Manchester United: a club stuck in time

By Robert Hart, first year Biology student

Manchester City’s effortless 2-0 dismantling of a far inferior Manchester United side on Wednesday night has piled further misery onto a team in crisis, leaving fans with just one question, 'where did it all go wrong?'.

In a truly dominating performance, City – once dismissed by Sir Alex Ferguson as the 'noisy neighbours' – starkly demonstrated their superiority over the Red Devils.

Perhaps most telling was United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjær response to the match. Solskjær praised his players for 'having a go' in a way reminiscent of the plucky loser, hardly the kind of rhetoric befitting a club the stature of Manchester United.

The breakdown against City was just the latest in a string of embarrassing defeats suffered by United in recent weeks. A 2-1 loss to Wolves was followed by two gutless displays against Barcelona in the Champions League before a 4-0 humbling at the hands of Everton.

Manchester United are now on a run of seven defeats from nine matches, their worst run of form since 1962, and will finish behind their local rivals for the sixth successive season.

So, what has happened to reduce United from a dominant force in world football to a weekly laughing stock?

'We've spoken about leaders and characters; I just don’t think they have enough. We used to be full of leaders.'

Roy Keane's strongly worded response to the Red Devils' performance on Wednesday was rubbished by Gary Neville following the match but there is no doubt that he touched on a key weakness.

Every great United team of the past has been blessed with great leaders; Law, Charlton, Pallister, Bruce, Irwin, Carrick, Ferdinand, Foulkes, the list is long and illustrious.

However, no player encompasses what is currently missing more than Roy Keane himself. A perfect combination of talent and mental fortitude, Keane truly epitomised the unwavering desire to win that Manchester United stands for.

In the absence of club captain Antonio Valencia, the armband has bounced from Paul Pogba to Chris Smalling and David de Gea before reaching Ashley Young.

All these apparent 'leaders' have played consistently throughout the recent run of form, but none have stepped up to rally the troops or take control, instead electing to shirk the responsibility.

Marcus Rashford has recently revealed that players 'never call each other out', something that would have seemed farcical during the Alex Ferguson era. A desire to hide from responsibility is apparent across the team and as such, United have been left with an immensely talented squad that lacks the conviction to win.

Nine of Manchester United's ten most expensive signings have been made since Alex Ferguson retired. This is not unusual in itself - transfer fees have, after all, drastically risen in recent seasons. However, the lack of impact that these big money singings have had is.

Only two of the nine (Paul Pogba and Victor Lindelöf) have held consistent places under Solskjær. No single player represents this horribly flawed transfer system better than Alexis Sanchez.

The signing of Sanchez, while entirely rational at the time, shows a complete lack of forward planning by the club. When compared with the measured and well-coordinated transfer strategies of Man City, Liverpool or Spurs, the short-term, reactive signing of Sanchez appears almost comical.

United signed a 29-year-old player that their squad did not need at a cost of £500,000 a week. This all came to a head on Wednesday night when United’s highest earning player managed just 1 touch of the ball in the 12 minutes he played.

One touch – to symbolise how backroom mismanagement is decimating a once great club.

Ultimately, Manchester United are still stuck in the glory days and, now that they are deprived the footballing genius of Sir Alex Ferguson, risk being left in the dust by their more progressive rivals.

In Ole Gunnar Solskjær, United have a manager who could finally bring the club into the modern era. Should they fail to back him and sell big name players, they will remain embarrassingly inferior to their 'noisy neighbours'.

Featured image by Flickr/Pauls Imaging Photography

Who is to blame for United's poor form? Let us know your thoughts!

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