Premier League
Manchester United’s Standards Have Dropped
Manchester United’s defeat to Manchester City was a reminder to United fans of how far the club has fallen behind their city rivals.
Even though, United were still in with a chance to get a draw with four minutes remaining. The truth is the Old Trafford side failed to lay a glove on Manchester City.
Perhaps, even more galling for United fans, is how hard it is to make a case for anyone from United’s starting XI making it into Man City’s starting line-up.
The only exception could be David De Gea, but given how well City keeper Ederson plays the ball out from the back, that wouldn’t be guaranteed.
Since Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2012, United have fallen backwards with poor decisions being made both on and off the field.
Recruitment Has Been A Mess
Recruitment has been poor over the last six years, no matter what manager has been in charge.
You just have to look at the signings current boss Jose Mourinho has made.
How many have been a great success? Yes the likes of Nemanja Matic, Romelu Lukaku and Paul Pogba have had their moments.
The big problem is they haven’t delivered consistently.
His most recent signings Alexis Sanchez and Fred were both on the bench for the Manchester Derby.
This shows that Mourinho has lost faith in them already. Given how Sanchez has played since joining United, it is hard to argue against him.
Sanchez looks likely to join the list of expensive flops who Man Utd have signed over the last six years.
The likes of Angel Di Maria, Radamel Falcao and Henrikh Mkhitaryan all came to Old Trafford with big reputations.
However, all of whom failed to cut it at the Theatre of Dreams, costing Man Utd a huge amount of money in wages and transfer fees.
There is no direction in terms of recruitment and there appears to be no plan.
Jose Mourinho constantly said over the summer that United needed another center back.
The big question is why didn’t he go after the likes of Virgil Van Dijk and Aymeric Laporte when he had the chance back in January?
Also, the scouting department have to take the blame as well. They sourced center-backs Eric Bailly and Victor Lindelof both of whom have looked out of their depth.
You can understand why the board were reluctant to give Mourinho funds to strengthen his defence given his recent track record.
If United are to win the Premier League title a total rebuild is needed as the majority of the squad are not good enough.
United Board To Blame As Well
The Manchester United board have to take a fair share of the blame as well.
They have made poor managerial selections since Sir Alex Ferguson retired. First David Moyes was horribly out of his depth and didn’t fit the club’s attacking philosophy.
Louis Van Gaal soon followed him and again failed to deliver the style of football that United fans want to see and arguably played the most boring football in United’s history.
Meanwhile, Jose Mourinho arrived as one of the best manager’s in World football. Even so, he once again didn’t fit the philosophy that Sir Alex left behind.
Yes, he has had some success winning the Carabao Cup and the Europa League, as well as finishing in 2nd place last season. United’s best finish since Sir Alex left.
However, too many of his signings have been flops and the squad hasn’t got the quality it once had.
Standards Have Dropped
There appears to be a lack of direction and the standards have seemed to have dropped. The board seem happy to make money off the pitch, rather than win silverware on it.
If this was Real Madrid and they were in eighth place in La Liga, they wouldn’t stand for it, as they showed by sacking Julen Lopetegui after a poor start to the season.
Surely the United board have to act the same way. This season hasn’t been good enough and the players should be embarrassed that they have conceded 21 goals in 12 Premier League games.
To put that in context only Fulham, Huddersfield, Cardiff and Burnley have conceded more.
Manchester United proclaim that they are the biggest club in the world, it is time they started acting like it.
The board have ruined the legacy that Sir Alex Ferguson left behind and they are no longer the best club in Manchester and something needs to change.
If it doesn’t they could end up like Liverpool and wait another 20 years before becoming champions of England again.
Photo credit to Sandeep Pal via Flickr
