MANCHESTER UNITED FACING WRONG CRITICISM: PLAYERS NOT TO BLAME
But as soon as the team hits some rough
patches along the season the criticism starts to flow in constantly in an attempt
to “show concern for the club.” But the reality is that it’s all a ploy for
editors and sometimes even some fan members to put their name in the spotlight
if only for a single day.
The truth about Manchester United's current season is that, yes the club have failed to accomplish the managers' goal of
winning at least one major championship trophy this season so far and the club The only remaining opportunity for a trophy this season seems to rest on winning
the ongoing FA Cup competition but the criticism Manchester United has been
receiving this season so far seems to have contributed to the level of
performance some of the Manchester United players have been exhibiting lately. Mourinho
was interviewed immediately following last Saturday nights two-goal victory over
fellow premier league side Brighton Albion and the Portuguese manager was
clearly full of mixed emotions.
After securing safe passage into the next round
of the FA Cup competition this past Saturday evening, Mourinho was asked
minutes after the match by one of the reporters to gives his thoughts on how
his team performed on the night, and the manager responded in a semi the satisfactory manner that could be translated to rest of Manchester United's
season as “Could have been better.” Reporter: Congratulations Jose, you are
through to the next round. Did you get the result you wanted tonight? Mourinho:
No! I didn’t like the game. I think we deserved to win because the game was in
control for the majority of the time.
We scored two goals, they didn’t score, I
think we clearly deserved but we didn’t play the way I wanted the players to
play. I didn’t have a reaction from the players. I had the reaction from some
of the players and because some of the players were mentally strong enough and
possessed the football quality to play was the reason we won. But with a team
of eleven players and only a minimum of seven players on the pitch displayed the ability to play quality football and take the responsibility of trying to lead the team to victory it’s
difficult to have a good performance.
"So, I’m not happy with the overall team
performance at all but I’m happy with the result."
(Jose Mourinho)
Reporter: "we can see you
urging the players and driving them. Wanting them to...?"
"Look when I
spend two days working on fast attack building which depends on how fast our
defenders can deliver the ball up to the midfielders and also work on how fast
our attackers move around the oppositions defenders but we arrive at the match
and I see my attacking players hiding behind the opposition's defense and not
doing what we practiced on the training ground, then I have to feel frustrated because, for a coach, the worst situation is not always with the result of the
game but when I work so hard on the training pitch but I see contradictions on
the match..”
(Jose Mourinho)Mourinho has been known in the past as a manager
who defends his players no matter what the outcome of the day was but today was
the first time, as a Manchester United writer, I was absolutely thrilled to see
the manager calls out the players on how each and every one of the players played
on the night.
Nevertheless, the reason why some of our Manchester United
players have chosen not to express themselves and show their talents a little a bit more this season is not too far fetched for anyone to see, the reason is
because the players are worried they might be criticized negatively in the
papers the next mourning or booed by the Manchester United fans and these
actions could have a serious effect on a players level of confidence and a
players' level of performance at any given time during the season.
The reality
is that in modern football, Criticising any football team comes so easily to
the media and the fans that no research and no concrete analysis is being done
to see what the source of the problem is for the team or which specific players
failed to live up to their responsibilities during the match and on the course
of the season.
The truth is, in all fairness, Manchester United has had a very
progressive season, from qualifying it into the group stage of the champions league, to make it to the knockout round of the competition. From finishing
up in the second spot of the Premier League competition to conceding as low as
23 Goals this season, scoring 58 goals and keeping 15 clean sheets in 30
matches played this season.
That is the best record the club since 1956 to 1959
seasons combined when the club conceded a maximum of 103 goals in two
combined. So why is such a club that keeps improving constantly criticized every day in the season no matter the results of each game?
The truth is that the
fans have been unconsciously convinced to expect Manchester United to constantly
win every competition season after season no matter how good the Manchester United team is playing.
Therefore, any outcome short of a championship a winning season for Manchester United would be considered a failed season on Old Trafford no matter how impressive the club's season statistics are. Think about it, Lukaku at the moment is scoring 32 goals, making ten assists, and a total of 76 shots on target.
Therefore, any outcome short of a championship a winning season for Manchester United would be considered a failed season on Old Trafford no matter how impressive the club's season statistics are. Think about it, Lukaku at the moment is scoring 32 goals, making ten assists, and a total of 76 shots on target.
Finally, going by the statistics record for Manchester United this season, the team can be defended against the criticism of
completely underperforming in the
current season at hand. Underperforming can not simply be the issue at Old
Trafford, underperforming can only be
an issue at Manchester United if the club has fallen away from the top four positions of the domestic league but
that is not the case with Manchester United at moment.
However, what seems to be the problem is the way the team plays whenever they step on the pitch this season.
That
is not a case of players performing under per, rather it is a case of players
utilized in positions they do not necessarily thrive on or players that have been known to thrive on certain positions for the team constantly left out of
the team in favor of `` Fan favorite players.`` Mourinho has established himself to the fans
at Old Trafford as a manager who will not bend his way of handling the club
and believes he will handle the club his way with no compromise.
Butt the Portuguese managers' ways have
not produced Championship winning results so far at Old Trafford. The truth is
that I’m hoping that It’s only a matter of time before the fans stop listening
to the unnecessary news spread mostly by the British media, about the
blame for the club's shortage of success so far resting mainly on the shoulders
of Paul Pogba.
This is clearly not a Paul Pogba issue, rather the issue is
about Mourinho's ego simply getting in the way of the teams' success.
Players
are meant to play in a position that comes naturally to each player, that is the basic foundation for success in a
football club but once this foundation has been failed to establish the outcome will be a shortage of success in the club time and time again. Manchester
United fans have to cultivate the habit of not falling victims to distracting the news created around Old Trafford dragging the attention away from the main issue
in the club.
At the moment, players like Lukaku, Sanchez, Martial and Pogba are
not the issues hindering Manchester United's success, implementing the best
match strategies that suit each starting player for every game is a problem that needs to be solved by the club as quickly & as efficiently as possible.
