A new season, but the same question remains. What is going on at Manchester United? The 20-time Premier League champions have won two of their opening games, but they have lost two as well.
At the end of last season, former number one David De Gea was seen as past his sell-by date and in need of urgently being replaced.
Andre Onana was signed and he was the man charged with replacing a Man United stalwart, a club legend.
It could be argued it’s too early to call out the jury and judge his performances, but the Cameroonian star’s form has been patchy to put it kindly.
To say, that the former Ajax man shouldn’t have been signed, as some quarters argue is also not sensical. At his former club Inter Milan, there he had the foundation to play in this sweeper-keeper way.
The 27-year-old had some excellent defenders in front of him and a team that was cohesive as a unit. From 1-11, Inter were a unit and defended from the front to back.
At Manchester United, it’s currently one big mess! Andre Onana is the kind of goalkeeper that Erik Ten Haag is after, but defence-wise, it’s a massive work in progress.
To add to their woes, United have managed to rack up a lengthy injury list. Rafael Varanne, Lisandro Martinez, Luke Shaw, Tyrrel Malacia and Victor Lindelof are the players in the treatment room.
That’s left outcast Harry Maguire and Jonny Evans as their main two centre-backs. Ten Haag will be hoping these injury woes, sort themselves out soon.
Sergio Regullion has been signed from Tottenham and if given a run in the side could be a good player. This still doesn’t mask the issues of years and years of poor planning.
It doesn’t get better further up the pitch. At the start of the window, the target for Man United was to sign a goalkeeper, a midfielder and a forward.
Although The Red Devils have signed those players, spending a huge chunk of the budget on Mason Mount and Rasmus Hojlund seems to have been brutally exposed.
In the first four games, Manchester United have been brutally exposed for being unbalanced. Casemiro for all his talents, needs a good midfield partner next to him.
Sofyaan Amrabat has been signed, but he is injured. When the Moroccan returns from that injury, the pressure is immense on him to fill the hole of a position that has been an issue filing for The Reds all season.
The same can be said at the top end of the pitch for Manchester United, the strikers which is another contentious issue.
In the summer Man United shelled out £72 million on Atalanta forward Rasmus Hojlund. A good player as far as his numbers were concerned last season they were good, but he too has massive pressure on his shoulders.
So, the question needs to be asked, What’s going on at Manchester United? A lot and huge part of is not good.
From the poor handling of the Mason Greenwood saga to poor planning in terms of buying players, which would be difficult to sell later if need be.
The key factors when signing a player are two. Can this player attract a resale value? Similar to the first point, when signing said player, was there competition to sign him?
As much as football says it’s not, on the contrary, football clubs are run like businesses. You want to see if there is a demand for your product, if there’s no demand, what are you buying?
In what’s a recurring theme at Manchester United in this past decade or so, is the lack of leadership off the field.
There have been some claims alleged against winger Anthony, which the club have been very slow to identify and address.
The Man United of the past would be mortified to see that this would be the Man United of the future. From top to bottom, there’s no leadership and the club has no idea which direction it’s going in.
Jadon Sancho has come out and publicly spoken against manager Ten Haag. Do you think Ryan Giggs or Paul Scholes would dare to do such a thing?
Roy Keane, David Beckham and Ruud Van Nistelrooy all dared to take on Sir Alex, and they all failed. Ronaldo was sold and now the test is if the Manchester United hierarchy stick to their guns like they did with CR7. No one is bigger than the club or manager.
In the case of the Portuguese captain, he said things which many Man United fans will agree on, but the way he said it and criticised ETH is something which made the initial diluted.
United fans used to mock Liverpool FC for some of the things United are doing now. It’s amazing how life goes half-circle and Karma comes around. Do you know what they say about Karma?
