Manchester United : A Gradual Loss of Charm
After having spent close to £300million in the transfer market over the past 2 years under Louis Van Gaal, Manchester United are down to 6th in the premier league as per the year end table and also shown the exit door of the Champions league after a terrible group campaign. Manchester United have gone 8 games without a win in all competitions, their worst run since 1990 and it includes shocking losses to Bournemouth FC, Norwich City and Stoke city.
A team which was famous for its attacking football has now turned into one of the boring, lifeless, dullest teams in the competition. They arrived in Wolfsburg needing a victory to progress into the knockout stages but an awful display of football got their hopes crashed at the Volkswagen Arena by Wolfsburg in Germany. PSV Eindhoven’s victory over CSKA Moscow added insult to injury to United as they got relegated to Europa league.
When Louis Van Gaal was appointed as the Manager after the disastrous David Moyes era, it looked like he was the man to revive them of all the troubles. A third place finish at the FIFA World cup 2014 under LVG brought in more expectations at Old Trafford. Things started off pretty well but inconsistency and poor show started to ignite tensions among the fans. Van Gaal’s philosophy of possession football has not benefited United at all and their style of play has been widely criticized. The team’s imbalance has become a root cause for all the trouble. The midfield controlled by the ‘Old’ duo Bastian Schweinsteiger and Michael Carrick has nothing but slow moving legs which are unable to cope up with the pace and physicality of the premier league. It has to be understood that Schweini who has passed his prime have not adapted to the style of play in the league. Players like Ander Herrera, Andreas Pereira have turned from being prospects to bench warmers. Less playing time for the hardworking Herrera, Young, Pereira have just added fuel to the growing frustration among the players. Loss of form of Wayne Rooney is of a major concern to United and there is a growing speculation he might be seeking a job elsewhere. The strikers are not been given enough supplies from midfield. It doesn’t even seem like United are having an operating wing down the flanks. They just scored a total of seven goals this season in their Champions league campaign which clearly denotes the poor state of affairs of the strikers in the team.
Nowadays players don’t seem to have the same kind of enthusiasm and energy level as their predecessors. United fans’ trips to the Theatre of Dreams are becoming nightmares. It looks like any low level team can come to Old Trafford now and shock United which was never a sight before. It has become a pain to watch this team play like the way they do now. It has affected the fans’ attitude towards the team. They don’t believe in this team anymore. Fergie time, the late goals and the counter attacking style of play have become a distant memory. The growing frustration within the players and the fans are alarming signs for United. Fans booing the players after their pathetic display of football with no shots on goal against West Ham are clear signs of things to come. Call for LVG to be replaced by Pep Guardiola, whose contract ends with Bayern Munich at the end of the season is beginning to hear loud. Jose Mourinho who got sacked by Chelsea also seems to be a favorite to replace LVG at United.
Chief Executive Ed Woodward should also be blamed for the turnaround of events at United. A bizarre transfer policy over his last 3years’ regime has got the team to an imbalance. This season saw many players leave or sent out on loan with not enough players being brought in as replacements. A good defensive duo in the centre back had not been formed after the departure of Vidic and Ferdinand. Special appreciation has to be given to Chris Smalling who has been rock solid at the back and taking responsibility. Daley Blind arrived as a midfielder and now playing in the defence has not helped United to get the best out of him. Arrival of Angel Di Maria for £59.7million last season, breaking the British transfer record was seen with much delight by the Old Trafford faithful but being played out of position most of the time got the player frustrated and losing confidence. He was sold after the season for a huge loss of £15million. Strikers Javier Hernandez and James Wilson who got sold and loaned out have been scoring goals for their current teams when United’s strikers are struggling.
Ex United players like Rio Ferdinand, Paul Scholes, and Phil Nevile have blasted LVG s tactics and raised their concern on the overall approach. Rio Ferdinand had a dig at United after their loss.
“It’s embarrassing,” the former United captain said. “If u strip it back and look at this squad, this squad needs a real hard looking at. There’s no pace in the squad, no power, there doesn’t seem to be great resilience at times. The leaders you look for in situations like this, at the moment it looks like people are looking around at each other rather than being the man to stand up and saying, ‘I’m going to drag you through the forces’.”
LVG has drained the life out of one of the world’s greatest clubs making it into one of the most boring teams in World football right now. United hierarchy has to intervene and a proper decision has to be made by the end of the season as to whether they still need to keep him until his contract expires in 2017 or to replace him with a much enthusiastic manager who isn’t seen glued to his seat writing down notes instead of changing tactics according to the need of the situations on the field.
Being out of the Champions league and their season now stands on a knife-edge, it looks like Manchester United are slowly slipping down, losing its charm.
