Let’s be honest, something is not right at Manchester United. And if we are being completely honest there are several things that are not right. Some people point to last season’s second-place as evidence that slowly, the club is moving in the right direction, but that second place potentially has done more harm than good. United were still a distance behind City in practically every aspect, and it was only substandard performances from the likes of Liverpool and Chelsea that opened the door for Ole’s team. Credit to them for taking that opportunity, but a club of United’s status should not be content with picking up the crumbs dropped by others.
Today we find ourselves in a battle with Spurs, West Ham and even Wolves for the Europa League and Europa Conference League places. Again, a club such as United should not be battling for inclusion in those competitions. Don’t get me wrong, we’re not suggesting for a second that United have a God-given right to finish in the top four or higher. What we are saying is that the club has sleepwalked into its current position and in order to get it out of it, and back to a situation where they are genuinely challenging for league titles and Champions Leagues, big changes need to happen. Switching like for like, and continuing in their current recruitment strategies is only sticking plasters over wounds that go far deeper.
It is a cliché, but they need to get back to basics. Whoever their next manager needs to change the club’s identity and its philosophy. Not to copy any other club, but to replicate that of the United sides of the not-too-distant past. To the club that, yes bought star players, but also created them. To the club that was a team, not a who’s who of football’s biggest stars and personalities.
Though sometimes a player’s eccentricity can go overboard, personalities are not necessarily a bad thing in sport. Sport without them would be a dull, lacklustre affair. However, they should not be at the expense of everything else. Players should be bought for the positive effect they have on the team, not for the number of shirts they will sell or the attention they will get in foreign markets. Football should be about winning matches and lifting trophies, not about Instagram followers.
The coming summer is huge for United. Get it wrong and the club is in real danger of not just falling further behind Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea, but also of being runners up to a seemingly resurgent Arsenal, West Ham and even the likes of Spurs, Leicester and Wolves. Get it right, and there is no reason they cannot get it right, then once again the club will be challenging, perhaps as soon as next year for the league.
The core of any side defines it and is the structure around which every team should be built. De Gea could well be replaced, Varane looks like the real deal, but they have to find a way of getting him to play alongside Maguire. Cavani has not been the force of last season, and the team is missing a focal point up top. That leaves the midfield. There are options out there that could come in – at a price – and fit into the midfield and almost instantly transform it. Declan Rice has shown at West Ham and for England, he is one of the very best in that role in world football. He also has a personality that fits perfectly with our earlier discussion. Rice, or players like him, proven, yet young, are the right type of people who United and their new manager need to be looking at to change the club’s mentality. To take the club back to the stage where they win and expect to win, not because of who they are as individuals, but because of who they are as a team, and crucially, how they play as a team.
