MANCHESTER UNITED PLAYING A HIGH RISK GAME WHICH APPEARS TO BE PAYING OFF - WILL THE RED DEVILS PAY A PRICE FOR THE GAMBLE ?
Player fitness is a very important issue for any top team in the league that is aiming to Challenge and successfully secure the Premier League trophy. Right?
Think about this for a second ok?
At the moment, Manchester United’s style of play has resulted in the Red Devils locating themselves at the top of this season's Premier League table. At least that is where the Red Devils found themselves at the end of January 2021 and the status quo remained the same as we made our way into February 2021 with Manchester United still at close range of the top of the Premier League sitting in second place, tied at the same points with league leaders Manchester City. An imposing position to be in especially for a team still labeled as “Lacking what it takes.”
In fairness, upon further unbiased observation, Ole Gunner Solskjaer seems to be operating with a team blessed with attacking quality up front and a sturdy foundation at the heart of the midfield at the moment. A few critiques have raised the point that perhaps Manchester United could have done with one more creative midfielder and one more full back signed during the 2021 January transfer window to give players such as Bruno Fernandes, Paul Pogba, Aaron Wan Bissaka, and Luke Shaw some much-needed rest in a long, busy, season.
So, will Manchester United pay the price for not getting one or two signings done in January? There is no doubt that one more center-back and one central defensive midfielder would have played a big part in keeping the engine running for this Manchester United team when fatigue inevitably hits down the stretch of a long season. Will Manchester United pay the price for failing to secure cover for these faint positions in this past 2021 January transfer window?
The answer is yet to be unknown as at the moment this article was written.
However, as predicted by Manchester United Channel, the route Manchester United took this past 2021 January transfer window to embark on a spending spree was never on the agenda for the upper management at Manchester United considering the financial loss registered by the club at the mid to late stages of 2020. As a result, Manchester United has had to afford higher minutes to certain key players such as Bruno Fernandes, Aaron Wan bi Saka, Luke Shaw, Harry Mcguire, and sometimes Paul Pogba.
In Ole Gunner Solskjaers' defense, the manager has gone deep into his squad recently affording players such as Axel Tuazebe and more recently Donny van de Beak, Daniel's match minutes to avoid injuries. Despite the rotation, certain players such as Luke Shaw, David de Gea Bruno Fernandes, and Marcus Rashford have witnessed a tremendous load of minutes thrown their way as Solskjaer maintains the intensity in the race to the summit of this season’s Premier League table.
With high demands comes high intensity and high risk. The question facing Manchester United now is – Can the Red Devils complete the season without losing anyone, if not a few, key players to injuries or to fatigue?
This is a difficult question to give a straightforward answer to because providing a straightforward answer might very well require a person to possess the ability to see into the future and as far as most people know, the ability to accurately see into the future is not a skill set possessed by most people especially not by people involved in the world of Journalism and Manchester United channel is certainly not a site that can predict the future.
All the Manchester United Channel is here for is to receive, analyze and deliver information involving Manchester United football club and at the moment, the information suggests that while Manchester United manager Ole Gunner Solskjaer is currently reaping rewards from fielding the same players frequently with few rotations and few ret period afforded to some players.
However, down the road, as we emerge into the middle to the late period of the season, big games tend to present themselves and Manchester United will undoubtedly struggle & possibly fail to end the current season as Champions if injuries and fatigue plague key players down the stretch of the current season as a result of lack of rotation.
Fair play to manager Ole Gunner Solskjaer because right after the disappointing loss to RB Leipzig in the UEFA Champions League which happened three months ago, Manchester United has recorded two defeats and four draws in all competitions. While this might sound biased considering this is a Manchester United Channel, that is a pretty impressive run that surely earns any team the rightful claim to the Premier League trophy. However, winners are not determined by mid-season performances. Trophies are handed to the team that can maintain the highest winning rate and the lowest defeat rate for an entire season which allowed said team maintains pole position top of the Premier League table.
At the moment, the team at the pole position of the Premier League table happens to be Manchester United, and let’s give credit where credit is due, while Ole Gunner Solskjaer is the brain behind the progress generated by Manchester United so far, facts such as the knowledge that Manchester United will not be where there are without certain key players Bruno Fernandes, Marcus Rashford, Paul Pogba, Luke Shaw and David de Gea staying fit for the large part of the season.
Original Image from Soccer flip.com
With that being said, as the 2020/21 Premier League now nears the end the main goal for Manchester United must be to reduce injuries and fatigue to the more key players in the team for the sole purpose of keeping these players fit and ready to continue to feature in starting XI as much as possible. The best route to achieve this goal is to pick and choose which match the marquee players in the squad can start and which match these marque players are rested or allowed to make an appearance off the bench.
Easier said than done considering the limited dept in quality Ole Gunner Solskjear is working with within the current Manchester United squad.
However, this situation is where Ole Gunner Solskjaer needs to demand a little productivity from players such as Phil Jones, Juan Mata, and a few players from the Manchester United Academy who have been showing impressive growth in their development to come into the starting lineup for a few games this 2020/21 season and add some energy and add some x-factor into the team while some of the more creative players are afforded rest for tougher battles ahead.
This allows marquee players such as Bruno Fernandes, Paul Pogba, Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial, Luke Shaw e.t.c some rest and recoveries for the bigger battle ahead in the season.
