It has been a dismal season for Manchester United thus far. Before the defeat against Sunderland, I had predicted that United would need to win at least 95% of their remaining league fixtures to finish in a Champions League position. I had no hope at all of United challenging for the title despite the optimism of the manager and some from the United camp. As far as I am concerned, that objective was over a long time ago. After the defeat to Sunderland, I feel United need to win a 100% of their remaining fixtures which include matches against the current top 4. Is it possible? Anything is possible in football but with the squad's current form, injury situation and inconsistency, I feel it isn't possible. Wayne Rooney and Louis Van Gaal sounded downbeat about the team's chances of qualification to the Champions League through their league position. The best route to the Champions League now lies through winning the Europa League and that is not a given either with some really strong teams still in the running for the Europa League.
United were playing much better and getting good results in their last 3 matches before the second half collapse against Sunderland and therein illustrates one of our problems this season, lack of consistency. United take 1 step forward and 2 steps back. It's like being in constant tango. However, the lack of consistency is not something I will address first. I will address the number 1 reason why Manchester United have not reached the heights of previous seasons since Sir Alex Ferguson left, the lack of stability at the club. For over 2 decades, Sir Alex managed the club and built winning teams. He has had periods of struggle at the start of his time there and periods of transition in between the successful years but he was the pulse of the club. He made the team tick and gave the team the calmness to play their game. The level that United were left by Sir Alex Ferguson was at a very high level and expectations of, at and around the club are now much higher than it was when he took over in 1986. I would be selfish to say this but I would say that for the good of the club, perhaps Sir Alex could have better planned his retirement. When he decided to retire, Jose Mourinho had already decided to go back to Chelsea, Pep Guardiola had already signed for Bayern Munich, Jurgen Klopp and Carlo Ancelotti were happy at Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid respectively and current United manager, Louis Van Gaal was preparing the Dutch national team to qualify for the 2014 World Cup. In my opinion, a poor decision was made in hiring David Moyes. He did a good job keeping Everton in the Premier League since he took charge, leading them to Europe albeit not consistently and he had built a solid and stable team but with all due respect, managing Manchester United is a different kettle of fish to managing Everton. With David Gill also leaving that season as a the CEO of the club, all of a sudden, United were faced with welcoming the new season with a new manager and a new CEO. As a fan, one would hope they did well but I always felt it was a big risk hiring Moyes. The writing was already on the wall after the embarrassing saga around the chase for Cesc Fabregas and the eventual deadline day signing of Marouane Fellaini for an inflated transfer fee. On the pitch, United struggled in pre-season. I shrugged it off as pre-season friendly results that didn't count for much but my fears were confirmed in actual competitive matches as United allowed many teams to break their winless duck against them that season.
With the benefit of hindsight, it would have been clever to keep Sir Alex's backroom staff to guide Moyes along but he perhaps wanted to reward the men who were with him during his coaching career at Everton and rightly so but it would have been practical in taking the former decision. Next, the team had finished the previous season as champions by a sizeable margin. There was a need to find long term replacements for the likes of Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic, Patrice Evra, Ryan Giggs and a permanent replacement for the newly retired Paul Scholes. He had already inherited a squad which included Chris Smalling and Phil Jones as potential replacements for Ferdinand and Vidic. He was chasing Fabregas as a replacement for Scholes but perhaps the Spaniard still had something against United from his time at Arsenal or wouldn't want to play for an untested manager at a high level like Moyes or both. Too much time was wasted in the chase that other possible targets were lost. I believe another reason for the failure to sign a big name player would be that the appeal to play for Manchester United had gone down since Sir Alex's retirement. Foreign players were unsure on the capability of the new man in-charge and in some cases, probably hadn't even heard of him. Tom Cleverley was unfortunately never going to be Scholes' replacement and Sir Alex left his predecessor short in this department. There were no British players of the calibre of Scholes either. However, besides not being able to sign players he identified, he didn't need to change United's playing style too drastically to what Sir Alex had imposed. If it ain't broken, don't fix it. He meddled unnecessarily and caused lots of confusion and unhappiness. The performances and results on the pitch was there for all to see. Had he had the assistance of Sir Alex' backroom staff, he would have been guided in the right way and would be rightly assisted in the management of the players. Moyes was clearly out of depth and it was a risk that didn't pay off. United finished outside of the top 4 four for the first time in the history of the Premier League, they ended the season trophy-less and without European participation the following season.
