The long-awaited arrival of the Dutch manager, Erik ten Hag, didn’t bring any changes so far. United played a few solid preseason games, but the loss at home to Brighton, 1-2, brought back despair and anger among the fans.
United was the absolute favorite against the Seagulls, and its win was among the top Premier League picks, according to the bookmakers. Though, the Red Devils once again showed their dark side, starting the new EPL campaign in the worst possible way.
The situation in the locker room isn’t good at all. Cristiano Ronaldo isn’t willing to play for a team whose goal isn’t to win trophies. At the moment, United is officially in the process of rebuilding, and they aren’t aiming to win either the Premier League or the Europa League title.
On the other hand, Ronaldo doesn’t have too much time left to play at the top level and wants to add a few more pieces of silverware to his collection. Primarily, the Portuguese want to win the UEFA Champions League, and he can’t do that with Manchester. As for the domestic crown, the Premier League predictions don’t see United anywhere near the title race.
So, the team and Ronaldo are in limbo now, with the player being unhappy and refusing to do certain things, which forces Ten Hag to, for example, leave the player on the bench. On the other hand, Ronaldo is indispensable to the team, and they can’t make good results without him. All in all, the situation is terrible at United.
One other problem for this unit is Harry Maguire. United’s captain is definitely not a player for this unit. We’ve seen several systems on the field during his tenure, and neither suited the center-back. As time passed by, Maguire, who is an excellent player, began losing his self-esteem for various reasons.
While his performances in the English national team look good and are on a high level, Maguire is terrible in United. The pressure of the fans and the media, the constant await for his mistake, and in the end, his collapse, which frequently happens on the field, is a pattern that became frequent.
Despite what many believe, it is best for Maguire to leave United, but apparently, the management doesn’t want to admit the mistake with the former Leicester player and move on from him. He was paired with several players in the back line, and none of them suited, proving that the problem lies in him, not others.
Though, Maguire isn’t United’s only delusion. Over the last year and a half, the number of Marcus Rashford’s critics more than doubled. Once a great talent is slowly becoming a massive bust. Instead of leading this team to glory, Rashford became one of the symbols of United’s failures.
His finishing skills deteriorated, he is often looking lost on the field, and although he has every credit among the fans and the management, the young forward doesn’t justify that in any way.
We are pretty sure that Ten Hag wants to give all the players one chance before he starts making radical moves. The Dutch manager already brought several players and will probably add a few more, but his true changes haven’t begun yet. Some of the veterans inside the club definitely don’t deserve to be at Old Trafford, so we expect a very active and turbulent winter transfer window.
Ten Hag is a manager that prefers a completely different style of play than the one United had in the past. Maguire and Rashford are the symbols of that old approach, the relics of the past, and if something positive doesn’t happen in the meantime, they will be transferred to another team.
Premier League predictions today aren’t favorable for the Red Devils, they aren’t among the top five teams in the league, and that’s something the fans weren’t accustomed to. Time is ticking for many players, and the upcoming few weeks might be their last chance to redeem.
