Let’s Complete the Trophy Haul 13 May 2017 12:43

A reaction to Thursday night’s Europa League semi-final second leg, and what it means to the fans, the club and everyone else.

By Frank Mead, Editor

Manchester United are through to the Europa League final in Stockholm on May 24^th, where they will face Dutch giants Ajax. It is the first time the Red Devils have ever made it through to this stage of the competition, even under its previous guise as the UEFA Cup. There are many reasons for this, ranging from the fact that for most of our history, we haven’t really been poor enough to be in it in the first place. But four years of under-achievement since Sir Alex Ferguson retired means that is the position in which we now find ourselves.

With this in mind, we should really be wrapping our players in cotton wool, so that they are in the best condition possible to bring that trophy home for the first time in our history.

The Race for the Top Four

Let’s face it, when José Mourinho was being assessed by Manchester United’s board to take over as manager, this trophy would not have been high up on his list of priorities. It’s very possible he underestimated what a massive rebuilding job this club needs. He will never say it out loud, but given the quality of the players already at the club, combined with those he brought in, he would have expected to have made some kind of challenge for the title. Even if it was the kind of challenge that petered out by March, it’s very likely he may have even thought that top four was a given.

Obviously we know how it has worked out, and the possibility of qualifying for next season’s Champions League through where we finish in the table is not a realistic one. We have dropped too many points by not finishing off teams at Old Trafford, in matches where we were clear favourites. United will finish outside the top four, for the third time in four seasons, and deservedly so.

Mourinho has been accused of putting all his eggs in one basket by prioritising the Europa League. It strikes me that he’s only been doing this in recent weeks. If the masterplan had always been to win this trophy, then why has our second choice goalkeeper played almost every match in the competition? Surely, if that were the case, he would have played David de Gea who, no disrespect to Sergio Romero, is on a different wavelength to any other goalkeeper in the Premier League.

It is unfortunate that Eric Bailly will be suspended for the final. In a game like that you want your best possible team available. Makes you wonder if, with a return to the Champions League at stake, he was tempted to pick de Gea for the final. I certainly would, not because Romero has done anything wrong, he honestly hasn’t. But some of the unbelievable saves de Gea makes could be the difference between us winning it or not. Mourinho has, however, stated that he will select Romero in Stockholm.

In the last three Premier League games, Mourinho will start Bailly, knowing that he can play no part in Stockholm. The centre-back pairing is likely to be Smalling and Jones, so he may alternate partnering them with Bailly in the coming three games. This would be a smart move, as it will get them match fit without tiring them out too much. That said, he may choose to throw Axel Tuanzebe in at the deep end. Youngsters often play without fear, and Tuanzebe certainly showed no nerves against Alexis Sanchez last weekend.

The fact is that now we have seemingly blown our chances of the top four, maybe United will play without fear. It might be a lot more attractive to watch, and we might even score some goals. Either way, the results of our last three Premier League fixtures seems irrelevant.

Completing the Collection

The Europa League is the only official trophy that Manchester United have ever competed for without winning. They have actually only played in it in eight different campaigns before this one. There was a couple of seasons in the late 1980’s where United finished high enough in the league to qualify. These seasons were in 1986-87 and 1988-89, but because English clubs were banned from Europe at that time, they didn’t.

In addition to the fact that a return to the Champions League beckons for the winner, there are two added incentives to lifting this trophy. The first one is that it would mean that United join only a handful of clubs that have won all three of UEFA’s main competitions. Having won Europe’s premier competition on three occasions, they also won the now-extinct Cup Winner’s Cup in 1991. A victory in the Europa League would put them in a category with only four other clubs. Only Bayern Munich, Juventus, Ajax and, most recently, Chelsea have ever achieved this.

Because the Cup Winner’s Cup is now defunct, some of Europe’s biggest clubs can never achieve this feat. Real Madrid, Liverpool and Inter Milan are among those that have lifted the other two trophies, but never won that one. Because it doesn’t exist anymore, they can never join this bracket.

If any further incentive were needed, there is the fact that winning the Europa League would mean that Manchester United would have won every official competition they have ever competed in. No other English club can say that, and Ajax and Juventus are the only other European Clubs to do so. Both of those clubs have won the UEFA Super Cup, which United also won in 1991, as well as the Intercontinental Cup, which has now been replaced by the FIFA Club World Cup.  Neither of them, however, have won it under its current format, whereas United have won it as both (not that we’re boasting of course).

The haters could point out that we haven’t won the Intertoto Cup, but in fairness United never played in that, even before it became an official UEFA competition in 1995. It’s also safe to say that the significance of the actual trophy was about the same as the Football League playoffs, as it served merely as a qualifier for the UEFA Cup. The Anglo-Italian Cup, which we did compete in during the 1970’s, was never an officially sanctioned UEFA tournament.

