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The Dysfunctional Red Devils

Writer's picture: Tristan FiguerasTristan Figueras

Updated: Apr 8, 2022

Good day, and thank you for joining me on Early Doors Football.


Today, we are going to take a deep dive into Manchester United. Simply put, the Red Devils have never been the same since Sir Alex Ferguson retired at the end of the 2012-2013 season. Despite multiple coaching changes and many signings, nothing has clicked. The issues are so plentiful that, for the sake of time, I am going to focus solely on the time since Ole Gunnar Soljskær took charge. While they have finished in the Champions League places and made a run to the Europa League Final, they have still drastically underachieved considering the squad they have. While they had these minor “accomplishments” (if you can even call them that), the football was abysmal the entire time. This is something that falls on Ole, the players, and the board, and is something I have a lot to say about.


While there are plentiful problems on the pitch and in the technical area, problems begin right at the top with the way the club is run. Because of this, the article will be broken down into three main sections: The ownership issues, the coaching issues, and the on-the-pitch issues. Ownership issues trickle down and lead to many other problems, so these sections will undoubtedly be cross referenced. So, with all of that said and done, let us dissect the issues at Manchester United.


It Starts at the Top: Ownership Issues

Currently, the Glazer family own Manchester United. The late Malcolm Glazer took control of the club in 2005, and when he passed, his controlling stake was split between all six of his children. While I will move onto the children soon, as they are the current owners, it is important to look at how Malcolm Glazer purchased the club. Malcolm took out loans to purchase his majority stake (despite being worth hundreds of millions of dollars), so when he completed the takeover, the club was burdened with roughly £500 million of debt. The Red Devils had no debt before this, so this method of purchase infuriated the supporters of the club. This frustration from the fans has grown over the years, as the Glazer’s pull money from the club, with minimal investment (for a club of the stature of United). Because of this, the debt has only risen, which has limited signings over the past few years.

What signings do occur have been largely disappointing, I think it is fair to say. This is where the polarizing figure of Ed Woodward steps into play. He is essentially the Chief Executive Officer, and plays a questionably large role in bringing in players. While he has secured some positive signings as of late, such as Raphael Varane and Bruno Fernandes, there have been many windows in which he has been woefully useless. The past few transfer windows, he has repeatedly failed to fix the problem they have in center-defensive midfield, and has put off signing a key striker by signing short term players such as Edison Cavani and Cristiano Ronaldo. Do not take this as me saying they were bad signings, adding these two to any team is a massive positive, but there will be a void in that position once these aging players begin to decline in form. The previously-mentioned problem of center-defensive midfield is far more prevalent in my view.

Fred and Scott McTominay are not bad players, despite what I will say shortly. Both are quality when played in the right system, and have actually improved (albeit sporadically) under the new manager Ralf Ragnick. However, these two played together as a true pair of holding midfielders are utterly useless. I will go into more detail in the “Problems on the Pitch” portion of this article. My point is, just about anyone who knows anything about football knows United needs an addition to their midfield, and yet one has not come.

While the owners have certainly spent money, I do not think they have spent it well. According to the CIES Football Observatory, Manchester United’s squad is valued at over €1 billion, which makes it the second most expensive squad in the world, behind cross town rivals Manchester City. Despite this, they have not won a trophy since the 2016/17 Europa League. Over the recent years, hundreds of millions of dollars have been poured into the squad. While it is far from perfect, most people agree it has enough substance to win a trophy like the FA Cup. This is where the spotlight shifts onto Ole Gunnar Soljskær. While he is a product of the board’s incompetence, it is still crucial to look at his shortcomings, and how they led to more mediocrity.



“It’s passion, it’s desire”: Issues in the Technical Area

I would like to take a brief moment to say that Ole Gunnar Soljskær is genuinely one of the nicest people in football. It is not my goal to tear him down, as I do think he could be a good manager with a few tweaks to his philosophy, but unfortunately jumping into the United job exposed some of his shortcomings.

Ole Gunnar Soljskær arrived in December 2018 as the interim manager to replace Jose Mourinho. At this point, he had essentially no top level managerial experience, and got the job off of his playing career with the club. Now this is not uncommon, and I actually think it was not a terrible appointment in the short term. They needed someone to come in and cheer everyone up, someone who could get the dressing room in good spirits and take things back to the basics. Soljskær did precisely that. United went undefeated in the next 11 Premier League fixtures after his appointment, which earned him the full-time job. Rather than waiting until the end of the season to assess, the board offered Ole a three year contract in the middle of the season. This proved to be a poor decision. In the following season, they were rooted outside the Champions League places until they went on a late 14 game unbeaten run to sneak into third place. His second season showed more promise, but the team still lacked an identity. The season may have been considered a success had they won the Europa League, however, they fell in the Final, after a nail-biting penalty shootout against Villareal.

