Review Of Manchester United 2021-22

 It’s been 2 weeks since Manchester United’s season ended and I have been conspicuous by my absence. I have not said a word about Manchester United in the season that has just passed since the 20^th of January this year. What is there left to be said that has not been said by the fans and pundits? Where do I start and where do I finish? Having said that, this will inevitably be a long piece.

This has been the worst season I have experienced as a Manchester United fan. We started with enthusiasm after the signings of Jadon Sancho and Raphael Varane and that reached fever pitch with the signing of Cristiano Ronaldo. It was exciting. I didn’t think we would have won the league with these signings but I had in mind a different kind of season than the one that unravelled.

Like many, I thought this season was the do-or-die season for Ole Gunnar Solksjaer as United manager but little did I know that he would be “killed” so soon in the season. I have always maintained my respect for him from his time as a player. However, as a manager, his limitations were quite obvious from the previous season. It might appear strange that I would say that after a season where he guided us to second in the English Premier League and the final of the Europa League. In his time as manager, it has either been feast or famine, with nothing in between and lacking consistency. We have got to semi-finals and choked. When we finally got to a final, we choked again. We finished second in the league but truthfully were a distant second with lesser points than the last time we finished second.

Something was lacking in terms of mentality and ruthlessness to get us across the line when it matters the most. What has also irked me during his time there is the poor usage of the squad. He has his favourite 13-14 players that he uses regularly and the rest outside of that rarely get a look in which then makes it difficult for these players to feel connected and match sharp. Ironically, a person who made his name as a substitute was so bad at making substitutes and using his squad. If he was a manager of a big European club, he would probably have got the sack last season. He stayed on and the hope was that he will improve and develop himself to bring the team to the next level. Instead, he brought the team to a new low.

We were smashed by Tottenham Hotspur last season and I felt that was the turning point of his management as he introduced the double pivot after that match and he was so frightened to lose in the big matches that he was happy to draw those matches. All the talk of United DNA and playing attacking football was rubbished by the way he got the team lined up. This season, we got smashed again and the last team we wanted to trash us was Liverpool in our own backyard. It is a miracle he survived the sack after that humiliation. That defeat was a sign of what was to come in an excruciating season. Solskjaer finally got the sack after another embarrassing heavy defeat away to Watford, a team that would be relegated at the end of the season. I favoured the hiring of an interim manager looking at the successful example of Guus Hiddink at Chelsea. Like Gary Neville, I agreed that Antonio Conte was not the right fit for United and since there was no other outstanding option available to us, an interim manager could be the right way to go about it.

Unfortunately, things didn’t improve too much under Ralf Rangnick who came in with a big reputation of being the father of gegenpressing and the manager other top German managers look up to or have learnt from. He spoke the truth and that was a refreshing change. It would have been a miracle if, in a very short time, he had got the players to play the way he wants them to play without having the right players to play the way he wants to play. As it transpired, except for the very first match against Crystal Palace, we couldn’t recognize a style of play that he wanted to implement as the team went through the motions and relied on individual brilliance. It was also odd because we have played well in games but collapsed at the first sign of trouble.

There were rumours of factions in the dressing room and players reluctant to follow the instructions of the coaches on the training ground. This was also odd as whenever you see the team score a goal, it is celebrated as a team but then again in difficult times, they just collapse in a heap which showed the team wasn’t really united, pun intended. My interest waned as the season progressed and I was so glad that the season ended. I couldn’t care less if we had qualified for the Europa League, Conference League or didn’t qualify for any European competitions. The Champions League spot was still there for the taking despite being awful but we didn’t and I am glad we didn’t because we didn’t deserve it.

This group of players is the least likeable group of Manchester United players. I don’t care what any player has to say now. All I want to see is something very different to what we saw this season. We have a new manager at the helm and I hope he signs players that he wants regardless of reputation. All we need are players that are interested to play for the club, committed and talented.