The tough loss to City raises doubts about United’s future and ability to compete
Years ago, Manchester City was afraid of being the guest of its one-city neighbor, Manchester United, at Old Trafford, but it painted the city blue again by beating its old neighbor very easily 3-0 in its own home to confirm its dominance over it in recent years, issuing a shock. For the latter’s fans who began to doubt the ability of their club, which was mired in crises, to rise up.
This is the first time since 1986 that United have lost 5 times in the first 10 league matches, and although the dismissal of Erik ten Hag, as happened with Ron Atkinson at the time, is unlikely, the Dutch coach has become under intense pressure, at a time when voices are rising. Demanding the departure of the American Glazer family that owns the club.
United fans were hoping that ownership of the club would be transferred to the Qatari banker Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr Al Thani, but the latter decided at the beginning of October to withdraw his offer, which exceeded 5 billion pounds, while bearing the payment of the club’s debts amounting to 700 million pounds. British pounds also, due to the Glazer family’s procrastination.
The scene of raising banners “We demand Glazer’s departure” has become a frequent occurrence in the stands of Old Trafford since last November.
Angry United fans demand the departure of the Glazer family, which owns the club (Getty)
The team’s fan associations believe that the American family is practicing a kind of slow torture on the club’s fans, while there is a state of internal turmoil between Manchester United’s administrations and the committee supervising football.
The Glazer family, which has owned the club for 18 years, has lost the trust of the fans, and their attempts in recent years to give a representative from the association a place in evaluating matters within the administrative structure have not succeeded in reducing the wave of anger against them.
The shock of the fans was great, on Sunday, as they watched Norwegian striker Erling Haaland score a brace and pass the ball for the third goal to Phil Foden, while United’s defenders watched, which made Spanish coach Pep Guardiola’s squad advance 9 points ahead of United, eighth with 24 points, after only 10 matches. Of the English Premier League season.
Since Manchester United was crowned the league champion for the last time under the supervision of its great coach Sir Alex Ferguson in his last season with him (2012-2013), the “Red Devils” have not been able to finish the “Premier League” competitions ahead of their neighbor City, and the matter is likely to continue this season as well, given the difference. The vastness between the two teams.
The City fans who attended Old Trafford on Sunday were mocked by chanting slogans expressing the hope that the Glazer family, the owner of United, which is not popular with the latter’s supporters, would remain for “another 10 years.”
Optimism was at its peak when the American Glazer family decided to sell the club in November 2022, after taking over its ownership in 2005, but this optimism was misplaced, as the idea declined and contented itself with offering a minority stake to British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe after a year of negotiations, and perhaps This does not happen either.
The decline of United under Glazer coincided with the rise of Manchester City, as a dominant force in English football, thanks to the support of the Emirati Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed. But money is not the only reason for the disparity in the performance of the two clubs. United has spent a larger amount than City in the transfer market in recent years, but wasted millions in the process due to mismanagement supervising football.
In Sunday’s match, United appeared as a heterogeneous team, exhausted and lacking enthusiasm and ideas, especially after receiving the first goal from a penalty kick.
Old United players demand that the captaincy be stripped from Bruno (AP)
Despite his team’s struggle to score goals this season, United’s Dutch coach Erik ten Hag left Brazilian strikers Anthony and Mason Mount on the bench. He also pushed Jonny Evans into the heart of defense instead of Frenchman Raphael Varane and shifted Swedish Victor Lindelof to left back instead of Sergio. Reguilon, who brought him from Tottenham on loan to solve the problem on this front.
It became clear that this defensive quartet was unable to deal with the pressure exerted by City, in light of the disintegration of the midfield and the ineffectiveness of the attack. By contrast, City have a brilliant behind-the-scenes operation to go along with their spectacle football on the pitch.
If Guardiola has decided not to remain at the helm of the technical staff of Barcelona, Spain, and Bayern Munich, Germany, he is in his eighth season with Manchester City, and he said after his seventh victory at Old Trafford as City coach: “I know what we did. I did not expect that. I have said many times that we are in the same direction – the president, the sporting director, the technical director and the players – we are going there. When we lose or things don’t go well, we don’t blame someone. “We are trying to do things better and find solutions.”
It seems that finding solutions to recover from his depression is a priority for Ten Hag before things get completely out of control. After the Dutch coach won praise in his first season with United because he ended a 6-year drought by winning the League Cup by defeating Newcastle 2-0 in the final match, and he succeeded in leading him to third place in qualifying for the Champions League, the start of the current new season was disastrous. . After spending more than 200 million euros to sign new players, United’s level has declined alarmingly, as it currently ranks eighth in the league. The team lost 5 times in its first 10 league matches, making it its worst start since the 1986-1987 season. It also faces the risk of not qualifying for the Champions League knockout rounds, after losing its first two matches before achieving a difficult victory over Copenhagen of Denmark 1-0.
Despite fans feeling despair over United’s situation, Ten Hag insists that the team is still capable of correcting its course. In response to a question about whether the defeat was one of his worst days with the team, the Dutch coach said: “Yes, of course this is disappointing. When you lose a top match the way we lost, it is disappointing.” “We had a very good game plan in the first half, and the execution was very good, and then the penalty kick changed things.”
But the gap between the two Manchester City teams seemed larger during this confrontation than in any previous match between the two teams. City players were running in circles around the host, as if they were showing off a rival lacking tricks and enthusiasm.
In response to a question about whether he still believes in United’s ability to correct its course, Ten Hag said: “If we look at things more broadly, we see that we had achieved 3 consecutive victories before this match, and against City things were going smoothly, until the exciting penalty kick was awarded.” To argue against us, we had opportunities but we did not take advantage of them. “So we paid the price.”
Former United captain Roy Keane, who works as a commentator for Sky Sports, said: “United players suffer from deficiencies in all aspects, both technically and tactically. “It will be a long road back for this team.”
Kane criticized Portuguese midfielder Bruno Fernandes and demanded that the captaincy be stripped from him, saying: “If the decision were up to me, after what I saw from Bruno during this match, I would strip him of the captaincy, because he is not a leader.” He whines and moans. He had to bring the team together, but the opposite is happening.” He added: “He is a talented player, there is no doubt about that, but what I saw and we have previously discussed many times, including last season against Liverpool when he was waving his hand and making statements and raising his hands in the air repeatedly, this is unacceptable… from what I witnessed, I think he should be stripped of the badge, I know it’s a big decision. But the captaincy had already been taken away from Maguire.”
Kane, the former United captain, echoed what his former teammate Gary Neville raised regarding Fernandes after the team’s crushing 7-0 defeat by Liverpool at Anfield last season, their biggest loss since 1931.
Fernandez’s frustration increased during that match in March; He waved his arms violently and pointed to the coach asking him to replace him. “I think some of his behavior in the second half was a disgrace,” Neville, also a former United captain, said that night. (United) did not embody more than Bruno Fernandes, who was in an embarrassing position – in this match.” Fernandes took over the reins last summer after Harry Maguire was stripped of the role.
2023-10-30 22:09:55
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