Over the last few months, reality has slowly hit us. United are a mess.
We aren't close to challenging Liverpool and City, Chelsea have overtaken us, and the likes of Arsenal and Tottenham have bridged the gap.
We are inbetween management, we have a bloated and unhappy squad, and a fanbase left in dismay and confusion.
United keep doing the same things and repeating the same mistakes, so where do we go from here?. I think it's time to accept that as we stand, we cannot move forward without major changes.
The squad needs a complete overhaul, It's far too bloated.
Ideally the new manager should be in place to decide who they could use - but frankly I think a clean slate with space and a bigger budget to shape it how they want is better.
Most of these players have already had a chance to prove themselves and failed to do that, so I don't see why they should get another shot.
The likes of Pogba, Cavani, Lingard, Mata, Martial will be gone permanently, so that's a bit of breathing room already. We then have the next batch of Matic, Henderson, Jones, Bailly, DVB who could all leave. I think some loans for Henderson/DVB would be better and let the new manager decide on them.
Personally for me we have some very exciting youth players that SHOULD be hungry and ready to prove themselves. Elanga, Amad, Mejbri are ready to take part right now, with Laird perhaps ready next year.
If we are trying to play a more energetic pressing game, we need young and more importantly athletic players. Star names like Ronaldo should be a thing of the past if the cannot fit into what we aim to do as a team.
We may be stuck with him over the next 2 years, I hope he can keep his goal return high otherwise things could get very difficult. He's already showing big signs of regression, and deep down I don't think he's playing at a high enough level to warrant keeping him in the starting 11. A big decision will need to be made. How can you aim to play pressing, high energy football with a 37 year old leading it?
We need to start walking before we can run.
When the new manager arrives, the first thing we need to nail is the style of play. This might take a while and results could be poor to start with, but we must remain patient. Too often we seem to abandon what we should be doing just to get short term results.
This might mean we aren't competitive in the first year, but as long as it bears fruit long term, that's what matters. I genuinely think that results will naturally flow once we are playing as a unit. You often seen smaller teams than us like Brighton playing fantastic football, but lacking the quality. There's no reason we should not have both.
Stop handing out insane wages to players who aren't worthy. Start being more cut throat.
Players at United feel far too safe. Too often it's easy street here, the players become 'family' and they are here for the long haul.
We give them huge wages so nobody else will take them, and they run their contracts down. Lingard is the perfect example of this. Build up as a homegrown hero, given 200k a week and then barely good enough to get into the side.
Cannot be sold as he won't lower his wage demands, and the club management won't let him leave for a lower fee to compensate.
In the future I hope we can finally get these decisions correct. Under Rangnick and the new manager we need to rebuild properly, but I think we need to completely demolish what we have to be able to move forward.
We aren't close to challenging Liverpool and City, Chelsea have overtaken us, and the likes of Arsenal and Tottenham have bridged the gap.
We are inbetween management, we have a bloated and unhappy squad, and a fanbase left in dismay and confusion.
United keep doing the same things and repeating the same mistakes, so where do we go from here?. I think it's time to accept that as we stand, we cannot move forward without major changes.
The squad needs a complete overhaul, It's far too bloated.
Ideally the new manager should be in place to decide who they could use - but frankly I think a clean slate with space and a bigger budget to shape it how they want is better.
Most of these players have already had a chance to prove themselves and failed to do that, so I don't see why they should get another shot.
The likes of Pogba, Cavani, Lingard, Mata, Martial will be gone permanently, so that's a bit of breathing room already. We then have the next batch of Matic, Henderson, Jones, Bailly, DVB who could all leave. I think some loans for Henderson/DVB would be better and let the new manager decide on them.
Personally for me we have some very exciting youth players that SHOULD be hungry and ready to prove themselves. Elanga, Amad, Mejbri are ready to take part right now, with Laird perhaps ready next year.
If we are trying to play a more energetic pressing game, we need young and more importantly athletic players. Star names like Ronaldo should be a thing of the past if the cannot fit into what we aim to do as a team.
We may be stuck with him over the next 2 years, I hope he can keep his goal return high otherwise things could get very difficult. He's already showing big signs of regression, and deep down I don't think he's playing at a high enough level to warrant keeping him in the starting 11. A big decision will need to be made. How can you aim to play pressing, high energy football with a 37 year old leading it?
We need to start walking before we can run.
When the new manager arrives, the first thing we need to nail is the style of play. This might take a while and results could be poor to start with, but we must remain patient. Too often we seem to abandon what we should be doing just to get short term results.
This might mean we aren't competitive in the first year, but as long as it bears fruit long term, that's what matters. I genuinely think that results will naturally flow once we are playing as a unit. You often seen smaller teams than us like Brighton playing fantastic football, but lacking the quality. There's no reason we should not have both.
Stop handing out insane wages to players who aren't worthy. Start being more cut throat.
Players at United feel far too safe. Too often it's easy street here, the players become 'family' and they are here for the long haul.
We give them huge wages so nobody else will take them, and they run their contracts down. Lingard is the perfect example of this. Build up as a homegrown hero, given 200k a week and then barely good enough to get into the side.
Cannot be sold as he won't lower his wage demands, and the club management won't let him leave for a lower fee to compensate.
In the future I hope we can finally get these decisions correct. Under Rangnick and the new manager we need to rebuild properly, but I think we need to completely demolish what we have to be able to move forward.