The point of fact is that, should we win in Stockholm, we will have won every trophy that actually matters.

How United’s Preparations for the Final might affect the Premier League

Even before Manchester United qualified for the Europa League final, José Mourinho made it clear that he would select his teams for the Premier League programme with Europe in mind. And why shouldn’t he?

After away games against Tottenham and Southampton, United’s final fixture is at home to Crystal Palace, who are fighting relegation. With Sunderland and Middlesbrough already relegated, there is one spot in the drop zone left, with Hull and Swansea’s futures still uncertain.

Mourinho’s stance on the situation has led to widespread criticism in some areas, from people who say that United should play their strongest team possible. Apparently this will retain the integrity of the Premier League (please). Sounds like just another excuse to have a go at United from where I’m sitting.

Firstly, any player that Mourinho sends onto the pitch at Old Trafford is representing Manchester United. They are part of the squad, and are paid to play for the club, which means that, at some point, somebody in charge saw fit to offer them a contract. Whether fans of United, or any other club for that matter, think they are good enough is totally irrelevant. If they were not good enough at all, surely Mourinho would have got rid of them in January. And who is to say that whatever side he sends out won’t turn Palace over?

I remember in 2009, Talksport’s Mickey Quinn (never at a loss for negative comments about United) was frothing at the mouth that United played a load of kids against Hull on the final day. Having already won the title, and with a Champions League final to prepare for, they rested key players. If Hull had won, Quinn’s old club Newcastle would be relegated that day, regardless of their result. What happened is that United’s “weakened” team beat Hull, giving Newcastle every chance to stay up, but they lost at Villa. I don’t think Quinn ever mentioned it again after that.

Secondly, why should United, with effectively nothing to play for in the league, risk potential injury to key players ahead of a European final? In order to give clubs like Swansea and Hull a better chance to remain in a division that neither of them have been good enough for all season? Providing the relegation battle hasn’t already been settled come the last game, both of those clubs, and Palace, have already had 37 other chances. Had they collected more points in those fixtures, this argument would never have arose.

The fact is that United owe these clubs nothing, and would they do the same if the situation was reversed? We all know the answer to that. The fact is that Manchester United have a major trophy to play for, and should they win they will return to the Champions League. Their sponsorship deals with both Chevrolet and Adidas are more lucrative to the club when they play in Europe’s top competition. That is before you take into account the financial rewards that come just from competing in the tournament.

Ramifications

Just suppose, for example, that United play Pogba, Rashford and Herrera against Palace, and two of those players get injuries that rule them out of the final. They might be the players that would have won it for them, the difference between winning and losing. If United lose that final as a result, having already achieved a win that sent Palace down, will Hull or Swansea really care that United have blown their ticket back into the Champions League? Again, that answer would be no. They wouldn’t care about United’s fate, so why should we care about theirs?

There has been a lot of talk in recent weeks about clubs fielding so-called “weakened” teams in certain matches, and the uproar has been ridiculous. Earlier this month, Huddersfield Town made ten changes for their Championship game against Birmingham City. Their place in the playoffs was already assured, and Birmingham went on to win the game, eventually staying up. You would think they had committed some kind of crime by the way people reacted to it.

Huddersfield have not seen top flight football since the 1970’s, and have a real chance in the playoffs. It’s not their problem that other clubs find themselves battling the drop. Had it been the old system, where the top three clubs were promoted, Huddersfield’s 5^th place finish would have meant that they had nothing left to play for. As it is, they have the chance to get into the Premier League for the first time, and financial rewards they have never seen before. The fact is that most of the players Huddersfield put out that day played against Manchester City in this season’s F.A. Cup, and ground out a draw against them to earn a replay.

Manchester United will do what is best for them, just like Huddersfield did a few weeks ago. Just like any other club that has got something left to fight for would do. And that’s the way it should be. Whatever problems a club might have will have been caused by the decisions they have made, either in the dressing room or the boardroom. To pin their fate on another team’s selection for one match is just a cheap, lazy excuse to blame another party for their own failings.

Final Thought

It has been a frustrating few years since Fergie left, but most United fans could see this coming a mile off. We all know where the problems we now see at Old Trafford originate from, and that the last two titles we won were probably the most undeserving simply because Ferguson knew how to get us over the line. Despite how poor it’s been at times, United have won both domestic cups in their “transition” period, and have a chance of a European one in less than a fortnight.

When United won the Cup Winner’s Cup in 1991, it served as a springboard to a lot of the success that followed over the next two decades. It allowed him the space to build the club, while giving the players the experience of having won a European final.

Should United be victorious in Stockholm, maybe it will give Mourinho the kind of platform to do the same. Here’s hoping that’s how it turns out.