Article 81 — The Fall Out From United’s FA Cup Exit
Chelsea and Manchester United are pretty similar in profile this season. Both teams are managed by a former player, a legend of their club. Both teams have a youthful squad. The difference is that Chelsea’s hand was forced by the transfer ban while United have deliberately decided to rely on youth.
Both clubs are a long way from their former glorious self. This season, both teams’ form has been inconsistent, they have both had a good run of victories and unexpected defeats. Only one point separates both teams. Chelsea is in third place while United are in fifth. In a stronger league season, both teams would probably find themselves out of the Champions League positions based on their form this season.
United and Chelsea would both need to hold their nerve to qualify for the Champions League and that is vital for both team’s development in terms of mentality for next season.
In terms of development, Chelsea is one step away from winning a silverware after they progressed to the FA Cup final. If they win that, it would give them a big boost for their mentality for next season. United have still got some rounds to overcome to get to the final of the Europa League. They have already fallen short at the semi-final stage in two cup competitions this season. Getting beyond the semi-final and winning it would be essential for progression in terms of their mentality procuring the winning mentality.
Where Chelsea have stolen a march over United is in their recruitment for next season. They have conducted their business in impressive fashion, efficient and silent without any drawn-out dramas. They have signed two very good players in Hakim Ziyech and Timo Werner, on paper players that should give the team an upgrade in quality.
The same cannot be said of United. Already our CEO, Ed Woodward is warning fans of a different and difficult transfer market in the wake of the Corona Virus pandemic. His reign and transfer dealings have been underwhelming and disappointing for most parts. Before the lockdown, Woodward and the Glazers were the subjects of United fans ire in the stands. They are fortunate that without the presence of fans in the stadium, they have not been subjected to more insults from the fans.
If there is anything that will hold United back, it would be Woodward and the Glazers. As usual, transfer dealings are dragged out and a lot of time is wasted in sealing the deal for a player. United are the second richest club in the world and has an immense history, is prestigious and one of the most popular clubs in the world. The name, reputation of the club and the financial resources available should be enough to attract players to join us but obviously something is very wrong if we keep dragging our heels in getting a signing across the line. The process is slowed down considerably in this manner. In the previous summer, we should have made the five signings that were instead shared over the summer (3 signings) and winter (2 signings) transfer window.
While we are progressing at snail’s pace, teams above us like Chelsea and the league champions, Liverpool will continue to invest in their squads to further improve themselves. Manchester City, without the Financial Fair Play regulations, have the most money to spend and will be expected to throw the cash again this transfer window to refresh their squad after a poor league season. The gap between us and the top two will keep getting wider at this rate. This is why I strongly feel that the only thing that will hold United back would be Ed Woodward and the Glazers family. The fans must keep the fire burning on the backside of Woodward and the Glazers to force them to react. However, I would draw a line on the protests getting personal against both Woodward and the Glazers.
Paul Merson made a comment that Jose Mourinho would have played his strongest team in the semi-final and seen to it that the club progress to the final. That was the difference in mentality between a top manager like Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solksjaer.
Post-match, my mind did go back to Mourinho’s first season where we won the League Cup and Europa League. Love him or hate him, if he gets into a position to win a trophy, more of then than not, he will win it. It might not be pretty but he will get the job done. The League Cup was won thanks to the individual brilliance of Zlatan Ibrahimovic while the Europa League was won thanks to Mourinho’s tactical acumen. There is a saying that finals are there to be won not played. Nobody cares how you played if you end the final on the losing side.
This is in no way a criticism of Solksjaer. He is still a young manager and there are lessons for him to learn for his future and ours. It’s positive that he acknowledged his mistake in his team selection but these are risks one take sometimes to win matches. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. I have not written Solksjaer off as a manager and I feel he can still improve but at the club that he is in, he will always be under intense scrutiny. Any false step and the knives will be out. He would know that comes with the territory of being a Manchester United manager.
Finally on David De Gea. He has been immense and world-class for us in so many matches in the post-Sir Alex Ferguson era. If it wasn’t for him, we would have fared a lot worse than we actually did. His performances have been world-class. What is also true is that since the 2018 World Cup, costly errors have crept into his game. These errors have cost us points this season in the league and partly resulted in our elimination from the FA Cup. Going into the semi-final, I felt bad for Sergio Romero that he was dropped in place of De Gea because I feel he is an equally good goalkeeper. Even if we had won and De Gea not made a mistake, I would still feel bad for Romero. I feel we should get behind and support De Gea in difficult times for him but he probably needs some time out on the bench to make him fight to get back into the first team. Romero is a more than reliable option in goal.
Maybe we got to invest into a sports psychologist for him and maybe the coaching for the goalkeepers got to be looked at. What is for sure is that De Gea has to look at his game and cut out the errors. It’s an unforgiving position to be in where any mistake made is costly. I remember a time in the Treble season when Peter Schmeichel was making mistakes and Sir Alex took him out and sent him on a holiday. He came back refreshed and went on to have a great season. I am not sure what De Gea’s issue really is and that is on Solksjaer to find out and rectify. I still feel De Gea is a great goalkeeper and should still be our first choice. The rest is on him and the manager on how they move on and avoid these errors from occurring over and over again.
