missed a sitter and in my view – and call me foolish if you must - the die at that moment