Then Van Gaal came to replace Moyes and there was a wave of enthusiasm as he had led an unfancied Dutch team to a respectable third place finish in the World Cup. Now, United had a big name manager with the experience of managing and winning at other big clubs in Europe. Pre-season results led to greater enthusiasm and it reached orgasmic stage when United bought Angel Di Maria, Radamel Falcao, Daley Blind, Ander Herrera and Luke Shaw in the summer transfer window. All high hopes came crashing down when United lost their first league fixture and not long after were trashed 4-0 by MK Dons in the 2nd round of the League Cup. A whole host of departures followed. United had a decent season albeit another trophy-less one and a strong finish saw them qualify for the Champions League. It bode well for the future that after having spent a season in-charge and with the addition of new signings in the summer transfer market, the players would have bedded in, understood what Van Gaal expects of the team and Van Gaal would have understood the rigours of English football to kick on for the following season and challenge for major honours again. The signings came but so did the departures again. For a second season in a row, United had lots of signings and lots of sales and loans. How can one expect to achieve stability with such turnover of players? It is regularly pointed out that United spent X amount of money on players over two transfer windows but no-one points out to money recouped in the sale over both transfer windows. For the team to be properly stable, Van Gaal should have kept the squad as intact as possible making some signings to strengthen the team and cope with the demands of playing in 4 competitions including a physically demanding league that is the English Premier League. He chose to keep a small squad so that he could blood youngsters when needed and he has not been shy to do so. It's credit to him that he has kept the United tradition of promoting youngsters to the first team but they have been blooded under intense pressure when results haven't been good, performances have been poor and confidence is low. In the long-term, such experiences should toughen up the young players and expedite their maturity but in the short-term, it would only lead to inconsistent performances individually and as a team.
Van Gaal's reluctance in rotating the squad only leads to fatigue and injuries. To be fair to him, a lot of the injuries sustained by players this season have not been muscular but have been joint,bone injuries sustained during matches or training. With a squad that lacks depth, United is always going to struggle to cope with an injury crisis. There is too much undue pressure on the youngsters to deliver and the lack of depth doesn't exactly stimulate competition for places for the seasoned professionals. This is where I feel Van Gaal is at fault. Another area he has failed to cope with is the intensity of matches in England especially in away matches. United struggle to cope against teams that get into their faces, press high, are aggressive and play long, direct balls. More often than not, United don't seem to be up for a battle and lose out. The lack of preparation and anticipation to deal with this aspect after one full season in England is not acceptable. In England, he can't expect his team to just dominate every game. The team needs to be ready to go into a battle especially away from home where for a smaller club, every match against a big team like Manchester United is a cup final. It is ironic that Arsenal were accused of having a soft underbelly for many seasons and United would always get the better of them by being aggressive and this season Arsenal gave United a dose of their own medicine. On paper, United could easily field a dynamic and exciting front four similar to the Ronaldo-Rooney-Tevez axis of the 2007-08 season but United's style of play for most of the season have been dour. You do see bits and pieces of promise, flair and dynamism in parts of matches or in the entirety of some matches but it is not consistent enough. Blame has been leveled at the manager for the style of play but I feel the players got to take the blame as well.
