Y & Z United Perspectives by Kevin, Justyn & Wayne Tabone
W
ith the Supporters’ Club’s doors closed, the Tabone boys are now missing going to the club big time. With the current state of affairs, one can only wish that the day when we would be able to make this trip together again will return soon. We hope that if United manage to get to the level of winning trophies, we would to be able to celebrate winning trophies together again at the club.
Shaw isn’t certain that he will be in the starting 11 and has to work harder. In midfield the improvement of Scott McTominay made a huge difference as he is an affective player both in attacking and even defensively. Ole even thought about the experience needed for younger players therefore bought Edinson Cavani, apart from also adding a quality player. Ole has now also taught the players how to play true football with his new tactics.
What were the factors in your opinion that transformed Manchester United from a team lingering above the relegation zone at the beginning of the season to a team sitting at the top of the Premier League table?
Justyn: At the beginning of the season,
I think that Manchester United really suffered from the fact that the team had no pre-season. The team didn’t have a lengthy break due to being in the Europa League. So it was always going to be the case that the team would start slowly. Having said this, after a few games the team started picking up points and game by game the team starting taking shape and have some sort of fluidity. Moreover, other teams in around us started dropping points which helped our cause. As the season developed, Manchester United were finding different ways to win albeit most of the time, especially away from home, coming from behind. One might say that this is a coincidence however, the players really showed perseverance and belief. I think these two qualities have been a big part of Manchester United’s turnaround. Kevin: I refuse to look at the league table
Wayne: I think that the introduction of new
signings made the difference. Alex Telles was a great signing not only directly but also indirectly, in the sense that Luke
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VOL 48 - ISSUE 2 - MARCH 2021
until match-week 10 is played. This is something which I’ve done for quite a long time. This aside, one also has to consider what has happened this season, with the pandemic. Surely this made
season 2020/21 even more particular than any other season. You had teams playing less games than others, you had teams playing more regularly and you also had stadiums with no supporters, which meant that home and away matches were no different from one other. Having said all this, I could see there was an improvement as the season wore on. The one factor which I would point towards, would be that Ole now has a squad that are fighting to be in the starting XI. This ensures that whoever is playing keeps himself on his toes to perform, knowing that the ones on the bench are eager to take their place. The classical example explaining what I’m saying would be the left back position – Alex Telles’ arrival surely had an effect on Luke Shaw’s performances. This Premier League season surely has a record of surprise results. Do you think that the fact that there are no supporters in the stadium is one of the reasons behind some of these very unpredictable, crazy results we witnessed this season so far? Are there any more factors you can think about? Wayne: In my opinion, I think that
supporters play a huge part in the game and even more for such a big club I think that this affects us as a team both in a bad way but also as a good way. The bad thing is that players might experience lack of support but this will also happen to other clubs therefore the opposition might have lack of confidence. Other factors might be that maybe because there are many games that are squashed into each other, some players may lack stamina to maintain their levels.
