Man United are rubbish: Wake up and smell the coffee
Where do you actually go from here?
Where’s the hope? Where’s the belief? What is there to cling onto?
I cast my mind back to the brutal downfall of some of Europe’s most dominant teams - the likes of Marseille, AC Milan, Leeds, Inter and I remember just how bad they were and how long it took them to become competent.
Their ’banter’ era.
The fall of Manchester United ranks right up there with them and you can argue that it might be the worst of the lot. People might come back at me and say they’ve still been competitive with multiple FA cups, League cups and a Europa League under their belt since Sir Alex Ferguson left - but when was the last time they were actually a good team? These trophies have done nothing but plug over the myriad of gigantic holes that lie within the club because when you take all of the names and history away, what you’re left with is scary.
This fall is even more brutal because of how slowly it has progressed. United have gone from an alright team that many thought were three or four signings away from really competing for major titles to a genuine mid-table team. Let’s get it right, last season they were marginally better than they have been this campaign but a huge xG overperformance and a sheer amount of luck didn’t reflect that on the prem table. This team isn’t underperforming, they’re playing at the level they are capable of and that is what’s so worrying to me. It’s not a case of bad finishing or shoddy defending that are the sole reasons for the where they find themselves - it’s literally everything.
And you can’t change everything in just a few years. There needs to be accountability at the top of the food chain. Sir Jim Ratcliffe, Omar Berrarda, Jason Wilcox and anyone else involved in the big decisions all have to sit down and come to terms with the fact that the restart button has to be pushed. In terms of signings, you look at the 3 P’s: Player quality, price and profile - it’s all gotta change otherwise there won’t be any improvements.
It’s like United have sort of already started this rebuild but they’ve half-arsed it. Transfers like Heaven and Dorgu are a good start. Young, physical and technical players with a high ceiling that don’t cost too much to bring in. But then you contradict it with big-money buys such as Cunha who looks like he’s on his way to Old Trafford. Obviously Cunha is a brilliant player but United don’t have that much money, especially with the fact they now don’t have UCL football. £62.5m is a huge sum to pay, can that not be spent more intelligently on players in the Dorgu and Heaven mould? These Cunha types of signings are what has held United back for so long and fans seem to think that signing 3 or 4 good players will transform the club, it won’t. Looking at the first-team now, how many of them actually look like they are good enough or might be good enough for where United want to be in the future?
Amad, Mainoo, Yoro, Bruno, Heaven, Dorgu - those are pretty clear. Then players such as Dorgu, Mazraoui, De Ligt, Martinez, Garnacho and Zirkzee all still have questions around them. Other than that I see nothing. That’s 15 or so players I don’t think are good enough and you can’t get rid of that overnight. Mount, Ugarte, Casemiro, Hojlund, Dalot - these sorts of players were signed for big money and are on big wages - it’ll be difficult to get them out the club for a good fee and so you’re stuck with them.
This situation reminds me somewhat of where Chelsea found themselves in 2022 - a squad full of ageing, unmotivated and pretty poor players accrued as a result of a lack of forward-thinking and chaotic spending. But fortunately for them, they were blessed with owners who didn’t mind forking out an absurd amount of money to completely rebuild the squad within 2 years.
Man United don’t have that and so it will take much longer to turn things around, but the biggest problem out of them all is they aren’t being allowed to. Playing for Manchester United is a huge honour, one of the biggest clubs in the world and the biggest club in England - we all know this. But with this, comes an unfathomable amount of pressure every time you wear that badge. United have been the club in England basically ever since the Premier League started in 1992. 13 league titles in 20 or so years can do that - but now because the standard was set so unbelievably high, there’s an expectation that Man United have to be good all the time. How many times do we hear ‘it’s Man United’ echoing through our TV’s from the likes of Gary Neville, Roy Keane and the like. They need to sign the best players and have the best coaches because they’re the biggest team in England and so must behave like it in the eyes of the media.
And if they aren’t good within the first few months, it’s curtains. The environment around that club is genuinely so toxic and it is not helped one bit by the media. Whenever United plays, it’s as if the whole country is watching and so every bad game is scrutinised to the max. When players perform badly, they’ll have Roy Keane calling them shit on live TV whilst Neville and the like will remind everyone for the 700th time how this wouldn’t run under Fergie. What do they think this actually does for the players? Is it meant to motivate them? I’m not saying don’t criticise them if they aren’t playing badly but a lot of people need a reality check.
They need to get used to the fact that United are a mid-table club at this point, filled with mid-table players. When they play slightly above average for a few games, or sign some half-decent players - you’ll see people on TV saying ‘United are back’ and all of a sudden they’re predicted to finish in the top 4. How many times have we seen United forced into title-race conversations they have no business being in? But when these same players perform badly, it’s as if the world is about to end. It’s so unhealthy but it’s not going to change anytime soon. Playing for United isn’t like playing for any other team in England - it’s a different type of pressure which arises from the club’s size, history and most pundits coincidentally being former Manchester United players.
