So, it’s January 12 and Manchester United don’t have a manager, don’t have European football to look forward to, don’t have any more cup competitions to play for, don’t have any January signings on the horizon, and, perhaps most damning of all, don’t look like they have a plan on or off the pitch.
It feels something of a miracle that European football for next season continues to be something they can play for with 17 games remaining of a season that will be their shortest in 111 years.
A miracle because they have won just 38 per cent of their league matches. A miracle because whoever gets the nod to take this team forward this week is only expected to get it through to the summer to be turfed out for the man they actually want. A miracle because this ‘fragile’ bunch of players often look confused.
That’s what irritated fans most as they filtered out of Old Trafford on Sunday night. As sporting director Jason Wilcox and chief executive Omar Berrada shuffled away with stony faces, confusion seems to be reigning supreme on and off the pitch and fans have little evidence to cling on to that clarity is on the horizon.
‘Really difficult,’ Diogo Dalot said of the week that followed Ruben Amorim‘s sacking.
‘It’s always a period that you have to find ways to solve problems really quickly. We have to adapt and go again.’
Manchester United have got another season that is on the brink of being over in January
United don’t solve problems, though, that’s one of the biggest issues. If anything, United create them.
Make no mistake: Amorim had to be sacked in light of his bombshell press conference after the draw at Leeds.
Those comments calling out the hierarchy, namely Wilcox and Head of Recruitment Christopher Vivell, were calculated and the result was exactly what Amorim would have expected. Weary of interference in his tactics and little support in the transfer window, Amorim exited on his own terms.
Good organisations with sound structure don’t tend to creak, or panic, when chaos hits. The best footballing organisations forever have succession plans should things go awry.
That’s not United no matter how many times the club points to having an ‘expert’ leadership team.
Instead what United have been doing for too long is making it up as they go along, desperately trying to stumble onto a formula that works.
On the pitch it is a mish-mash of ideas.
Against Brighton you had Lisandro Martinez taking corners, Mason Mount playing off the right, and being anonymous in the process. You had Patrick Dorgu at left back with Luke Shaw rotated out of the squad as a rest. In the past three games Dorgu has played right wing (at Leeds), left wing (at Burnley) and left back (vs Brighton).
Here was Kobbie Mainoo starting in the midfield pivot on what was his first Old Trafford start since last May. Ayden Heaven, a recent bright spark, dropped to the bench to give Leny Yoro minutes. What followed was a display devoid of tactics, devoid of ideas and crucially, devoid of belief.
Chief executive Omar Berrada (left) and Jason Wilcox (middle) look devoid of a clear plan
‘The thing for me is there’s still a lot to play for this season and I think if I look at the players and we get players back from injury and AFCON and we get a fuller squad, I think these players have got the ability to qualify in the Champions League place and that should be their objective, that should be their mindset,’ Fletcher said.
‘But they’re gonna have to come together and be part of that as well.
‘It’s not about a manager. It’s not about directors. It’s about everyone and the players have to group together, take responsibility, find a way of improving quickly and taking on the challenge for the rest of the season. Don’t waste the season.’
Look off the pitch too if you want to see goalposts shifting for a muddled strategy.
Over to Portugal Berrada went, sent with a plan to convince Amorim to join and bring with him his philosophy which had delivered multiple league titles in Portugal. Sold the world, he arrived.
Then the appetite changed. Back three football was no longer palatable to Berrada, Wilcox and minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe. Interference escalated. Amorim went.
Now the plan is to switch to a back four with a squad that does not have sufficient wingers, particularly down the left.
And add to that, this time around there is no plan to make a permanent appointment mid-season, something that was top of the priority list for Ineos once Erik ten Hag got the boot. Sooner you arrive, the earlier your audit can start, Amorim was told.
Now it’s arrive in the summer and you must have Premier League experience.
Darren Fletcher (left) had to pick up the pieces for two games after Ruben Amorim was sacked
Sources at the club talk about this ‘expert’ leadership team operating at the very highest level and that they are not planning to waiver on the head coach versus sporting director model. And yet there will be continual links between now and the summer to the most elite managers in the world like Thomas Tuchel, Luis Enrique and Carlo Ancelotti.
Fletcher is right that the season is not totally lost yet, not with Champions League qualification still there for the taking.
An interim head coach will bring excitement – at least for a day or two – before the reality sets in that this muddled up team, made up with 12 ten Hag signings, seven of Amorim’s, five from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, one from Jose Mourinho, and one from Louis van Gaal, has to face title challengers Manchester City and Arsenal in back to back weeks.
Then reality will hit in in time for the organised protest against Sir Jim Ratcliffe, Ineos and the Glazers pre-Fulham.
Under Ineos, United backed then sacked Ten Hag, appointed then sacked Ashworth, appointed then sacked Amorim, oversaw the club’s worst results in over 50 seasons and are now looking at the the shortest season in over 100 seasons.
Spent around £450million on players without establishing the ‘game model’ THEY said they would establish between themselves. Picked a caretaker and replacing with an interim, and all of this done in less than two years.
What’s the plan? And more to the point, where is the evidence that fans can point to to believe those in positions of power are capable of fixing a mess they are have done plenty to create?
