MANCHESTER UNITED'S EXPECTATIONS: FANTASY OR REALITY
Image from The Republic of Mancunia
Fighting for
everything we are fighting for right now but with different ammunition.” Those were the words Manchester United Manager used to describe the future of Manchester
United football club. Before the past two weekends were manchester United has
suffered, upsetting, back to back losses to Tottenham and Newcastle United,
the Red Devil had been cruising in the Premier League competition going on a
ten game unbeaten streak. The streak allowed players such as Jesse Lingard in
particular to play one his best football in a Manchester United jersey and scoring
goals for fun week in – week out.
Quite frankly
Lingards form this season has been sought of a revelation for the football club
but that’s a story for another time, back to talking about the football club as
a whole, after the performance at ST JAMES PARK questions, nervousness and
doubt popped up around the fans of Manchester United football club questioning if the club still
have enough quality and hunger to be victorious in any and all competition the
club participates in. After the Newcastle game, almost every football show and write
up on the web were all talking how Manchester United's team are still not good
enough to compete with top class team even with the number of numerous, high
class players, the club currently has in it’s roaster at the moment. The
reality is this, yes the club is Manchester United football club. The history
of the club is so overwhelming that even the most critical and the most pessimistic journalist will admit that the Manchester United team played
nothing beyond exceptional, dominating, football whenever the team stepped on
the tuff and the football the clubs past teams played were simply breathtaking. So it’s easy to see why the club is always expected to be victorious game in
game out and simultaneously lead the pack in all competition. But let’s think
about this for a second, let’s ask the question: How many football clubs are
currently without a smart manager that can pull out a decent result or great
result for the club in this modern day? answer: Little to none!. Just
take a look at Huddersfield town for example, this is a team promoted for the
first time in a while from the Championship division to the Premier League and
naturally you would expect the club to struggle with teams with higher quality
and experience in the Premier League but that’s not the case so far. The current level of fight in every player, teams in the premier league clearly
paints the highest level of competition in english football and if you also
factor in the knowledge that every club in England keeps improving the quality
of their team each transfer window then the idea of the same club winning the
Premier League season after season must be seen as unrealistic.
The most eye catching situation for the blog: MANCHESTER UNITED POST is that Manchester United seem
to have turned into a club that can’t seem to support all the players in the
club as well as support players improvement and frankly I am very unhappy with the way Manchester United football club threats our own players sometimes. Reports have surfaced that one Ander Herrera might be packing his bag on his way out of Carrington is a bitter pill
to swallow for me as a writer and a fan of the club because I feel that Ander
Herrera has been a very good influence on and off the pitch during his time at
Old Trafford. Herrera has the skill and mentality of a quality footballer, so
why has the spanish midfielder has currently been push so far down the pecking order at United so much so that these days Herrera’s name on the team sheet is barely a consideration, much less an expectation for the fans. I remember when Herrera first moved to Old
Trafford under Van Gaal I believe and I was so excited to see him in a
Manchester United because his reputation in was so good that I thought, if he could
do what he did in Bilbao, helped the team to the champions league, became one
of the assist leaders in Athletic Bilbao. Now he’s moved to Manchester United,
a club filled with class players and amazing coaching staff, Ander Herrera will
thrive and be successful at Old Trafford. That was
what I was looking forward at least. However, with the current reality of Manchester United football club and Manchester United fans making Pogba, Matic, Sanchez the clear, favourable, midfield trio expected to lead the club to future success, the concern is
that Ander Herrera’s future at Old Trafford might be coming to an end should
be addressed ie solved as soon as possible.
Lastly, It
has been well documented that before the arrival Alexis Sanchez to Manchester
United, one Paul Pogba was known currently to be the highest paid player in the
club and the price tag was expected to put a lot of pressure in the players
performance but up until the beginning of this calendar year, that has not been
the case at all. Up until the middle of January 2018, Manchester United were admittedly not playing the best eye catching football but the team looked like a
team playing together, energized and fighting for one cause together. However, right
towards the end of the month of January, it seems as though the fight, quality and passion
from the football club have dropped a little bit further down and people are
curious to know why a club whose football was expected to be heading up this
season have stifled a little bit. As we prepare to welcome Liverpool to Old Trafford today, the story is that a couple of nights back, the frustration and pressure the club have been passing through finally boiled over as some Manchester United players had been involved with some serious confrontation amongst each other. The question has to be asked, what is the source of the frustration? The Red Devils are currently second in the Premier League, the
club is through to the next stage of the Champions League, the club is doing
well in the FA Cup and Manchester United just signed one of the most dazzling player and a player with so much quality in Alexis Sanchez. With all the improvements and all the progress in the club, why is Manchester United still
painted as a struggling club today? The answer, The Media! The English press, as
well as every other sports media world wide, have developed a sort of obsessive passion on delivering negative news around Old Trafford
week in and week out which causes a little bit of panic around the Manchester
United fans. The panic from the fans in turn causes the fans to keep pilling
pressure and expectations on the players and manager to reach a certain
standard of football created by the media and failure to meet this standards
paints an image of failure in the minds of Old Trafford fans. The bottom line
is this, What makes a club successful?... Wins! Comparing Manchester United's continuous climb towards the summit of the Premier League table and the clubs
current progress in the UEFA Champions League is clear proof that Mourinho and
his troops are clearly focused on breaking down Manchester United's tight grip
on the Premier League but patience is a key ingredient that has to be used for the remaining weeks this season and the next season if necessary.
