What can I say, I’m a fan after all. Ever since winning the Carabao Cup, Man United has essentially fallen off the cliff as the team has won just six of its last ten games and has been humiliated multiple times.
Yeah, I’m really regretting writing that post after the Carabao Cup win in light of everything that has transpired since that great day.
Like I said, ever since this Manchester United side broke the club’s 6-year trophy drought with that 2-0 win over Newcastle United, the team has gone on to drop eight points in the Premier League (2 losses, 1 draw), dropped from comfortably being in 3rd to hanging on in 4th place, barely squeaked by West Ham (2-1) and Fulham (3-1) in the FA Cup, and just gave up a 2-goal lead in the final 10 minutes against 13th placed Sevilla (in La Liga) at home in the Europa League.
Oh, and those two losses in the Premier League were absolute blowouts as Liverpool spanked United 7-0, while Newcastle United bullied Man United off the park with a 2-0 victory to avenge their Carabao Cup loss. So, in the span of about two months, Man United’s season has been completely turned on its head.
It’s no longer a certainty United (56 PTS; +7 GD) will finish within the Top-4 as Newcastle is currently above them on GD (56 PTS; +27 GD) and Spurs are only 3 points behind in 5th place (53 PTS; +13 GD), while winning the Europa League and FA Cup now seems to be a longshot with the injuries that happened last night.
“What injuries were those?” one who did not catch the game against Sevilla is probably thinking right now. Well, both Lisandro Martinez, who fractured a metatarsal bone in his foot, and Raphael Varane, who went off with a foot injury early in the second half, will be out for the rest of the season and a few weeks, respectively.
How wonderful, right? Oh, it’s gets better as their replacements are…Harry Maguire and Victor Lindelof.
Now, I’d be worried about reuniting the center-back partnership of Harry Maguire, who scored the game-tying OG goal for Sevilla yesterday, and Victor Lindelof, who was responsible for the 2nd Newcastle goal in his last appearance, on the best of days, but having it happen during this stretch is literal every United’s fans worst nightmare.
These two might be the very worst center-back partners in the history of the Premier League as they not only are both slow, lethargic, and dreadful readers of the game (well, Lindelof is somewhat passable in that category), but they also have a really bad tendency of shirking when the spotlight gets brightest. I mean, there’s a reason why both Maguire and Lindelof were phased out for Martinez and Varane in the first place!
However, with United in a terrible slump of form and key games against Sevilla (Europa League), Tottenham, Nottingham Forest, and Brighton (FA Cup) coming up, I’m really nervous United might blow their entire season in the span of two weeks.
Winning each one of these games is vital as beating Brighton would book a place in the FA Cup Final, beating Sevilla would book a place in the Europa League Semi-Finals, and adding wins against Tottenham and Forrest would help to cement United’s place within the Top-4.
Yet, over the last few months, this team has folded worse than a cheap lawn chair during the biggest moments (ex: Liverpool, Newcastle, Sevilla), so I have absolutely no confidence this group will be able to overcome these teams without Martinez and Varane in defense, Casemiro in midfield, and Marcus Rashford up top.
Oh, yeah, I forget to mention that Casemiro is still serving his 3-match ban against Southampton and Marcus Rashford will be out for a few weeks with the groin injury he suffered against Everton.
The impact of the Ten Hag revolution may have been a little overblown by the media a few weeks ago (and I hold my hands up for being the chief proponent), but I still believe he is the right manager to set United onto a winning course.
Unfortunately, most of his key players are going to be out in the most crucial moment of the season…leaving him to have to use the very same players that got the last four managers sacked.
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