Article 28 — Manchester United 2019–20
Manchester United legend, Ole Gunnar Solksjaer was hired on an interim basis to replace Jose Mourinho after he was sacked in December 2018. He was joined at the club by Sir Alex Ferguson’s long-time assistant manager, Mike Phelan and he kept Michael Carrick and Kieran McKenna as part of his coaching staff.
At this point, I felt quite let down by Van Gaal and Mourinho because their eras were one of a false dawn. The logic behind their appointment was dispelled when it became obvious that they were both out of touch with modern football. I was looking on in envy as well at our neighbours, Manchester City and our fierce rivals, Liverpool as they had hired managers that I would love to have at United, Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp respectively.
I felt especially Jurgen Klopp was of the right profile after looking at the successful squads he built at Borussia Dortmund. The teams he built had the right mix of youth talent from the academy, the shrewd signings of little-known players and experienced players. His teams played attacking football and won trophies. It was a very similar mould to the teams Sir Alex Ferguson built. Unfortunately, when he was available, the job at our fiercest rivals, Liverpool opened up and he took it.
After the failure of Van Gaal and Mourinho, I wanted United to just take a risk and appoint a former player as a manager and they did. I always maintain that not all former players turn into a Guardiola but we never know, it might just work in this case. After Solksjaer’s appointment, the pressure and negativity around the club were lifted and immediately the team hit the floor running. At the flick of a switch, United started playing open, attacking football, on the front foot and we went on a great run of unbeaten games, starting with a 5–1 thrashing of Cardiff City at the Cardiff City Stadium. This was Solksjaer’s first game in charge as United manager and ironically, it was against the only team he managed in the Premier League. United went on a run of 12 unbeaten matches in the league. In that run, United beat Tottenham Hotspur 1–0 away at Wembley Stadium and held high-flying, title-chasing Liverpool 0–0 at Old Trafford in a passionate display.
The last game in that sequence was a topsy-turvy 3–2 win over Southampton at Old Trafford, Romelu Lukaku’s strike 2 minutes from time won it for us. The win moved us into 4th place.
United’s run ended in a 0–2 defeat to Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium. We started well and had we taken the lead, the game might have gone differently. That defeat would mark the burst of a balloon. We won only win 2 of the remaining league matches to end the season in 6th place and qualify for the Europa League.
Solksjaer’s great start to life at United saw us beat Reading at Old Trafford, Arsenal and Chelsea away in the FA Cup before being knocked out 1–2 by Wolverhampton Wanderers at the Molineux in the 6th Round. Wolves would beat us at the same venue with the same score 2 weeks later in the league to become our latest bogey team.
Mourinho somehow got United across the line to qualify for the knockout stages of the Champions League where we were drawn against serial French champions and the ultra-rich, Paris-Saint Germain. We were not favoured to win and PSG could have given a penalty away before taking the lead and scored a second away goal at Old Trafford as they proved too strong for us in the first leg, winning 2–0.
In the return leg, luck was on our side as we produced a remarkable comeback. Lukaku capitalised on a defensive mistake to give us the lead before PSG scored an equaliser that looked to have won the tie for them. Lukaku scored from another mistake in the first half before Marcus Rashford kept his cool deep in injury time to score a nerve-wracking penalty to surprisingly bring us to the quarter-final. It was a memorable away European night for Manchester United even if I felt over the balance of the play, PSG’s quality was superior to ours and we went through because we capitalised on their mistakes and luck was on our side. The penalty we got was something that could have been not awarded to us but luckily for us, we got the decision. I felt that was just rewards after a clearer shout for a penalty in the first leg was ignored.
In the quarter-final, we played FC Barcelona and they were far too strong for us, winning the first leg 0–1 at Old Trafford and 0–3 at Nou Camp for a 0–4 aggregate win. It wasn’t Barcelona at their very best like when we faced them in the final of 2010–11 but they still had too much quality for us.
Solksjaer was hired as a permanent manager on the 28th March 2019. The slump we had after the unexpected, surprise win over PSG felt like maybe United made a mistake in confirming Solksjaer as a permanent manager too soon. For superstitious reasons, I would have preferred it if we had waited until the end of the season to appoint him permanently.
Despite the shocking and disappointing slump to their form, I would give him the benefit of the doubt as he had inherited a squad from Jose Mourinho. I would reserve my judgement until he had the benefit of a full summer to work with the team and build it the way he wanted it to be. Luke Shaw won the Sir Matt Busby Player Of The Year and Manchester United Players’ Player Of The Year awards. It was a tough season to name one worthy winner as it was bookended by poor form but Shaw perhaps edged it for his performances from the start of the season.
