MANCHESTER UNITED MUST QUESTION PLAYERS ON THEIR STANDARD OF QUALITY

Football clubs are known to assign responsibility for what transpires in the team to certain individuals. The Manager, the board of directors and even the fans on some occasions. The fans? Really? From my understanding of watching football and growing up from a passionate Manchester United fan into a small time sports writer, Manchester United journalist, opinionated fan, whichever label you choose to give me, the one constant that remains the same is that Managers and Football fans do not affect the level of performance and the results on the pitch, the players do.

During the ’99 Premier League season while Manchester United was still operating under the amazing guidance of one of the most iconic managers in Manchester United history Sir Alex Ferguson, Manchester United fans witnessed some of the most amazing football talents displayed by the men in Red every single match day. As Manchester United dazzled and secured three points steadily, most of the credits were given to the legendary Scottish manager and rightfully so because some of the tactics used by Manchester United were simply extraordinary. However, looking to at present performances of the current group of Manchester United player and the level of unsteady performances the players have displayed, the question has to be asked: was Sir Alex Ferguson the sole reason behind Manchester United’s success? 

Did the Solskjaer, the Giggs, the Cantona, the Beckham, the Garry Neville, the Dwight York and the Andy Coles get the credits they deserved as Manchester United players during such a successful era for Manchester United under Sir Alex Ferguson? Having an outstanding Manager in charge at Manchester United will not guarantee a trophy, to be victorious in Europe a club must have a quality manager and a group of quality players all dedicated to playing quality football and settling for nothing short of three points at the of each match day. Is that really the commitment standards Manchester United players are currently showing on the pitch consistently?   To give typical examples of performances which have not been up to par in regards to the typical quality expected from a team of Manchester United caliber then search no further than the recent match results gathered by Manchester United in the past two or three weeks.

Shocking losses in the space of two weeks at the hands of an excellent Wolverhampton team was followed by a double loss at the hands of yet another excellent team but time in the form of Spanish giants FC Barcelona and finally a miserable couple of weeks for Manchester United was capped up by yet another humiliating defeat this time against Marco Silvers solid Everton side. With all the recent underwhelming performance shown on the pitch by Manchester  United some general consensus circulating around the elite Red team from Manchester seems to deem a good number of Manchester United players as the real source of Manchester United’s inability to achieve top success in Europe.  David De Gea, Paul Pogba and Marcus Rashford are players who seem to have taken an outrageous amount of blame for Manchester United’s recent struggle and while these three are not without blame, assigning complete blame for Manchester United’s recent downturn to merely three individuals should be considered poor judgment. 

Paul Pogba, David De Gea and Marcus Rashford aren’t the main sources of Manchester United’s recent depletion, rather Manchester United have to admit that at the moment, the club is quality piece of machinery currently struggling because the club is operating with a good number of player that are simply not up to Manchester United standards.   

This will come as little or no surprise to Manchester United fans but the main idea revolving around Manchester United heading into the summer transfer window seems to be restructuring. Yes, you read the words right, Restructuring! As the current season of football comes to a close, Manchester United main plans for the upcoming 2019 summer transfer window seems to circulate around the idea of Manchester United planning to let go of quite a number of players in other to make room for a couple of fresh,  new, players to be gotten during the 2019 Summer transfer window period. As most Manchester United affiliates would have already predicted Romelu Lukaku seems to a persistent name predicted to be present in the list of players to leave Carrington this summer, however, the names of players such as Fred, Alexis Sanchez and Juan Mata present in the list of players to vacate Manchester United in the summer of 2019 might come as a surprise to some members of the Manchester United community. 

While some members of the public might view the possible expected team restructure scheduled to take place in the summer of 2019, there is no doubt that a wide range of Manchester United players have been given more than a handful of chances to dazzle and impress yet some of these players have been found wanting.

Time for excuses is over! Manchester United have been a team bent on indulging players who continue to struggle to deliver a quality performance while Manchester United continue to pay exorbitant prices for players struggling to meet up with the demands expected from Manchester United players. Manchester United Executive vice- chairman Ed Woodward is scheduled to confirm yet another major transfer window budget for Ole Gunner Solskjaer but this time there might be conditions applied.

Rather than Manchester United simply throwing huge money into the transfer window, the club might consider letting go of some underperforming players in other to justify any money spent. This will not only help the club maintain high standards and control inflation but the decision to let go of players performing at a mediocre level will remind the remaining group of Manchester United and any subsequent summer signing of the non-negotiable standards set at Manchester United.