Manchester United is not working. Since the departure of Sir Alex Ferguson, the team has been stuck in mediocrity, and they have spent millions without any results.
They brought back Cristiano Ronaldo to see if he could make them play better, and although the Portuguese makes a difference, it is not enough for a team that does not work in any line and at the moment is at the bottom of the Premiership.
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No Fergie no Party
Sir Alex Ferguson left Manchester in 2013 and since then they have failed to win the premiership and to date have only managed to win: 1 FA Cup, 1 Carabao Cup, 1 Community Shield, and 1 Europa League.
Although the track record is not bad, it is not acceptable for a world football club as big as United. There have been many managers, and none have been able to make them work as well as Sir Alex Ferguson did.
The Scot won 13 Premier Leagues, 5 Fa Cups, 2 Champions Leagues, 1 Intercontinental Cup, and 1 Club World Cup. He built that devastating and winning team that was scary in Europe.
When he left, the team was left in the hands of David Moyes, who could only win the Community Shield. The fellow countryman of “Fergie” could do no more and ended up leaving through the back door and gave the team to Ryan Giggs, in which they found someone who could control the team that was beginning to lose its way.
Dutchman Louis Van Gail arrived, and it was thought that his iron discipline and tactical intelligence could turn around a team that was beginning to derail. He was invested to bring in the players he wanted. Di Maria, Marcos Rojo, Luke Shaw, and Ander Herrera among others were all brought in by the Dutchman who could only manage one FA Cup.
Obviously, he left the club because of the poor results, as the Premier League was still far away. José Mourinho arrived, and the Portuguese brought some order. They brought in Paul Pogba who at the time became the most expensive player in the world and with him came Zlatan Ibrahimović. The team looked to be a highly competitive side.
But the strong character of Pogba and Mourinho made the dressing room explode. Despite a divided team, Mou has been the most successful manager of the club’s recent era with 1 Europa League, 1 League Cup, and 1 Community Shield.
After a dreadful 2018, The Special One left and the team was given to a symbol of the club, Olé Gunnar Solskjaer. The Norwegian started well, and it was thought that the club was regaining its identity, but it quickly became clear that there were no foundations to fight with a powerful City and a Liverpool side on the rise.
After 168 games in charge of the Red Devils, the legendary striker was sacked without winning a trophy. Ralf Rangnick was entrusted with the team to dig them out of the hole they were in and try to rescue them from the dismal season they were having.
At the end of last season, it was announced that Dutchman Erik Ten Hag would arrive to take over the team. He attracted a lot of attention because of what he did at Ajax, who finally regained much of the pedigree and class that characterised them for a long time.
But he has not been able to get up, and Manchester is still in very negative inertia.
What’s wrong with United?
A lot of investment for not being able to win the Premiership is complicated for a team like this. There is no division of sporting intelligence, and sometimes the purchases are not ideal. A clear example is that of Pogba who left for free and returned to the team for 90 million and then left again for free with very few trophies in his trophy cabinet.
Manchester City has spent more, but the sporting success of the team justifies the heavy spending. But the difference is that there is an extraordinary sporting management, and they embraced Guardiola’s project, and it is paying off.
At Old Trafford, nobody takes care of the study of players and their characteristics, and they end up buying players that do not work, but they pay millions for them, as in the case of Harry Maguire who is being heavily criticised by the English sporting press and the fans.
The man in charge of doing all that was Ferguson, who with his clinical eye asked for talented players and moulded them to the needs of the club. Beckham, Giggs, Scholes, Ronaldo, well, countless players were recruited by Fergie and worked for the club.
This time they seem to be buying for the sake of buying, without knowing the real needs of the club.
What will happen?
The fans are fed up with the results and are planning a strike and not going to the club’s home games to show their dissatisfaction, this would create a very serious precedent for the club which in the end depends a lot on tickets and shirt sales. The fan has a voice and will make it noticeable.
Another particular case is that of Ronaldo. There has been much speculation about his departure because he does not want to be in the final stretch of his career on a team that aspires to absolutely nothing. One of the things he asked of his teammates when he arrived was to win. To do everything to succeed.
But the exact opposite happened, the team looks worse every day, and it has been said that one of the team’s top idols wants to leave immediately.
Cristiano exploded on social networks and said that he will soon come out and tell the truth, and he branded as lies what is handled in the press, but on the pitch, he looks very uncomfortable and upset, the team is not working and for the competitive nature of the player this is unacceptable.
It is also said that he does not understand the Dutch coach and that he does not like the way he plays, this was noticeable in the first game where there was an obvious annoyance of the striker with the coach. For the second game, CR came on as a substitute, but even he couldn’t prevent his team’s defeat.
It is too early to tell whether Ten Hag will work or not. The team’s negative inertia still continues, and it will take a lot of work to reverse it. It is a start to have someone like the Dutchman at the controls because the team will have a lot of order.
The work is slowly being noticed, but it is impossible to expect results so soon. This tournament is special because the World Cup is coming up, and it can be productive for Manchester to have the team with a bit more work, as the coach hasn’t had them for so long. Will they manage to get back on track?