Manchester United lost Antonio Valencia at the end of 2018–19 after he was sidelined for a long time with injuries. He left at the end of his contract to go back to his native Ecuador after serving the club so well for 10 years. Ashley Young was named the new captain. It was also very sad among United fans that Ander Herrera decided against renewing his contract and he left at the end of his contract to join Paris-Saint Germain. Marouane Fellaini, who was a player that polarised opinions, was sold to Chinese club, Shandong Luneng in February 2019. Romelu Lukaku expressed a desire to leave and he was sold to my favourite Italian club, Inter. Alexis Sanchez joined Lukaku there on loan, Matteo Darmian also went back to Italy to join Parma and Chris Smalling left on loan to join AS Roma.
United signed young Welshman Daniel James from Swansea City, young Englishman Aaron Wan Bissaka from Crystal Palace and England international Harry Maguire from Leicester City. Maguire was one of the centre-backs linked to the club in the summer of 2018–19 when Mourinho was looking for someone to bolster that position in the team.
The 2019–20 season is currently in the balance due to the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. United began the season very well with a flattering 4–0 scoreline. We drew the next match against our bogey team, Wolverhampton Wanderers 1–1, a game we could have won if Paul Pogba scored his penalty. We then suffered a shock 1–2 defeat to Crystal Palace at Old Trafford, a game we were unlucky to lose as there were some decisions that went against us.
It’s been an inconsistent and mixed season so far. We have won 12 league matches, drawn 8 and already lost 9 games but are still not out of the race for the Champions League spot, only 3 points behind Chelsea in 4th place. Some of our highlights this season would have to be the 1–1 draw over league leaders, Liverpool. We became the first team to take points off them this season in the league. There was also a period in December 2019 where we stunned everyone to produce two great performances in beating Tottenham Hotspur 2–1 at Old Trafford in Jose Mourinho’s first return to Old Trafford as a Tottenham manager now and Manchester City 2–1 at the Etihad Stadium.
In the winter transfer window, we signed Bruno Fernandes from Sporting Lisbon, a signing we should have made in the summer. We had also signed Nigerian striker Odion Ighalo on loan from Chinese club Shanghai Shenhua. Club captain, Ashley Young joined Lukaku and Sanchez at Inter while Marcos Rojo re-joined Estudiantes in his native Argentina on loan. Harry Maguire was named the new captain of United after Young’s sale.
The signings we made gave us a boost and before the enforced break, we have been unbeaten in 4 league matches including our first league double over Manchester City since 2009–10, beating them 2–0 at Old Trafford. The run also included a 2–0 win over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
We could only go as far as the Carabao Cup semi-finals. We had beaten Rochdale 5–3 on penalties after a 1–1 draw at Old Trafford followed by Chelsea 2–1 at Stamford Bridge in the 4th Round.
Colchester United was beaten 3–0 at home before being out-played and out-classed by Manchester City at Old Trafford 1–3 in the semi-final, first leg. The damage was done in the first leg rendering a 1–0 United win in the 2nd leg nothing more than a win for pride and morale.
In the FA Cup, we needed a replay in the 3rd Round to finally beat bogey team Wolverhampton Wanderers 1–0 at Old Trafford followed by thrashing Tranmere Rovers 6–0 away and beating Derby County in a reunion with Wayne Rooney after his return to England from a spell away in the USA, 3–0 away. Our quarter-final against Norwich City is pending.
In the Europa League, we won 3 out of the first 4 group stage matches, drawing the other one to qualify from the group with 2 games to spare. We lost 1–2 away to Kazakh side Astana with qualification secured before beating Dutch team, AZ 4–0 at Old Trafford. The other team in the group was the Serbian team, Partizan Belgrade.
In the Round of 32, we beat Belgian team Club Brugge 6–1 on aggregate after drawing the first leg 1–1 in Belgium and then hammering them 5–0 at Old Trafford. We have played the first leg of the Round of 16 behind closed doors against Austrian team LASK. The tie is almost certainly over after a 5–0 win away from home. It will take an almighty, freakish result for United to be eliminated now.
This season, United have had to deal with a lot of injuries and have not had their best players available for most of the season. The squad depth was also thin and in many games, we just had to look on helplessly as young players who weren’t ready to play in the senior team were fielded or players that were out of form or just not good enough for United had to be fielded.
David De Gea has made some shocking errors this season that has cost us matches which is unlike him. In the post-Sir Alex era, he has been our most consistent, world-class player, winning us many matches by making some outstanding saves. His confidence looks to have been hit after a shaky performance for Spain in the 2018 World Cup. We hope this is just temporary and he can shake it off to perform majestically again. Sergio Romero continues to be an able deputy. He holds an impressive number of clean sheets in the matches he has played in, keeping 11 clean sheets in 14 games played this season.
In defence, we have bought well with Aaron Wan Bissaka and Harry Maguire. Wan Bissaka has been a beast in defence, very tough to get past but he has to improve going forward. Luke Shaw has been getting a good run of games and is facing good competition from young Brandon Williams, one of only 2 youngsters to have come through the ranks and prove that they are ready for the senior team. Victor Lindelof had a very good second season and rightly kept his place as first-choice centre-back alongside Harry Maguire but both have had shaky moments this season. Lindelof especially has made mistakes that cost us matches. Maguire’s lack of form has been temporary and he is showing himself to be a strong leader now in the backline.
