Manchester United FC: Time To Face The Music

Burnley FC hosted Manchester United FC early Saturday morning. Two seasons ago, a match like this would have held but one predictable outcome for onlookers. Burnley, a side freshly promoted to the Bar...
Manchester United FC: Time To Face The Music
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  • Burnley FC hosted Manchester United FC early Saturday morning. Two seasons ago, a match like this would have held but one predictable outcome for onlookers.

    Burnley, a side freshly promoted to the Barclay’s Premier League, would surely have been schooled at home by the formidable Red Devils.

    Instead, Manchester United’s match ended in a humiliating 0-0 draw.

    The result isn’t merely a humiliation due to the unexpected outcome.

    It’s also disgraceful because it comes on the back of a shocking 4-0 loss to MK Dons, a third tier football team. That result sent Man United crashing out of the Capital One cup.

    This result means that the United team have earned only two points from their first nine of the season.

    They have yet to win a game, and both points were earned through the result of two lackluster performances.

    There is no reason to put off stating the obvious beyond this point:

    Manchester United are in trouble.

    On paper, Manchester United was expected to breeze through their first several games, not really seeing a challenge until they met Everton FC at Old Trafford in October.

    The result has been the complete opposite of all expectations.

    Relegation fodder and third tier teams come at Man United with no fear and no respect, thrashing them at home and embarrassing them away.

    The former champions have been exposed, and new manager Louis Van Gaal has done nothing to pull back the curtain.

    With his stubborn refusal to move on from his darling 3-5-2 formation, he would rather blame the team for a poor result than his own rigid and predictable methods.

    Blame is something to be spread around. Manchester United’s players lack heart and conviction and some shouldn’t even be allowed on the bench.

    And LVG needs to realize that he’s at risk of making a mediocre David Moyes look like a comparative genius.

    Others have pointed out that Van Gaal has never been one to take troubled clubs to the top. One famous is example is that he nearly got FC Barcelona, one of the best football clubs in the world, bounced from Spain’s La Liga!

    His ego is immense, and perhaps Man United’s board mistakenly thought an ego and an iron will would together be enough to fix their many problems.

    Yes, Sir Alex Ferguson had a massive ego and an iron will.

    But he also was a brilliant coach who knew how to get the best from his players while emotionally scarring the rest of the league.

    It was he that constructed Manchester United’s “unbeatable” mythology. And the wall he painstakingly built over two decades has all but crumbled in about two years time.

    If Manchester United doesn’t see the warning signs now and all concerned parties move to address the issue, this season just might be even WORSE for the Red Devils than the shocking result of 2013-2014!

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