Every touch, pass and shot is talked about - whether it’s on your TV or on social media. And the players see it, they see the hate and the criticism every day and it only makes matters worse. It’s the worst possible place for young players to develop. They need to be allowed to make mistakes and learn on the job. They aren’t perfect but they’re expected to be a certain level just because it’s Man United. Ironically, it’s these young players that are the ones that need to be bought because the club doesn’t have the money to spend on the world’s best. And if there’s any chance that they succeed, everyone’s expectations must become more realistic. So many players in the last few years have left Old Trafford and suddenly looked revitalised elsewhere? Antony, Mctominay, Pereira, Rashford, Wan-Bissaka, Dean Henderson, Elanga, Garner, De Gea, Lingard, Gomes… All of those in the past 5 seasons.
It’s not a coincidence either - the constant negativity must be so difficult to flourish in. Moving to somewhere where you aren’t constantly in the spotlight must be so refreshing. When will people learn their lesson and look at the fact that maybe, just maybe their criticism might just be a problem? The likes of Dorgu, Garnacho, Mainoo, Yoro and others are so young and they will have bad games and make mad mistakes. If we aren’t careful, they’ll end up like the previous names I’ve mentioned and will end up starring somewhere else. The signings that United make this summer, the young and inexperienced players that will inevitably be brought in - have to be viewed as just that. A bad start and the pressure may become too much and we know the story from there.
Being such a big club has so many problems that come with it and these are intensified ten-fold when you aren’t playing well. It’s not rocket science, players will play better when there’s a positive atmosphere surrounding them and at United it’s just not the case and it hasn’t been for a while. The media, the fans… just let them be a bit rubbish for a season or two as they slowly rebuild themselves back up. Patience and a more holistic view is so important in this case because without it, we see unrealistic expectations and toxicity roam freely around the club.
But I do sympathise, because it’s hard to be optimistic when there’s nothing to really be optimistic about. As I said at the start of this article, there’s not much to cling on to and the blame does have to fall on the manager and the board for creating such a mess. I’m not convinced by Amorim at all. He’s been at United for 8 months and we still haven’t seen this ‘identity’ he was heralded for in Portugal. All we know right now is he plays 3 at the back and that’s about it. Everyone keeps telling me to ‘wait until he gets his own players in’ but wasn’t Ugarte his player? There’s no excuse for being this bad - since Amorim has come in, it’s not an exaggeration to suggest that they’ve been a relegation quality team. Players aren’t being improved and United’s best talents look lost. That’s on the manager. Last season, Kobbie Mainoo was starting in the Euros final at 19 after adapting almost instantly to senior football. He looked like the future of Manchester United and now he’s barely featuring and when he does, it’s safe to say he’s not ripping up many trees. Now obviously he’s young and so this can be attributed to his age and the inconsistencies that come with it, but it is definitely worrying that one of England’s brightest talents isn’t playing well and hasn’t been during Amorim’s whole tenure. Same goes for Garnacho - it’s an ominous sign for the Portuguese manager who is really walking a thin line.
He’ll get given the summer and new players will come in but I have no reason to believe that things will improve because he’s shown me nothing to give me confidence in him. A bad start to next season and Amorim will probably be sacked and United will find themselves in an eerily similar situation to the one they were in around the same time last year.
Winning the Europa League would have been great for them but it was only going to hide the fact that this is a really bad football team who have one of the most important summer’s of their history ahead of them. Manchester United potentially finishing 17th would’ve been inconceivable even 5 years ago but that’s the reality that we find ourselves in and if the right decisions aren’t made in this transfer window, then I don’t see them improving too much on it.
I think a good season for United next year will be finishing in-and-around 8th but I don’t know if others will view it as the same. They are in no position to challenge for Europe right now and no matter how great their window is, I have a tough time believing that they will next year but that isn’t a bad thing right now. First and foremost, the club needs to bring back some hope to Old Trafford and then they can go from there - Europe and trophies shouldn’t be the aim right now but as I’ve said throughout this article, I’m worried that this will always be the expectation and this will really damage their progress. Champions League football should be the goal in 5 years - not right now and although Sir Jim Ratcliffe has already admitted such in interviews, I think the wider fanbase and the media are going to have a hard time accepting this.
I think United will be back but it will take a long, long time and I think can only be achieved if people wake up and realise just how truly bad they are right now and don’t heap unnecessary pressure on the squad and the manager. Giants fall but most of the time they get back up, even if it takes a lot of effort. But I can assure anyone reading this that the process will go a lot smoother if people stop treating Manchester United like the Manchester United of old.
Times change and eras come to an end - get used to it.
