The Paradox of Manchester United
Ever since Sir Alex Ferguson’s departure back in 2013, it seems like everything that could have gone wrong has gone wrong for Manchester United. United haven’t won a Premier League title since 2013 and and haven’t even reached UEFA Champions League semi finals since 2012 and that’s despite being one of the highest spending teams in world football in a league where most people believe your finances should correlate with your league finishes but Man United do everything in their power to buck this trend.
Of course, Man United did enjoy some success under Jose Mourinho, winning the League Cup and the Europa League, but once again things went sour because even though Ole Gunnar Solskjaer did manage to get United playing exciting attacking football again. They would only finish as runners up in the Premier League and Europa League so in the following season when United got off to a poor start Man United would sack Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and appoint Ralf Rangnick as caretaker for the season but things would further go downhill leading united to have one of they’re worst ever points tally in the Premier League era and by the end of the season Rangnick departed and in came Erik ten Hag.
Now everyone remembers Ten Hag’s infamous quote about “all era coming to an end” because even though he did guide United to a 3rd place finish in the league things continued to get worse in the league as man united would go on to finish 8th in the Premier League in the following season and that brings us to this season where Ten Hag was dismissed and Ruben Amorim was appointed mid season.
Analyzing Manchester United’s Corner Kick Strategy Under Ruben Amorim
I personally believe the sensible thing to do would have been to keep Ruud van Nistelrooy as a caretaker till the end of the season and then bring in Amorim at the end of the season to carry on and make signings needed to allow man united to transition to his back 3 system or even sacking Ten Hag after the end of last season allowing him to leave on a high while bringing in the players needed for Amorim’s system.
This brings us to the present day where United are languishing in the bottom half of the table. The issues run through the whole club starting from the management and those at the senior executive level all the way down to the players but that’s story for another time because despite the many poor results they’ve put their fans through this season Man United are actually flying high in Europe where they look a completely different team.
Ten Hag’s “all eras come to an end” quote was somewhat telling the truth because United hadn’t lifted a trophy since 2016 before his arrival – since then, Man United have lifted trophies in back to back seasons since Ten Hag’s appointment and even now under Ruben Amorim, United who have struggled domestically look like a completely different team in the Europa League.
In fact the contrast Man United’s form in their Europa League campaign compared to their Premier League form has been so different that you’d struggle to believe it’s the same team because Man United have been so good in the Europa League that they’re the only team of 108 in all the European competitions to be unbeaten recently thrashing Athletic Bilbao 7-1 on aggregate and having their spot booked in the final vs. Spurs.
They could very well end up lifting three different trophies in three consecutive seasons, something only Manchester City and Chelsea have done in the past decade. So how have Man United found themselves in this situation and what could be learnt from everything that’s happened at United?
Well in the league many teams find United easy to exploit due to the large gaps and poor execution or lack of Ten Hag’s tactics, but in cup competitions things always just seemed to click for United with players usually reserving their best performances for the cup ties because it’s like Man United play with less care when the threat of being knocked out of a competition is there.
Most teams would approach cup ties in a more pragmatic fashion but with united that’s not what you get because that’s where they usually play their best free-flowing football and this is evident in the results whether be it the 4-3 thriller v Liverpool in last season’s FA Cup, the 7-6 comeback within a comeback v Lyon or the 7-1 thrashing of Bilbao. It’s clear to see that Amorim has proven capable of motivating his players for a big game, be that the FA Cup match vs. Arsenal or the Manchester derby.
Factor in the revenue from Man United winning the Europa League plus the extra revenue that’ll follow as a result of the Champions League qualification would be extremely crucial to who Man United could bring in to fit the Amorim system due to PSR plus with players looking to put their names in Man United history as European trophy winners it’s no surprise that United and doing everything in their power to win the Europa League as Amorim was quoted saying “our full focus is on the Europa League.”
Kobbie Mainoo: Manchester United’s English Midfield Metronome
Of course, United haven’t yet won the competition, having to come up against spurs in the final, and with Spurs looking to redeem themselves after their disappointing 2-0 defeat in their last European Final vs. Liverpool back in 2019 and Ange Postecoglou’s reputation on the line with his “I always win something in my second season’ quote being held above his head as Spurs languish in the bottom half of the table.
Spurs built their big 6 reputation through smart investments into the clubs like excellent signings relative to cost and stadium upgrade coupled alongside good performances in the league constantly finishing in the Champions League spots under Mauricio Pochettino (only missing out in his first and last seasons at the club) but since his departure, Spurs have finished inside the top 4 only once in the 21/22 season under Antonio Conte.
Champions League revenue could allow Ange to bring in new players to help with depth incase another injury crisis like this season were to happen again. On top of that, Spurs have actually been dominant over United in the recent fixtures with the last time they lost to United being back in 2022. Both the Spurs and United dressing rooms are full of confidence and with both sides having strong reasons why they’d need the trophy while being filled with belief that they could win the Europa League Final on May 21.
By: Sekwila Mumba / Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/s3kwila
Featured Image: @GabFoligno / Justin Setterfield / Getty Images