What Has Changed?
Its a little over 5 years since sir Alex Ferguson's last match at the Manchester united dugout,it was a thrilling 5-5 draw with west brom,a dead rubber game as Manchester united had already wrapped up the premier league title,with games to spare,such was the dominance of united under the tutelage of the managerial icon,but a lot if things have changed since then,three new managers and an array of new talents arriving at the club,with Manchester united having lost their steel as a premeir league title contender.....
The managers
David Moyes,Louis van gaal and Jose mourinho have all been tasked with returning Manchester united back to her former glory and it will be fair to say they were never up for the task,first it was the the little under the radar scot David Moyes,chosen by his outgoing compatriot that would have been a welcome consolation given he chose his successor by himself thus
Everyone at old Trafford had every reason to be optimistic, and even a patchy pre-season did little to dim that optimism,but the Scotsman would last for only 9 months into the season before being sacked by the club,after overseeing a very calamitous season for united in which they finished in 7th place,his style was adventurous but he lacked any real idea or structure to engineer his team,and thus his sacking was fully justified,then came the unapologetic dutch man, Louis van gaal fresh from a successful world cup outing with Netherlands added to his impressive managerial cv, optimism was once again the dominant feeling amongst the old Trafford faithfuls and that was in-fact buoyed by a 100 percent pre-season exercise
But the opening day defeat to Swansea city, raised the first few eye brows of his appointment, while that didn't set the tone for another bad season as Manchester united would go on to finish 4th meaning they qualified for the champions league after a 1 year absence,the following season was perhaps one of mixed fortunes, united missed out on champions league qualification, but somehow managed to lift the fa cup,but that wasn't enough to prolong the stay of the dutch man,who was soon sacked after that triumph, the appointment of Jose mourinho became imminent,having been relieved of his duties as Chelsea boss in december,following a disastrous start to the defence of their title,united appointed the Portuguese in the summer of 2016,and his arrival came with it,the marquee signings of Paul pogba and zlatan ibrahimovic
It was very much a welcome development by the old Trafford faithfuls who expected much from one of football's top managers,he won 3 trophies in his first season despite an underwhelming league campaign,he followed that up by engineering united to their highest league finish since 2013 as they finished runners-up to their noisy neighbors Manchester city,but despite that a heavily criticised pragmatic approach, a champions league round of 16 exit and an FA cup final defeat,took the gloss out of what would have been a very good season for manager Jose mourinho,now into his third season,the criticisms have now become part of his game especially with a very shaky start to the season and there is just that inevitable feeling that he would soon be shown the way out,and if there's anything to buttress that feeling is the fact that he has an uncanny record of leaving clubs in his third season in charge.....
The Player's
Ashley young,Phil Jones,David de gea,Chris smalling and Club captain Antonio Valencia are the only players remaining from sir Alex's tenure,and they still play an important part in Manager,Jose mourinho plans,While lots of new talents have arrived at the club replacing the old ones,big name players like Zlatan ibrahimovic,Bastian schweinsteiger,Romelu lukaku,Angel di maria and a host other talents have been brought in by the club including Paul pogba,who once had a stint under Sir Alex Ferguson,while a few sect have been promoted to the first team from the academy and have instantly become fan favorites........some of these players have flopped,while others have thrived,while some have already left the club.....
Trophies
Manchester united may not have won the league since sir Alex Ferguson's retirement, but they have consistently appeared in finals and have continued to win trophies,5 trophies have been won in total,including two community shields,1 FA cup,1 league cup,and 1 Europa league in addition to loosing 1 FA cup and Uefa super cup final...... But some united fans would happily substitute them for a single premier league trophy,and you can't blame them,they've never gone this long without a premier league title......but have watched the likes of Chelsea (twice),Man city and Leicester win the competition that once became their birth right.....
Playing Style
Manchester united have gone from swift attacking football to a more conservative approach to the game,David Moyes was perhaps the only adventurous manager united have had in that aspect, both louis van gaal and Jose mourinho prefer the possession based football that more often than not yeilds nothing and this has generated lots of criticisms from both the media and ex united players.....
Fear Factor
Old Trafford used to be a haunting ground for some premier league clubs,a real fortress,but you can't really say the same now,the fear is now gone, whereas,there's a similar one being built across,in the blue half of manchester,clubs now play united like any other team and always want to claim a scalp against them........clubs now play united,like they were contesting a final and they always believe they can get a result.
In conclusion, its been a roller-coaster ride for united in these past years,a few highs and more lows,but still you just can never write off of team like united or at least a manager like Jose,with a proven track record and unorthodox methods of achieving success.......
Comments