Season Is Over

This doesn’t happen with me often but I have just lost some interest in watching Manchester United play. I have missed two out of the three recent matches we have played in. The one I did watch was one that I regretted watching, the 0-0 draw against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge early this morning. I fought against my drooping eyelids to soldier on for 90 minutes to watch United draw 0-0 in another big game this season. My head said that it would be another 0-0 and I shouldn’t waste my sleep on this. But my heart hoped for a rosier outcome.

Playing With Handbrakes On

Our performances in matches against Big 6 this season has been frustrating and a right bore. I have said this before and I am saying it again. I can trace our regression back to the 1-6 mauling by Tottenham Hotspur at Old Trafford. Since then, the emphasis has been on keeping it tight at the back. It is frustrating because we play with our handbrakes on, not showing the ambition to win and that cannot be acceptable for Manchester United. To add fire to the fuel, you get a feeling that in a number of these matches, had we shown more ambition, we would have beaten our opponents. Chelsea came to Old Trafford having just kept one clean sheet and their focus was on keeping things tight at the back. Manchester City abandoned their usual attacking style to avoid being exposed on the counter-attack. Liverpool was playing with makeshift centre-backs. Instead of smelling blood and showing ambition to go for the kill, we played cautiously. Ironically, the game where we did show ambition and take the game to the opponents was the one we get hammered 1-6.

Embarrassing Against Arsenal

I kept Arsenal out of the previous paragraph because matches against Arsenal have been especially embarrassing. Ole Gunnar Solksjaer has failed to beat Arsenal since beating them in the FA Cup in 2018-19 when he was still the interim manager. It is ok if we dropped points in one of the matches or lost one of them but to be winless against an Arsenal team that is far from being a vintage Arsenal is deplorable. It is an Arsenal team that is losing matches to smaller teams and getting embarrassed by the league’s biggest teams and we are struggling immensely to beat them. Even against them, we are playing cautiously. Frustration has led to hopelessness when it seems that we are happy to come away with a point in these big matches.

Lost Cause In The Selection

The selection is also a lost cause. The central defensive partnership of Victor Lindelof and Harry Maguire has had a full season together but look far from solid. They have been responsible for conceding soft goals and making individual errors but Solksjaer has kept his unwavering faith in this partnership. I am not sure what he sees in this partnership. Whenever Eric Bailly has played, many fans have heralded his performances because they have been very good and he has looked like a good fit alongside either Lindelof or Maguire. Many agree that when fit, he is our best defender. But Solksjaer doesn’t feel the same way, unfortunately.

Disjointed Attack

To protect his preferred partnership, he has to field 2 defensive midfielders who have a lot of energy and endeavour but lack the quality of making the difference in the attacking third. With the team sitting deep to avoid getting exposed, Bruno Fernandes has a lot of work to do sitting back in the defensive half. Also against better quality opponents, they know that if they nullify Bruno, they would nullify our attacking threat. When Bruno is nullified, there is no-one else that has stepped up to the plate to make a difference for the team. There has been no desire at all either pre-game or during the game to break the mould and throw caution to the wind. Yet more frustration and helplessness.  

Premier League Season Is Over

I feel the Premier League season is already over for us. I feel confident that we should be able to finish in the Top 4 whether that is in 2^nd place or 4^th is secondary to me. We have shown on our day that we are capable of marvellous performances and can beat anyone. But at the same time, we are capable of disasters and abysmal defeats. I feel cautious to take much joy in a good performance and win because you never know what you will get in your next match. We are still in the running in the Cups but even there we have become a semi-final choker. I will be more than happy to be proven wrong but I can’t see that happening.