Ultimate United
City Guard of Honour may be a Good Thing 17 Feb 2018 15:31
As we approach the business end of the 2017-18 season, Ultimate United looks at how the possibility of giving neighbours Manchester City a guard of honour in April might have a positive effect.
By Philip Meese, Chief Editor
The Premier League title race has been over since before Christmas, if we’re honest. When Manchester City won 2-1 at Old Trafford, José Mourinho admitted his side’s title hopes were as good as over. That defeat left Manchester United nine points behind their cross town rivals, with an inferior goal difference. City have since extended it to 16.
A season that started out with so much promise is in danger of fizzling out to become one to forget for United fans. It’s strange to say that, considering the clubs poor performance in the Premier League since Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013. Statistically, this has been an improvement on any campaign in the last five years. The club are currently second in the table, with a better defensive record than anyone in the Premier League. In spite of this, a top four finish is by no means a certainty.
While United, Chelsea, Tottenham, Liverpool and maybe Arsenal fight it out just to be playing Champions League football, City continue to march unchallenged towards the title. As painful as this may be to admit, nobody can say they won’t be worthy champions. United play City at the Etihad on April 7th, by which time Pep Guardiola’s side might very well have won the title. If that happens, the Red Devils might have to form a guard of honour, and applaud their rivals onto the pitch. If that happens, it will serve them right.
A Different Level
In 2014, David Moyes said that United needed to get to City’s level, it didn’t go down too well with the Stretford End faithful. This was no surprise given that United were defending champions at the time, and had a squad full of accomplished, though ageing, stars. It just seemed like yet another excuse from a man who was totally out of his depth.
This is not like then, and the United squad today features hardly any of the players who won trophy after trophy at Old Trafford. Other than Michael Carrick, every player who was there when United last won the title was brought in during the last few years of Fergusons reign, when he was literally papering over the cracks, rather than rebuilding the squad.
Many have said that if City hadn’t had such a storming season so far, United would be in a title race. Maybe they would, but does anyone think this group of players has the winning mentality to see that through to the finish? There is no doubt that United have a squad full of talented players, but they don’t always play as a team. There are too many showboaters, too many prima donna’s, and the fans are sick of it.
City, on the other hand, do play as a team. This is the mind-set that Guardiola has instilled into their squad. People have pointed to the amount that he has spent since arriving in 2016, but the reality is that most of his best players this season were already at the Etihad when he arrived. Fernandinho, David Silva, Kevin De Bruyne, Raheem Sterling and Sergio Agüero were all brought in by his predecessors. Guardiola has just gotten a different tune out of them, especially Sterling.
Comparing Managers
Both Mourinho and Guardiola arrived in Manchester in the summer of 2016, and both would have had a similar message from their respective chairmen. The task would have been to take their club to the pinnacle of English, and European, football. Nobody can deny that Guardiola had less distance to travel in this respect. City had won the title two years previously, and although they had underachieved since then, they still had the better squad.
Mourinho, on the other hand, walked into a squad full of players, many of whom were not fit to wear the shirt. This would be true of players such as Matteo Darmian, Memphis Depay and Morgan Schneiderlin. It seemed as though very little research had been done prior to buying them. Bastian Schweinsteiger, for example, was a fantastic player but was past the age of 30 and had well documented injury problems at the time. Why would Bayern Munich let such a player go, a World Cup winner no less, for around £6.5 million? Alarm bells should have been ringing right there.
After his first season, Guardiola looked at what needed improving in his squad, and spent a lot of money improving his entire backline. He has since brought in one goalkeeper, one centre back and three full backs. Mourinho, also not shy to get the chequebook out, still has work to do to address the balance of this team. Both defence and midfield still look in need of reinforcements, especially as the club look set to lose both Carrick and Marouane Fellaini this summer.
Assuming that Mourinho is still manager next season, and he probably will be unless United finish outside of the top four, he needs to get this balance right. He still hasn’t figured out how to get the best out of Paul Pogba on a regular basis. One thing is for certain, playing him as a defensive midfielder isn’t the answer, that’s not the position we bought him for. You might as well put Alexis Sánchez there.