It is nice to see Eric Bailly back in the first-team now after suffering a serious knee injury in pre-season. My personal choice is to see a permanent centre-back pairing of Bailly and Maguire but the final decision is not mine, unfortunately. Phil Jones has looked atrocious when he has played. Diogo Dalot had some impressive moments last season under Solksjaer but has been injured for most of this season. Amazingly, despite losing 9 games already this season in the league, we have actually got the 2nd best defensive record across the Top 5 leagues in Europe. An amazing start considering the fact that we have not exactly looked water-tight and tough to get past in central defence.
Our transfer strategy was flawed and incompetent again. I will expand further on that in my next article. We lost 2 senior central midfielders in Herrera and Fellaini but yet contrived to sign no-one to replace them in the summer. There were strong rumours as well in the summer that Paul Pogba wanted to leave but United resisted. As luck would have it, Pogba has missed most of the season injured. Scott McTominay has been superb this season and would get my vote for the Player Of The Season but he too got sidelined by a long-term injury leaving little cover for United in central midfield.
Solksjaer deserves credit for getting Fred to play well after a less than impressive debut season. Whether or not this is the best of Fred that we are witnessing, is still open for contention as there are games still left to be played. Andreas Pereira had a lot of rave reviews in the youth ranks and I always wanted to see him get a chance in the team. Now having got a chance to play, he has looked inadequate and poor. Nemanja Matic was out of favour momentarily when Pogba was fit and when he did play, he looked slow and like he was on the decline. He too got injured and missed a bit of the season but has looked much better since his recovery.
Juan Mata was another that looked slow and past his best at the start of the season. I hoped like Matic, his experience would have helped a young team but he looked past his best until recently. There is no doubt that Bruno Fernandes has lifted everyone around him and got everyone to play better. He has shown himself to be a leader with a strong, winning mentality and with the quality that we have been missing in midfield.
Jesse Lingard’s drop in form has been tremendous and shocking. He has not had a goal or assist in the Premier League since December 2018. His game centres around clever movement, high pressing and goals in big games but all that has been missing as he has looked like the invisible man in games. His best performances this season were in the wins at Old Trafford against Tottenham and at the Etihad Stadium against Manchester City. He did break his duck to score in United’s 1–2 defeat against Kazakh team, Astana in the Europa League, a game where he captained a very young United team. I would like for him to be able to recover his lost form because we have seen in the past what he has been capable of when he was at his best.
Another error of judgement was made in the forward department. United already knew of Lukaku’s desire to leave yet we didn’t sign anyone to replace him until very late in the winter transfer market. Sanchez was also allowed to follow him out of the door. It left us with only Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial as our strikers. Another youngster broke through from the youth ranks to do well in the senior team, Mason Greenwood. Greenwood has been used sparingly by Solksjaer in a deliberate attempt to protect him against getting burnt out. When he has played, he has done very well. Like Williams, the other player from the youth rank to do well in the senior team this season. Greenwood has shown himself to be the most natural finisher we have in the club and it promises to be an exciting future for him.
Neither Rashford nor Martial look suited to play as the centre forward to lead the line. Rashford was showing really strong form, playing off the left linking up with Martial centrally until he got injured. Daniel James had a strong start to life at Manchester United, scoring twice in his first 2 games before the goals dried up. He has won over fans with his speed and strong running up and down the right-wing. He suffered a burnout mid-season but looks to be getting back his form now. He needs to improve his decision-making in the final third and to score more goals.
Odion Ighalo has surprised many since he joined us. He has already had a spell in the Premier League at Watford, scoring 36 goals in 90 games and 16 goals in 35 international appearances for Nigeria. There were doubts about whether he would be able to get up to pace again with high-level football in Europe after 2 years in China. He has impressed everyone with his hard work behind the scenes to get fit, his confession of love as a childhood United fan has endeared him to the fans too and it helps that he has 4 goals in 8 appearances so far. He has shown himself to be the traditional centre-forward that we have sorely missed.
There were some doubts on Ole Gunnar Solksjaer in games on whether he could cut it at this level when results went against us. However, like us, you could sense the helplessness as he could only play what he had available to him. Tactically, he has out-smarted Jurgen Klopp once, Pep Guardiola twice in the league and Jose Mourinho once in the league. He has beaten Frank Lampard thrice across all competitions. All he needs is better backing and acumen from the board to help him build a strong squad and to achieve greater consistency. We cannot keep blowing hot and cold and to achieve that level of consistency, we need better quality players in all departments, not just young players but established players approaching their prime and experienced players as well.
Let’s just see if we can even complete this current season and if we do complete it, where does it leave us because now it will be a completely different ball-game coming back to training and playing as a squad after months locked away in isolation.
