This is a follow up to a post of 2 years ago written when very frustrated with Manchester United. A lot has happened in the past few years but I’m back to being very frustrated watching them play. Indeed, I actually switched off the tv about 5 minutes before the game ended because it was so bad. How did we get here? Last year was a definite improvement from my perspective. Sure, they didn’t win a trophy but against the big teams they actually put in some very good performances and showed they could chase a game they were losing with gritty determination.
This year has seen some shit shows by comparison. Losing to Brighton. Throwing away a chance too beat Wolves. Getting beaten by Derby. None of these teams are very good. Don’t let anyone suggest Utd were somehow up against a great team or a team that played out of their skin. The problems were of Utd’s own making.
I expected this year to be a slog but hoped we’d be close enough by Xmas to sign a few players and get back into contention to win something, or at least finish in the top 4. That looks a pipe dream right now and I have some ideas as to why the situation is so dire.
Mourinho is depressed
He’ll claim he isn’t but he looks like he has the weight of the world on his shoulders. He wasn’t backed during the summer with both Jose and Woodward leaking information to the press about what they did / didn’t expect about the transfer window. It’s incredible that a list of targets given to Woodward months before the window opened somehow ended up in 2 first team signings (and one of them an under 20 defender) but that’s what happened. Jose’s been acting like a man who protests he wasn’t betrayed but wants everyone to know he was. His frustration with the limitations of some of his players has blinded him to their talents and he’s overcome with negativity.
I like Jose. I’ve liked him as a manager for years but it seems he decided that this team isn’t good enough to win the EPL or UCL and so he’s going to punish the players he has for that. This can’t end well.
Conflict Everywhere
Pogba and Mourinho are both winners but they’re in constant conflict over the past few months it seems. Why is that?
Well, it appears that they both want better players on the pitch but they find fault in the other for poor performances. Mourinho is correct that Pogba is indisciplined at times. He’s pretty much revamped the side to give Pogba more freedom to get forward but the problems in defence mean that’s a risky proposition. In turn, Pogba blames Mourinho for Utd not attacking more but the attackers Utd have keep losing the ball in the opposition 3rd and they’re not taking the chances that present themselves. Mourinho was genuinely too defensive agains West Ham. It was a terrible mistake to setup to try to counteract them rather than play an attacking game ourselves. On the other hand, Mourinho will look at Pogba in attack and think he could have done more and been less sloppy. They’re both correct but that doesn’t in itself suggest a solution.
It’s just a microcosm of a club where the management, players and owners have different agenda and don’t seem to be pulling in the same direction. Before the EPL started this season, Utd had a terrible preseason, disagreements about transfers and disagreements about when players should return from holidays. That’s a terrible start.
The squad isn’t good enough
I’ve watched the following players for years and they each have a flaw or flaws so great that they don’t deserve to be in this Utd team. A bit like Jose, sometimes all I can see are the flaws but they frustrate me every time I see them on the pitch.
- Mata – lovely guy but one of the slowest players in the premier league. He’d have to be the most accurate passer and shooter of the ball in EPL history to compensate for how slow he’s become. He’s not and so he’s now a liability against fast counter attacking sides. Pretty much anyone can walk past him and he can’t beat a man.
- Herrera – another top bloke but he invariably passes sideways or backwards. He slows down play, finds defensive options in the most attacking of moments and generally messes things up. The occasional goal or forward pass seems to disguise his mediocre contributions.
- Scott McTominay- only a kid but a mediocre talent that should be nowhere near the Utd first team. Maybe he’ll become a player but he isn’t one yet. Ideal to put on the pitch with 5 minutes to go and a 3 goal lead. Disastrous otherwise. I have no idea that Mourinho or Fergie see in this lad.
- Anthony Martial – lots of talent with little recent return on it in terms of goals and assists. His supporters insist this is entirely down to Mourinho but it shows extraordinary mental fragility for a top flight footballer. On technique alone he could be one of the best attackers in world football but his decision making in shooting and playing the final pass is poor. He seems to panic or get upset under pressure.
- Phil Jones – a committed defender who reads the game poorly at times and gets injured or gives away cheap goals as a result. He’d have to be very fast to make up for his brain farts and he isn’t. Again, he seems a good bloke but he shouldn’t be playing for Utd.
- Romeleu Lukaku – a big mistake of a signing. He was bought last year to score the kind of opportunistic goals that we weren’t getting because Zlatan is embarrassed to score anything that isn’t a worldie, so he missed hatfuls of chances. Lukaku is a much more orthodox CF who appeared to have his best year last season. This season he’s reverted to the mean and we’re left with a player with one of the poorest first touches in top flight football. Sure, he can occasionally show something better but overall, he’s contributing almost nothing to the team when he doesn’t score. Worse, his passing and touch mess up our attacks. Worth nowhere near £75M
- Alexis Sanchez – another huge signing mistake. He’s trying but he’s nowhere near the player he was. Slower, less agile, less accurate and just annoyed with himself and others when things don’t work out. At least he tries but it’s a modest contribution for such huge investment. This signing is where Mourinho’s reign at Utd really started to come under pressure. Sanchez just hasn’t worked out and we swapped a useful right-sided player as part of the deal.
- Marcus Rashford – hasn’t developed much in the past 2 years. His decision making is terrible and he in no way deserves the number 10 jersey. Maybe Jose’s fault, maybe not. Difficult to know. He’s gotten game time but he’s rarely delivered.
The following players are good enough however and should start most games. David De Gea, Bailly, Luke Shaw, Pogba (despite his attitude), Pereira, Matic. Yes I’m including Pereira. He can pass and dribble. He has great vision and it’s a mistake he’s not getting game time at Utd. Dalot and Fred look good at times and I think they’ll both have decent careers at the club. Dalot in particular looks like he could be a long term RB choice, which is amazing given his age.
I believe this team will win nothing without changing key positions including a new centre froward, right-sided attacker and a world class central defender. The rest of the side isn’t so bad however. Much better than today’s result suggested.