Let’s wind the clocks back a year. These cops and lawyers wouldn’t dare cross any of you. I mean – Oh wait, since you guys are obviously not Gotham Mafia bosses lets instead wind back the clock instead to a bright sunny day in Manchester where these 11 guys De Gea, Evra, Jones, Evans, Smalling, Anderson, Nani, Young, Cleverley, Rooney and Welbeck went out and obliterated Arsenal 8-2. Ignore the fact that Arsenal were missing many of their key players due to injuries, that they played Coquelin in midfield and all the other reasons that caused that insane score line. The fact is there are players in that Manchester United lineup who have absolutely no business winning 8-2. Getting hammered 8-2, yes but definitely not winning 8-2. That match sums up the genius of that mad, arrogant, hypocritical whiskey-nosed madman.
Sir Alex Ferguson had that knack of getting average players to play beyond their abilities and get results. After selling Ronaldo to Real Madrid, the United team was not exactly brimming with top quality players throughout the first XI. But yet in his last 4 years Sir Alex managed to win the league twice, finish equal on points and lose via goal difference and miss the league by one point. That accomplishment is nothing short of outrageous.
In a weird way, all of United’s current problems emanate from Sir Alex. His ability to keep winning despite his squad not being exactly brilliant while all his competitors kept strengthening allowed the clowns in the upper management of the club to get away with a consistent negligent attitude to the team. They buried their head in the sands and allowed an average squad to go stale without any refreshment or rebuilding.
Woodward is at fault for a lot of the problems United face currently with respect to their slightly poor transfer record. Six new players, yes, but ask yourself, were these all United’s first choice targets. Did they overpay for players they could’ve had for cheaper had the transfer dealings were better organized? The rot however runs much deeper. Take the 2013-14 season. In the summer they lost Sir Alex Ferguson and David Gill who were replaced by a coach who specialized in managing a club punching above its weight and a guy who primarily was a banker. How could it possibly go wrong? As we all know, it worked out brilliantly. Ed Woodward signed all the players they desperately needed to strengthen and David Moyes played some beautiful attacking football and they won trophies. No wait, as expected Woodward struggled to make any signings and David Moyes suffered the same problems that Roy Hodgson faced at Liverpool. After a career of being the underdog and trying to nick a win against the top teams, the jump to setting out to dominate the opposition and always playing on the front foot was too much for him.
Moyes is no more at the club while Woodward remains. As usual the manager is the fall guy while the other parties manage to get away with it. Now a new manager has come in, King Louis himself. While preseason under him was pretty strong, you could say it has gone slightly wrong for them in competitive fixtures. If you are honest, you could even say it has gone catastrophically wrong for them. Contrary to popular belief they are not losing because of this new-fangled exotic 3-5-2 formation that Louis Van Gaal is using. The Manchester United players are making fundamental mistakes. Case in point this :-
That didn’t happen because the players “don’t know how to play the formation” as the press are calling it. It happened because under pressure from one player, Johnny Evans made a horrendous mistake. These mistakes are common for young players who are just starting out. For the club’s seniormost centre back with 3 league winners medals, it is slightly unacceptable. Stop right here, go watch that video again. He is the club’s senior most defender. The ability to not give the ball away in such a situation is considered a bare minimum for such a player. It’s not just Evans though. Every single player in their backline often seems to have no clue on how to perform basic football moves. Imagining them play the ge-gen-pressing maniacs of Herr Klopp is probably one of United fans’ worst nightmare right now.
Their other senior center back is Chris Smalling brought in as a long term replacement for Rio Ferdinand. The problem with him and the other youngsters United bought from 2009-10 onwards is the same faced by the young players at Arsenal. They have failed to achieve their potential for one reason or the other and seem strangely awkward when trusted with any sort of responsibility. The third “centre back” United have is Phil Jones who pretty much has played in every position conceivable. Apart from working hard and putting in a shift you can’t really say much about his game. Maybe it is due to the perennial shifting of his positions but he has never found that extra gear to truly transform his game. Apart from his ability to make some truly wonderful faces that is.
If only the defense had an experienced player who has been round the block and could provide guidance to the younger lot, someone like Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic or Patrice Evra in the team. Letting all 3 of them go in one transfer window is as big a screw up as Sir Alex and David Gill stepping down together. In one transfer window 90% of their defensive experience has vanished.
Even with such defensive problems they might still have survived had they had even a single decent midfielder with the ability to take the ball, look up, notice a team-mate making a forward run and play the ball there. The United midfield has been undermanned for so long that it is not even funny. Honestly if someone went to Carrington and searched really hard they will find a post-it with “In case of a central midfield injury crisis, push Jones up.” They are still one injury away from having an unfit Fletcher shoved in there.
The fact that Sir Alex had to bring Paul Scholes back from retirement was particularly damning. As I mentioned earlier, since 2009 the United team had starting playing with less flair and more functionality, often grinding out wins, doing a professional job and other clichés. It was the result of Sir Alex making do with what he had. The midfield often seemed to exist to provide a shield to cover the United defense and then quickly release the ball towards the strikers or the wingers. Relatively less flair but the sheer effectiveness of it was brutal.
The only cause of all of these issues is the management of Glazers. Sir Alex has always spoken glowingly about them and their support for him. However the fact remains that like Arsene Wenger, Sir Alex had to publicly support the club’s fiscal policies and keep saying “We have the money to spend” while having one hand tied behind his back. A common myth perpetuated by many of the United fans is that United are not big spenders, which is completely wrong and not supported by facts. Under Sir Alex, United consistently spent big to bring in players that he felt were crucial for the club’s success and long term future. However once the Glazers came in Sir Alex went big only once, splurging money on Andy Garcia/ Dimitar Berbatov. In that context, it was in a way refreshing to see United back Louis van Gaal with the money and getting players of the caliber of Di Maria and Falcao.
That said, this money should’ve been evenly spent across the last few seasons. The financial restrictions imposed by the Glazers are because of the frankly ridiculous method of their takeover. Generally when most clubs are taken over, the new owner fronts the cash or takes loans to buy it. In case of the Glazers, they went with the second option. Most of you must know that if you want to take a loan, the lender requires some sort of collateral as guarantee against the loan amount. However instead of putting some of their own holdings as collateral, the Glazers went and put Manchester United itself up as collateral. That is like going to buy a house and as collateral you put the same house up! Such a stupid thing is restricted and highly regulated in the world leader in capitalistic financial irresponsibility AKA America and yet somehow the Glazers were able to do it. Sadly it is not as surprising as I thought as the Premier League is not exactly strict with its ownership rules, often boiling down to “Oh do you have cash? Great! Here is the club!”
The downright idiotic management of the club has led to the current scenario. For the past 10 years United existed in their own little pocket universe shielded away from the realities of modern football because of Sir Alex. Now that he has left, the board have suddenly realised the enormity of the task and also the financial ramifications. Louis Van Gaal is a brilliant coach but even he will have his hands full. They have spent a lot of money this transfer window getting players in and moving dead weight out. However they will need further spending in the next 2-3 transfer windows if they need to compete. Their current squad is still not good enough, 3-4 injuries or suspension and the quality of players drops dramatically. It is going to be interesting to see how United cope with life after whiskey nose.