On the issue of players, I feel United shouldn't have sold Shinji Kagawa, Danny Welbeck and Javier Hernandez or even Nani and Darren Fletcher but if they weren't given much chance and didn't have the faith of the manager, then it was the right decision for them to leave and play elsewhere happily. If Sir Alex Ferguson had stayed for one more season, Wayne Rooney would have surely been sold and all three or at least 2 out of the 3 above-mentioned players (Kagawa, Welbeck, Hernandez) would have a more prominent role to play in the first team. I am not sure if Di Maria left because he chickened out and left to get a better pay cheque at Paris St.Germain or was sold by the club. My feeling is more of the former than the latter which is a pity and an act of cowardice from the Argentine. Players can have a good game or a bad game and in a team with so many young players, the older, more senior players have to stand up and be counted when the going gets tough in a game and drag the team out of a mess and nick a result if needed. That hasn't happened enough. By his own admission, Van Gaal has said the players have been too nice with each other in the dressing room and that is something that can't be accepted in a team that is expected to always win. Over the weekend, when I saw the players losing out to second balls, being second to challenges and messing with possession, I don't see anyone tearing into the players to keep them on their toes and cut out the mistakes. In years gone by, one would have seen players like Bryan Robson, Paul Ince, Steve Bruce, Peter Schmeichel, Roy Keane, Mark Hughes, Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic, Patrice Evra, Darren Fletcher, Gary Neville have a go at the players. I understand that society is different nowadays and the younger players are sensitive to such telling off but sometimes there is nothing better than a strong telling off to get a player's act together and keep his focus. Rooney was a player capable of lashing out at his team-mates but he has mellowed tremendously and lost his spark. Only a couple of players like Eric Cantona and Paul Scholes could get the message across without raising their voice and these were gifted players who let their aura and talent speak for themselves. The lack of strong leadership on the pitch is another reason behind United's struggles. I don't know what goes on in the dressing room and training ground but it doesn't seem like much good is going on there in terms of leadership. The team lacks strong leaders. United cannot win anything or aim to recapture it's previous height of success without having strong leaders in the team.
Another significant point on players is the fall out between Van Gaal and Victor Valdes. The fall out escalated to an embarrassing level when Valdes was completely left out of the first team and not allowed to share the dressing room or train with the first team. Sir Alex has had his fall outs before but he has always made it a point to quickly move the player on to another club. The Van Gaal-Valdes saga was embarrassing for the club and showed a lack of respect and class towards the player. Valdes was also a key figure in the dressing room for the Spanish speaking members of the team and he was a winner from his time at Barcelona and Spain. A player of his experience and leadership could have been a vital component in the dressing room and training ground even if he wasn't expected to play much as an understudy to De Gea. The fall out had an effect on the players in the dressing room as the team had bonded so well at the end of the previous season. Van Gaal should have moved him on quickly after the fall out and not let it fester or he could have tried reconciling for the good of the club.
Final point, is on the CEO, Ed Woodward. He seems to me to be a person with greater natural inclination and ability towards the business, commercial side of the club rather than the footballing side of the club. That is all well and good but it is only good as long as the team remains successful on the pitch. Without success on the pitch, the club will lose it's commercial partners and with it, its revenue and appeal. The club's partners might be riding on past success and the fact that the club still remains one of the most successful and widely supported English clubs around the world. Woodward though doesn't seem to have his pulse on the football side of things. Since United's poor run of form in December, Van Gaal's future has been in doubt but he has not come out to decisively deal with it one way or another. He has left the manager to fend for himself against the constant rumours over his future at the club. His current stand just seems to suggest that there could be more than an iota of truth in all the rumours surrounding the manager and it could have a de-stabilising effect on the team. It does seem from the outside looking in that the manager doesn't have the support of the board or CEO contrary to what Van Gaal claims. I believe that if Woodward wanted to sack Van Gaal, he would have done so in December but he didn't. I am of the opinion that Woodward would keep Van Gaal in the job as long as there is a chance of at least qualification to the Champions League either through their league position or winning the Europa League. I feel Woodward is stalling on sacking Van Gaal probably due to the compensation that he would need to pay for the early termination from his contract. Whatever the reality is, Woodward has to come out to deal with this matter decisively. I get the impression that on the football aspect of running the club, Woodward takes inspiration from Real Madrid. He sacked David Moyes 10 months into his job, I feel rightly so and he hasn't exactly come out in defence of Van Gaal with his future under constant scrutiny and speculation. I feel English clubs are going to be given an inflated quote for players they are after due to the increase in revenue of English clubs and in Woodward's case, he has shown a willingness to pay whatever he has been quoted without batting an eyelid. Anthony Martial became the world's most expensive teenager when he was signed just as Rooney was when he was signed about a decade ago. At the moment, he is justifying the price tag but not everyone might be worth the price we pay and he has to be more shrewd in his dealings.
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