MANCHESTER UNITED STILL WITHIN TOUCHING DISTANCE OF COMPLETING TURN AROUND
Four! Count it 1, 2, 3, 4 straight matches undefeated in all competitions so far is a record Manchester United are currently holding up proudly as the club heads into the last two months of 2019 with the clear intentions of putting pressure on the top four clubs in the Premier League table, becoming the 2020 champions of the Europa League competition and playing the high level style of football worthy of being called Manchester United style of football.
Pretty impressive. The record and the performance look even more impressive because the statistics are coming from a club that found themselves just four points above the relegation zone between September and the beginning of October 2019. As of November, manager Ole Gunner Solskjaer has successfully lead his team out of the bottom half of Premier League table with Manchester United leaping straight into the 7th spot and even climbing as high as 5th spot in the Premier League table with victory against manager Eddie Howe Bournemouth side this past Saturday weekend. Here is the best part, Manchester United accomplished all these feet without the presence of one of the best players on the team midfielder Paul Pogba being sidelined with injury for the past 3 months.
Make no mistake about the situation, Manchester United points have not come entirely against struggling teams. In the past two months, Ole Gunner Solskjaer has to lead his troops to face off against Arsenal, AZ Alkmaar and Liverpool and coming away with a precious point after each game. Some people might call avoiding defeats against any of this seasons Premier Leagues top 4 clubs or any current inform club in form club in Europe is considered the bare minimum expected from any Manchester United side. However, considering the lack of depth in quality found in Manchester United's current midfield, a substantial amount of credit should be given to Ole Gunner Solskjear and the squad for refusing to let their heads drop when faced with their backs against the wall. The big question now is can the Manchester United team be able to focus and find the right quality to make their way into the Premier League table by April 2020?
Partizan Belgrade, Brighton, Sheffield United, Asthana, and Aston Villa. Talk about being served points right to your hands. With no disrespect intended to be directed at Manchester United's next five opponents because the facts remain that each football match consists of two teams who are equally deserving of winning the football match. However, considering the quality of players in this current Manchester United team and the next five opponents the morale to move forward and secure victories from the next four games in the Europa League and the Premier League largely rests on the hands of Ole Gunner Solskjaer and his Manchester United squad. That`s football. Sometimes you get the luck of the dice and sometimes you don`t. The confidence is getting better, getting players back from injury certainly helps. All put together but in football, it`s not very far from failure to success or the other way around.
While the above comments from the Manchester United manager might be viewed as Ole Gunner Solskjaers way of hinting that in football sometimes teams get lucky and win matches and sometimes teams don`t get so lucky but despite the level of truth in the managers statement, after surveying the level of players in the Manchester United squad, the next five matches remains matches Manchester United should be capable of winning regardless of the level of players available. Analyzing Manchester United's current situation and comparing the current situation to the picture Solskjaer was left to work with at the start of the situation there is little left to argue against the notion that the team is in a worse situation than they were in the start of the season due to injuries.
In the middle to the end of October 2019, we saw Manchester United drop in form and proceed to drop major points Newcastle, Arsenal, West Ham and Liverpool as well as conceding points to teams such as AZ Alkmaar and being push to the limit by Rochedale and Partizan Belgrade in the Football League cup and the Europa League competition with players such as Paul Pogba, Luke Shaw and Marcus Rashford either in the starting line up or available to play. Point being that while a couple of Manchester United representative, manager Ole Gunner Solskjaer and his coaching staff will possibly be open to the idea of blaming the early season struggles faced by Manchester United on injuries, evidence gotten from the teams performance level during the early part of the season with a healthy squad compared to the performance level seen during the injury crisis at this mid-stage suggests injury did not play a major factor but rather the will and conviction to perform at a high level just appeared to be non-existent from Manchester United.
Will Manchester United be able to pull off an improbable result of clinching a place in the top four of the Premier League table as well as topping the season off with winning one or two trophies such as the Europa League trophies and the Football League cup? Judging from the recent results the odds are certainly in favor of Ole Gunner Solskjaer. However, despite what the end of the season holds for Manchester United the board must endeavor to understand that there is still one or two stages of work to be done in the 2020 summer transfer window to get Manchester United rubbing shoulders once again with elite football clubs in England and in Europe.