All big clubs have such pressure on them. It's not exclusive for United and a key factor to be successful at a big club, either player or a manager, is to handle pressure and expect that your performance will be micro analyzed and you are expected to deliver both results and performance. Those who can't handle such pressure at big clubs end up failing. That's the difference between a top tier player and a weak mentally one. I don't get why you think this is exclusive for United only.
No not all the big clubs have the same pressure on them, United are one biggest clubs in the world, City, Spurs, Arsenal even Liverpool don't really come close on a global level. You are the victims of your own history, Busby Babes, Munich, Class of 92, the 99 cup final, total dominance for 20 odd years - noone else even comes close to this, it makes the decay over the last 6 years a massive focus for all football fans and the pressure on Utd to succeed far bigger than that on Chelsea, Arsenal etc
4th spot and CL qualification is the bare minimum you can expect from your manager or squad in a big Premier League tea. . You don't get it then it is a failure of a season. That's not even putting much pressure on the manager. It's the bare minimum you can expect from them. Expecting anything lower than that and you will begin your descent to become a midtable club. It always starts like that. Being fine for your club to finish 8th in one season is just paving the road to start accepting it later on.
This is just not the case over same time period clubs rise and fall, you are the only premiership club that has stayed a big club for such a long time, the only other club that could possibly claim the same is Arsenal, but your trophy count tells a different story. So yes 4th spot might be bare minimum when your a top PL team, but who stays a top PL team for ever, teams often drop away from that but the good ones bounce back come together and bounce back.
Anyway regardless from the results point, the criticism is even harsher because the manager has showed absolutely nothing remotely close to applying a clear style on the pitch that looks like a work on progress and is just missing key signings to finally click. We are 3 months away from completing a full year of him in charge and the team is still playing zombie football, look totally clueless when we have possession, can't build up a proper team play goals, relies on individual skills and pens to score and struggle to score one goal a game even against trash like Astana and League One side in League Cup. Bar Chelsea game, we struggled in literally every game this season.
This is subjective and looking in from the outside I totally disagree. Compared to where you were this time last year, you have a clear style on the pitch and in your transfer dealings, something that Mourinho despite all his experience never seemed to manage. Your team is settled the style is settled. You've improved your defence massively in one transfer window, you need a couple more at least to do that with the rest of the team and yes you've had some shitty games, West Ham this season and Everton last season, but to say you've struggled in every single game, just isn't true from what I've watched. You've been up and down and yes made some silly mistakes, but clueless, struggling and outplayed? I dont think so, but like I said it is subjective
Even the youth myth thing isn't right. They are barely getting chances in league games and are only thrown in cup games even with some senior players in their position obviously underperforming (like Lingard).
Literally you can't watch a match for United and think "yeah there's clear ideas being applied there but need more time to be polished and maybe a player here or there to make it click but it's a matter of time". You get the totally opposite idea. The team hasn't improved a single inch from football aspect and that's more concerning than even the terrible results.
Youth are getting plenty of chances, compared to last year, and given what ive said about pressure maybe too much. James should no way be the focus of all your attacking hopes, either should Rashford. Martial and Pogba yes and that's why I said in the original post if you want to look at something going wrong I'd ask why you get so many injuries and why they always take an age to come back.
I do watch United and think there's a clear idea here and with 3,-4 extra players bought over 18 months I can see it clicking, your football has definitely changed in the last 12 months and continues to change.
As I always said patience is fine in football when and only when there's basis on it, either the results are improving or there's an obvious style being implemented on the pitch but lacks few more things. However, patience for just the sake of it isn't going to end in any positive manner. A clueless, terribly coached team for about a year isn't going to miraculously turn great and play breathtaking football under the same manager. I don't remember the last time this happened, as far as I'm concerned.
This just reads like we can be patient when we're winning!