It became evident over time that he was out of his depth, but the results truthfully said otherwise. You could watch the game, be shocked by the poor performance, yet United would win. As a Chelsea fan, this was painful to watch, but it raises the question, “Are results the only thing that matter?”. I do think the answer to this question lies in a gray area, but what I will say is that poor performances often show underlying issues. United simply did not control the games they played, but it appeared as though that was the goal. It was genuinely difficult to assess, pundits and fans alike could not decipher the tactics. For me, what sealed my opinion of Ole and his ability came from a damning quote from Soljskær himself, which was posted by journalist Duncan Castles. When asked about his coaching philosophy and tactics, Ole stated “Sometimes we look too much into all the intricacies. It’s passion, it’s desire…”. Should passion and desire be a part of football? Yes, of course! In fact, they are a crucial part of the game. Is that a tactic? Absolutely not, and it’s one of the most absurd things I have seen said by a manager. At any level of professional football, these two pillars are a requirement, not something you deploy as a tactic in a match. I do not need Ole to spew out a novel about his coaching philosophy full of analytics and data, but this statement gave the public a peak into one of Soljskær shortcomings, his lack of tactical awareness.

This season is when the wheels fell off the bus. After going 7 matches with only 1 win, Soljskær was sacked. There were signals well before this run that the Norwegian was out of his depth, but United’s worst fears were realized during this run. Because Ole’s “tactics” and player selection are so intertwined, we will now take a look at what was actually occurring on the pitch.


Square Pegs in Round Holes: Problems on the Pitch

In terms of formation, Ole tended to play a 4-2-3-1 when possible. As mentioned already, tactics changed from game to game or were nonexistent to begin with. After slating Ole, what I will say is that I do not think any manager could have done anything spectacular with the squad they have, despite its value. As I mentioned, Ed Woodward and the board were always reluctant to add a center-defensive midfielder to the fold, despite the shortcomings of Fred and McTominay. In my opinion, United would improve significantly if they signed a top-class holding midfielder, and they will certainly have a wide range of options over the summer. What was particularly odd to me, is that there was an option on the bench to switch things up. Donny Van de Beek came in after a stunning season at Ajax, but was completely underutilized. I would have liked to see him slot in next to Fred, as I think it could have worked quite well. Fred is in a very high percentile for defensive statistics such as pressures, blocks, and interceptions, which suggests he could have done a job in proper midfield pairing (stats from FBref). Van de Beek was extremely promising on the ball at Ajax, so I think he would have complemented Fred nicely. My bigger problem is that he simply wasn’t given a chance. He played only 511 minutes in the Premier League season (2020/21, Transfermarkt), so we are left to wonder if he would actually work well in the United midfield.

A similar conundrum to Fred and McTominay was occurring at the center of defense last season. Harry Maguire and Victor Lindelöf were the usual defensive pairing under Ole, until Varane arrived this summer. Maguire and Lindelöf did not have complementing skill sets, or as Gary Neville put it, “they are each other's problem”. Yet again, there was a potential solution on the bench. Eric Bailly was certainly a player who could have slotted in next to Maguire, and we did see that on occasion. Bailly’s pace allowed United to play a higher line, which worked well in my opinion. We only saw this on the odd occasion, despite the pair being promising.

Many people suggested that the lack of changes in these positions spawned from Ole’s favoritism, and to me it appeared that way. He continued to stick with players who fit the mold of his “passion and desire” tactic, even if it meant the team lacked key characteristics. Since the arrival of Ralf Ragnick, it is clear that he has a gameplan. It is difficult to tell how it will pan out, however this is already an improvement. Performances have been quite volatile as of late, but I do think that, with the cooperation of the board, United could form into a formidable side.


What does the Future Hold?

Of course, the current landscape at Manchester United has changed. Ed Woodward will be gone on February 1st, and Ralf Ragnick has been brought in as the interim manager. While I do have an opinion on these changes, I feel it is still a little premature to take an in-depth look. Over the coming weeks and months, we will see more of how United look under Ragnick, which will give us a better understanding of how the following seasons may look. I will say, I think Ragnick is a very good appointment, given the fact that he will be involved in a consultancy role after this season. Hypothetically, this should work out very well, but as we have seen, United do not always do what is best for themselves. Far too often, non-footballing people play too large of a role in footballing decisions, so if this continues to happen, Ralf Ragnick’s presence will be pointless. If they truly do listen to his guidance, I think United have a very bright future ahead.


 

So, I have made my thoughts known, but do you agree? Feel free to reach out in an email, comment, or DM and let me know what you think! Thank you all for joining me again today, and make sure to check out the Premier League Predictions article if you have not already!




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