The same could be said of the full-back situation. Antonio Valencia has done a good job since converting to a right-back, but is there really no better options out there? Maybe someone who isn’t afraid to cross the ball? Ditto Ashley Young, especially when in Luke Shaw we have a young left-back who is still to be given a proper run under Mourinho, despite looking in great form when he has played lately.
During his first two seasons, Mourinho could be forgiven for claiming that United is still a work in progress. Players who are surplus to requirements have had to be eased out slowly, just as new signings have had to be integrated into the team piece by piece. From next season, there will be no excuses if the team he is building doesn’t at least look like it might challenge for the top honours in the future.
There are plenty of players in the current United squad who many fans deem to be not good enough. Mourinho himself probably knows who these players are, and probably has done from day one. Those players should not be around next term, and neither should any complaints about not having a strong enough squad. Next season, this won’t be somebody else’s team; it will be Mourinho’s.
Spice Boys of the Modern Era?
Remember the Liverpool team of the late 1990’s, that the media nicknamed the “Spice Boys”? Players like Steve McManaman, Jamie Redknapp, Robbie Fowler and Jason McAteer, among others, were talented, yet underachieving, footballers back then. All of them internationals, loving the life of being in the spotlight for one of the biggest clubs in Europe. The issue was that, despite being in the glossy magazines, and having thousands of female fans, this group of players won absolutely nothing. In fact they never even put up a fight for the title, at least, not a serious one. Sound familiar?
The difference between United’s current crop and Liverpool’s is that Mourinho has already won two trophies. The manager himself is a serial winner, but the squad don’t look like threatening to challenge for the big prizes anytime soon. These are the prizes that one of the world’s biggest clubs should always be competing for. It seems that things like putting their latest haircuts on their social media account, and testing out their latest goal celebration are more important than putting that extra effort in.
While the Liverpool players of that era were focusing on marketing themselves, the United team were more interested in becoming winners. This seems very similar to what City are doing now – focusing on the job in hand, while the neighbours practise their dabbing skills. Next time United reach a cup final, if they are wearing cream coloured Armani suits before the game, we’ll know the transition has been completed.
Guard of Honour – or Worse
When the Manchester Derby takes place at the Etihad on April the 7th, it is probably going to be uncomfortable viewing for many reds around the world. If City keep winning, and there is no reason to assume that they will give up that habit anytime soon, United’s players could end up having to applaud their neighbours onto the pitch.
This should be the ultimate humiliation for anyone associated with United. For over five years, the Red Devils haven’t even been the best club in Manchester, let alone the Premier League. Even on the rare occasion when we have beaten them in the last five years, the result has meant little more than local pride. City still always finished above us.
Maybe clapping their city rivals onto the pitch will give United’s players a long overdue kick up the backside. It might make the penny drop that they are looking at a team of winners, and maybe force them to up their game. Don’t hold your breath, though. Whether they win or lose, each player still takes home a pay check of hundreds of thousands of pounds at the end of the month.
There is another possibility, of course. City could go into that game only needing a win, or even a draw, to secure the title. They could literally do that in front of their home fans, against their hated rivals. Given how they always raise their game against us, it is almost impossible to imagine them not getting the result they needed, if that were the case. It’s probably hard to say which one would be most appealing for Blues fans, and most painful for United’s. Either way, they will be looking at what they could have won, and they will have it rammed down their throats by a team of winners.
Final Thought
City could very well go one better than United’s best achievement this season. They are currently one of the best teams in Europe, if not the best already. If they do win the Quadruple of Premier League, F.A. Cup, EFL Cup and Champions League, nobody will be able to say they don’t deserve it.
If this was to happen it will devastate United’s fans, no doubt about that. The question is whether it will hurt the players significantly enough to make them raise their game next season. Based on the attitudes we have seen from most of them, the jury is very much out. But if applauding Guardiola’s newly crowned champions doesn’t inspire this group of players to step up a gear and make the most of their talents, nothing will.
20 or less: Name that player