It’s testament to the utter shambles in 10 years since Fergie’s exit that this will be a season of progress for Man Utd
TEN years on from the announcement of Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement, the state of play with Manchester United’s squad is as follows:
An under-performing goalkeeper, who is costing goals and can’t play confidently with his feet.
An £85million club captain who is currently fifth-choice centre-half.
An over-priced £85.5m one-footed, one-trick pony and another winger who cost £73m and cannot get a regular place in an average team.
The midfield lacks dynamism, the full-backs lack attacking threat, the entire team lacks goals and the ability to win away from home.
And even the defining masterstroke of Erik ten Hag’s first season — fumigating the dressing-room by bombing out Cristiano Ronaldo — basically boils down to this: He has replaced one of the greatest footballers of all time with Wout Weghorst.
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It is a testament to the utter shambles of the last decade that this will still be a season of progress for England’s most famous football club.
If United stagger over the line into fourth place ahead of a sprinting Liverpool and, in the far less likely event that they complete a Cup double by defeating Manchester City in the FA Cup final, it might even be the club’s best post-Ferguson season.
Yet still we could stage a fascinating debate over the most shambolic defeat of their campaign — the historic 7-0 hiding at Anfield, the 6-3 evisceration by City, the 4-0 first-half collapse at Brentford.
Or the tossing away of a two-goal lead to lose 5-2 on aggregate to the weakest Sevilla team in years to exit the Europa League.
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Which shows how staggeringly far the mighty have fallen, how United continue to suffer from ten years of dismal player recruitment and how desperately they need the wretched Glazers to get out of the club ASAP.
Ten Hag got lucky at West Ham on Sunday, where a 1-0 defeat flattered them.
He might easily have suffered a serious trouncing at the hands of the old ‘Chosen One’ David Moyes and added another entry to that list of complete humiliations.
The Hammers should have had a penalty for handball.
And after he disastrously conceded Said Benrahma’s pea-roller, David de Gea was lucky that a Michail Antonio effort was disallowed when the Spaniard was feeble in dealing with a cross.
De Gea is out of contract this summer and if Ten Hag is serious about wanting to keep him, then the Dutchman presumably feels he is simply too short of long-serving senior pros, with the petulant Bruno Fernandes already a clearly unsuitable on-field captain.
Although he already has too many struggling high-profile players to know what to do with — Harry Maguire, Antony and Jadon Sancho among them.
United haven’t seriously challenged for either the Premier League or Champions League since Ferguson left and they do not look like doing so any time soon.
Their only hope is a successful takeover and yet even that public auction has been an embarrassing muddle.
There is no guarantee of any resolution, and even if there is, the Glazers may linger like a bad smell under Jim Ratcliffe.
Or there will be serious questions asked about Sheikh Jassim, the Qatari royal who is absolutely not funded by the Qatari state which has made such a celebrity circus out of Paris Saint-Germain...
Ten Hag is a good coach — probably the most suitable of all United’s six post-Ferguson bosses.
Had it not been for injuries to centre-backs Lisandro Martinez, perhaps United’s best post- Ferguson signing, and Raphael Varane, United would surely have held off Liverpool with some comfort.
Their home form remains pretty solid and three of their remaining four fixtures are Wolves, Chelsea and Fulham at Old Trafford.
United should be back in the Champions League, they might still end up parading two Cups, welcoming new owners and capturing Harry Kane this summer.
And still you can’t imagine them challenging City any time soon.
PEP’S POSER
PEP GUARDIOLA was fuming that Erling Haaland didn’t take Manchester City’s late penalty against Leeds — instead leaving it to Ilkay Gundogan.
He missed his hat-trick attempt before Sam Allardyce’s side made it 2-1 to set up an unnecessarily nervy finale.
When Haaland ceded spot-kick duties to Riyad Mahrez in the FA Cup semi-final against Sheffield United a fortnight earlier, Guardiola claimed he’d left it up to the players to decide.
Firstly, Guardiola must sort out this weird oversight before the greatest test of City’s Treble bid against Real Madrid in the Bernabeu tonight.
Secondly, imagine how many goals Haaland might score if he was actually ruthless.
BARRACK ‘N FORTH
AT St James’ Park, seated directly behind the dugouts, you can appreciate the extent of the earache handed out to fourth officials.
On Sunday, Anthony Taylor spent the vast majority of the 90 minutes being harangued by Newcastle assistant Jason Tindall (the chief irritant), Eddie Howe, Mikel Arteta and his No 2 Steve Round.
And for what? Do these men believe that Taylor will say: “I didn’t make that decision.
I have no authority to overturn that decision. But, as you’ve moaned so much, I’m going to overturn it anyway.”
MUST PICK FIK
FIKAYO TOMORI is heading into a Champions League semi-final with AC Milan against city rivals Inter, aiming to join a select band of Englishmen to contest a European Cup final with a foreign club.
Only Kevin Keegan, Laurie Cunningham, Chris Waddle, Steve McManaman and Owen Hargreaves have achieved this before, and nobody for more than 20 years.
Given the paucity of decent English centre-backs, the absence of Tomori from Gareth Southgate’s squad is looking weird.
EUROPE’S NO SPUR
TOTTENHAM’S mini-revival under caretaker-caretaker-boss Ryan Mason might well earn them seventh place in the Premier League and a spot in the Europa Conference League.
While West Ham have embraced that third-tier competition — as would Brighton, Aston Villa and other clubs — Spurs will, with some justification, consider it beneath them.
The next permanent boss might wish Spurs had stuck with the last caretaker, Cristian Stellini, trashed the rest of this season and missed out on Europe altogether.
CAUSING A STER
FOR a stretch of time, Raheem Sterling was frequently booed by England fans while playing for his country.
Yet he ended up as Gareth Southgate’s best player when the Three Lions reached their first major final in 55 years at the last Euros, in 2021.
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Chelsea fans are now booing Sterling but, under Mauricio Pochettino next season, he is well capable of changing minds at Stamford Bridge.
If ever there was a player who thrives on being under-appreciated, it is Sterling.