MANCHESTER UNITED TODAY: RECENT HAPPENINGS AROUND MANCHESTER UNITED
Premier League Football. Four simple words which are likely to instigate a sense of happiness to the thoughts of Manchester United supporters every weekend. Why? Well because Manchester United fans know full well that weekend nights are nights that provide fans with another joyous occasion to watch their beloved Manchester United team attempt to move one step closer to the top of the Premier League table.
Oh, Saturday night football! Actually, using the words Premier League weekends has a better ring to it right? Thank God for Premier League weekends. This weekend, another opportunity to bag a couple more points in the season lies in the open just waiting to see which club can outplay the out and emerge victoriously. Surely a mighty club such as Manchester United will not fail to return from the trip to Dean Court Stadium with 3 pôints? Before we answer, let us first discuss all the news, if at all any news, concerning Manchester United that has made headways recently.
Six points grabbed in two back to back games in the Premier League. Add the single point gotten from the draw against one of the top teams Chelsea who appear to be doing well this season and Manchester United now have a total 7 wonderful points. Now that might not be a big deal to most people but let’s stop and think about this for a second. Put aside the disappointing loss Manchester United suffered at the hands of Juventus in the UEFA Champions League in the recent month of October because let’s face the facts losses happen in sports. Did Manchester United get outclassed for long periods of the match against Juventus? Yes! Absolutely! But how did Manchester United respond? By bouncing back and playing good old fashion quality football. Clear as day. Seriously! What team is this? Because this is not the same sluggish, cautious, defense only, Manchester United team Old Trafford has gotten used to recently are they? Absolutely not!
This season, Manchester United get to see Chris Smalling bold enough to trigger an attack from the back, Luke Shaw and Ashley Young making bursting run up and down the flanks. Manchester United midfielders were actually connecting their passes and triggering the attack. Most of all, everyone gets to witness the Manchester United attack and win games based on attacking strategies actually implemented by Jose Mourinho? Really?! Well Thank God! Finally, the signs are starting to suggest that Jose Mourinho might have woken up from his slumber and might actually be showing the intent of having a go at winning a trophy. Too early for anyone to say that? Well, what do you expect? The fans are excited and exciting football on most occasions triggers of hope and joy in Manchester United fans. Will this finally be the season for Manchester United to be crowned champions once again? Only the end of the season holds the answer.
Sunday, October 28 Manchester United marched out onto a packed Old Trafford stadium to take on a good, inform, Everton team with one taught possibly on the minds of some spectators ready for the match i.e: What sought of Manchester United team were we going to see on Sunday? Manchester United played some good attacking football once again as expected to judge from the clubs recent turn around from a weak, defensive, form in the football the team displayed to the strong, attacking level of football shown by Manchester United recently. Must have been a fresh, exciting pace for spectators to see but most of the Manchester United fans will be hoping to see more of this new attacking style of football Manchester United appear to have Incorporated in their style of play. `` If it ain`t broke don`t fix it. ``
Heading into this past Sundays match against Everton, most of the talk was based on the alleged news that Manchester United was preparing to fire club Manager Jose Mourinho regardless of the result on Sunday. At this point in the season, any news surrounding Jose Mourinho’s exit away from Manchester United before the month of January 2019 at least must be considered a joke at first glance simply because the news has been done to death. Mourinho was rumored set to be released from his duties as Manchester United manager during the period of December 2017.
However, the club decided to reconsider the decision and stuck with Jose Mourinho throughout January 2018 until now and with good reason apparently. One part of being the Manchester United manager which can thrill the owners of the club is if a Manager can’t win trophies, win a spot that will take Manchester United to the UEFA Champions League simple.
The fact that Manchester United owners values making money highly can't come as any type of surprise to anyone who pays attention to the club. Playing Champions League football season after season generates increased profit margin for Manchester United through increased ticket sales generated from Manchester United fans around Europe, the clubs merchandizing which operates on a worldwide scale and of course increasedTV Rates from the club fan base worldwide. Finding the relationship between Manchester United's lack of recent trophies the longevity of any Manchester United `s manager stays on the job appears to be a little more reliant on his ability to help the club claim Champions League spots and a little less on winning trophies in recent times.
One aspect of things happening around Old Trafford which has become increasingly interesting to listen to these days as a way oft really grasp the level at which Manchester United performed on any given day is the post-match comments from Jose Mourinho. Naturally of course! Jose Mourinho is the manager of Manchester United football club after all and who better to give a better account of just how good or just how bad Manchester United performed on any given night than the manager who is ever present during Manchester United`s training sessions. The Manchester United had appeared uninspired in most of the season post-match conferences due to some, not all, of the poor results Manchester United had gotten during the course of the present season.
Naturally, curiosity grew as to how the Managers press conference will go after last weekends impressive victory over Everton :
“We had some nice wins and some nice moments but I say this one was complete because the result was in doubt until the last second. But that was the consequence of a goal that we conceded and consequence of performance that we missed but I agree with you, the performance was solid and in the second half was not just solid, was more than that, was beautiful..”
(Jose Mourinho. October 28, 2018)
Fair to say the fans will be expecting more high tempo quality football in the future. One major aspect of Manchester United's recent run of form is the improved form in some of Manchester United players particularly Antony Martial and when asked of his opinion on the French wingers recent spark Mourinho had a somewhat interesting opinion on the matter which might have suggested Jose Mourinho appears hesitant on taking credit on the outcome of his players individual performance. When Mourinho was asked Mourinho replied “ when a player is playing bad it’s my fault and when a player is playing well it’s my responsibility” which seemed to imply that Mourinho that he was taking too much blame for Anthony Martial's questionable absence from the team last season as a result lack of consistency in Martial performance.
However, the manager did seek to clarify that no blame should be cast on a single person should a player struggle to perform well consistently. “when a player plays bad it’s my fault and when a player plays good, it’s my responsibility which I think it’s fair. Or we can meet in the middle and say whether a player performs well or not, it’s half the manager's fault and half the player's responsibility. “ wise words which most media analysts and Manchester United fans should heed.
Whether the team performs well enough to be victorious in the future should not depend only on the managers ability to draw up a plan but spectators have to understand that judging the performance level of Manchester United players should mean the players have to hold some level of responsibility for their performance in each match played during the course of the season.
