United’s last two matches have been nothing short of piss-poor. That’s strong language coming out of the gate for this post, but every word of it is true. United were defeated in the Manchester Derby by Man City at the weekend 3-0, and then they were similarly drubbed by Newcastle United in the League/Carabao/EFL Cup by the same score yesterday. There were very few positives to take from either match. They were uninspiring in attack and porous in defense. Just bad football all around. Yes, City and Newcastle are good sides, and losing to good sides isn’t the worst thing in the world, but the absolutely listless manner in which we are losing is unacceptable. It’s not even close!
Rumors are flying everywhere about the status of the club and what the real source of the problems are. Unfortunately, without being present in the locker room for training sessions and matches every day, there is no way to suss out the real problem(s). Any and all media speculation, including from me, should be taken with a grain of salt. Every major sports news outlet claims to know what the problems are based on the aforementioned rumors, but no one aside from the players, manager, and club staff really know what’s going on.
Let’s approach this from the point of view of trying to get better. Okay, it’s been a crap start to the season. United are 8th in the Premier League table, they are out of the League Cup already, and they are second from bottom in their Champions League group. A decidedly poor start by the standards of this club. But alright, let’s acknowledge the poor start and then move on by asking the key questions – how do they fix it? How do they go about improving results on the pitch?
Some have called for the sacking of manager Erik ten Hag. While it’s true that his tactics have been stale and confusing at times this season, and he could stand to change things up a bit, I don’t think firing ETH will really change things in the long run. It’s the simplest way to change things, but will it really do anything? I doubt it. For one, who do you replace him with? There are no obvious candidates with the proper coaching pedigree available right now. For two, his tactics last season were largely successful. Is he really the biggest problem? Or is it that the players aren’t listening to him?
The majority of commenters online are laying blame at the feet of the players these days. It’s hard to disagree with those comments at times. It’s true that injuries have forced some of them to play out of position, but that’s not an excuse to not try hard. There’s no denying that our forwards – Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial, Bruno Fernandes, Rasmus Højlund, Antony dos Santos, and Alejandro Garnacho – have all been extremely poor this season. There is just one measly Premier League goal amidst all that talent, and it was scored by Rashford in a losing effort against Arsenal. The attack is just so static and uninspiring. No one makes runs into the box. No one tries to play a dangerous ball into the box. They just bring the ball into the attacking third and then stop! Is that at the instruction of ETH? Is it the players not understanding what ETH wants? Worst yet, is it that they simply don’t care to try? Are they upset with ETH over something and don’t trust him anymore? I think no matter what the real problem is, it can’t be denied that at least part of the problem is that the dynamic of the locker room has shifted for one reason or another. I think there is a negativity surrounding the relationship between ETH and the majority of his players that wasn’t there last season. However, whatever the problem, there is no excuse not to work hard. Every single one of these first-team players is making hundreds of thousands of pounds every week to play this game. It’s the absolute least they can do to run their asses off every match! Every single player who claims to love playing for United needs to come out and show that.
Of course, yet another entity to blame is ownership. My gripes with the Glazer family are well-documented on this blog, and as owners of this club ultimately a lot of the blame is on them. The structure of this club is absolutely garbage, in the sense that it’s unclear who is in charge of what tasks and what goals each person is trying to achieve. Manager of Man City, Pep Guardiola, recently took an indirect swipe at United when he suggested that the reason for City’s success is that everyone at that club is on the same page and has the same goals. Their manager, sporting directors, and owners are all aligned on what they want and need to do. Now, Pep can be a little bit flippant at times and there’s a lot more to success than just being aligned, but I have to admit that he has a point. The owners need to set the tone of what the club needs to be, and the manager/sporting directors/players all have to align with that. The Glazers are not doing that, put mildly. There’s no accountability from them, and that trickles down to every level of the club. If they don’t really care about results and are only in it for the money, that attitude can and will permeate. Glazers Out, now and forever.
It has been reported by several outlets that the Glazers will eventually be selling 25% of this club to Sir Jim Ratcliffe, a British billionaire who grew up supporting United. It is also rumored that Ratcliffe and his people will be taking over football operations and will be re-building the structure of the club. If that’s true, he has a mountain of work ahead of him. We have players that need to be sold, more that need to be brought in, and serious renovations are needed at both Old Trafford and Carrington training ground. The leaky roof on our beloved stadium is the perfect metaphor for this club’s current issues – a once great entity that has fallen into disrepair due to mismanagement and neglect.
In short, there is no simple solution to the club’s problems and no instant fix. We need an over-arching and holistic solution that no one seems to be interested in providing. There’s also very little to feel optimistic about. The Glazers need to sell, ETH needs to improve his tactics, and the players need to try harder. We didn’t get to this point accidentally. This is what happens when businessmen (and not football men) are allowed to own a club. Financial investment is a major aspect of the modern game, and United have fallen far behind on that front. We’re a joke right now. Every other club in Europe is laughing at us, and rightly so. Many of them aren’t even laughing as loudly as they once were, because at this point the tepid mediocrity isn’t even funny anymore. It’s just sad.
United have an away trip to Fulham in west London up next on November 4th. Any kind of positive result would be welcome, but I’m not holding my breath.
Glazers Out!
4-4-2 