SMALL CHANGES HEADING IN THE DIRECTION OF MANCHESTER UNITED

      A total number of at least three players was what was promised to the Old Trafford crowd this current summer season courtesy of Jose Mourinho and a total number three players is what is expected to be delivered to Old Trafford this summer. The Manchester United manager came out on a press conference in the current month of may and publicly confirmed, in more ways than one, that there will be changes implemented in the upcoming summer transfer window. The news dropped prior to Manchester United’s recent draw to West Ham in the Olympic Stadium, a match which saw the Red Devils put on a less than desirable performance against a Premier League side whom managed to avoid relegation this season. The Red Devils recent has had a massive effect in the Manchester United fan base with Fans showing increasing concern on lack of stable progress which has been surrounding and continues to surround Manchester United in recent seasons. “There will be changes but not a complete overhaul” were the paraphrased words used by Jose Mourinho and no one has enjoyed the news more than Manchester United fans themselves. Manchester United is a club that loves to win trophies, Manchester United is a club that deserves to win trophies at least once every two seasons. The club has been labelled a disappointment these past couple of seasons and so might even go as far as calling Manchester United “A shell of its former self.” Harsh and unnecessary words as those might seem to some fan, yes! but judging from the club results in the past three season, the harsh and unnessary words does not seem to proven false by any aspect. The current builds up towards for Manchester United has been a dance of one step forward, two steps back wards. Promises of steady progress but delivering progress with a little of just enough dose of failure to keep Manchester United from achieving any major Silverware glory season after season. Where does the trend stop? The English media is constantly criticizing Manchester United season after for the club’s inability to constantly produce enough wins that will guarantee the club a pass across the gates that holds the illustrious Premier League and Champions League Trophies.  So what positions will Manchester United aim at improving a little bit this summer? We heard Mourinho mention the retirement of Michael Carrick set to take place in at least a week or so shot period after Manchester United’s final match this Sunday.  Mourinho also mentioned the exit of a small number of Manchester United current players meaning the resizing and adjustments in the form of a few new faces will be necessary.  In other words, while it is safe to guess that Manchester United will be signing another defensive midfielder, the acquisition of yet another defensive Midfielder might not exactly be Manchester United’s entire course of action this summer. The Red devils are currently endowed with a sufficient number of Defensive midfielder in the form of Ander Herrera, Nemanjà Matic, Scott McTominay and Marouane Fellaini, three of which have proven to Mourinho that they have not only become reliable players but also have become players whom Mourinho can depend on to administer his steady policy of “Hold the ball” for the next couple of seasons to come.

   Therefore, if Mourinho wants to continue to win the trust and surpport of Manchester United Board and Manchester United fans, the advice which the Portuguese should seriously take time and pay close attention will be to make improvements to Manchester United’s depleting defence this summer. This season and the past two previous seasons at least have awoken football annalists and Manchester United fans to the Transparent or translucent problem facing the club, once Eric Bailey gets injured or has a poor run in his performance, Manchester United suffers with poor match results. This statement should not be misunderstood as implying that Eric Bailey is not a good defender to be at Manchester United but rather complete opposite. The statement is simply reinforcing the obvious verdict that Eric Bailey is the only quality, out and out, confident Centre Back in Manchester United at this present time. 

 

Here is my question to prove that my premises is in fact a true, constructive, unbiased criticism of some of Manchester United’s center back players: if you took a survey around Manchester, England. A survey purely focused on Manchester United fans, asking the fans to pick from the top their heads the best, dependable, center back in Old Trafford trusted to deliver a solid performance for large part of the season, an enormous number of fans will instinctively pick Eric Bailey from the pile. Simply because Eric Bailey is the one performer that instills confidence, strength, pace and intelligence in Manchester United’s center back position. The numbers don’t lie and the manager will be wise to acquire one extra quality center back with the same set of skills to partner Eric Bailey during next seasons big matches. Especially putting into consideration that Manchester United will have their eyes set on conquering both the Premier League and the Champions League competitions an extra, quality, center back will be necessary this summer.

    As for the final day of the current Premier League scheduled to conclude today, Manchester United will play their final game of the season at Old Trafford as the Red Devils welcome Watford to Old Trafford for the last time this season. Sundays game will be one with little importance to Manchester United except the pure gratification giving the fans a final taste of that winning feeling at Old Trafford this Premier League season before the club turns all its attention to the all important FA Cup final against Chelsea which is just around the corner for Manchester United. The anticipation for Sunday is that Mourinho will choose to leave his most important players on the bench ready to play in the upcoming FA Cup final instead. Manchester United is tipped to come out Sunday with a starting IV of this nature while Watford will be step out tomorrow with a starting IV that looks like this: From Manchester United's point of view, todays game is all about winning and finish the season strong. From the looks of the projected starting IV Mourinho has chosen a squad that can get the job done tomorrow but as so often has been the case this season, the performance level will mainly be decided by the players from the start of the referees whistle till the final whistle.