The predominant storyline of the season reared its ugly head once again for Manchester United on Saturday. They controlled possession for a massive part of the 90 minutes, provided one moment of excitement, and ultimately dropped points to a far less talented side.
This season has been nothing short of a dull moment on the timeline of a historic club, and one that is considered to be one of the world’s biggest and most popular. They came into the day six points off of fourth-placed Manchester City, and left the match with the same distance, and if City beat Tottenham tomorrow, they will be a fairly large seven points off Champions League qualification with just twelve games left in the season. Previous squads wouldn’t have been worried, but for this bunch it is like climbing the Himalayas in sandals and a tank top.
The whole campaign has had different disappointments coming left and right, and none of them are bigger than any other, as they have all played a role in the mediocrity. The league has been a disappointment, the domestic cup runs have been dull, and crashing out of the Champions League in the group stage has left a nasty taste in the mouths of supporters worldwide.
First, the mediocre season in the league, with all of the poor results and a massive lack of goals, both home and away. They have only picked up a measly two points off of struggling Chelsea, who sit in 12th right now and were, at one point, sitting right above the relegation spots. The manner in which the points were lost, particularly in the away game, is where the excuses become irrelevant.
United have dropped a whopping 22 points against teams below them in the table. Even if the Red Devils had dropped just half those points from losing positions, they would be sitting a single point off Leicester City at the top of the Premier League table.
The league campaign hasn’t been the only point of embarrassment this season, as they weren’t even able to make it out of the group stage of the Champions League, and they only have themselves to blame for that.
They made it through the qualification round and were drawn against PSV Eindhoven, VFL Wolfsburg, and CSKA Moscow, which was seen as a favourable draw and a relatively simple passage through to the Last 16. This wasn’t the case, as they started the group stage with a 2-1 loss in Eindhoven. After a draw in Moscow was sandwiched between home wins over Wolfsburg and CSKA Moscow, they lost their final match away to the German side and crashed out of the competition.
The domestic cups haven’t really given any of the supporters any real reason to forget the past blunders, as they are just adding insult to injury and showing that there is a true lack of drive and hunger in the squad this season. The Capital One Cup only saw United show up for two games, which was a 3-0 win against Ipswich Town, and a loss on penalties to another Championship team, Middlesbrough.
The first match of the FA Cup saw them beat Sheffield United, against whom they were only able to score a single goal, and then the next round saw them have a very average display of football, with a 3-1 win against Derby County. There is a small glimmer of hope that some domestic silverware could end up at Old Trafford this season though, as they face Shrewsbury Town in the next round of the FA Cup, which will hopefully see them into the last eight teams in the competition. But surely this won’t be enough for the supporters who, over the last 25 to 30 years, have grown accustomed to challenging for every trophy on offer.
And finally, the asterisk on an ugly season, that of the Europa League, and the hopes of making it to the Champions League via winning the competition. This is seen by many supporters of many large-money clubs, like that of Manchester United, as a competition not worth wasting time on.
However, when you are in a position like Unite’s, with your chance of making it in via league position unlikely, the target should be set almost solely on the Europa League trophy. Not only will supporters be devastated by a lack of Champions League football, which would be two times in the last four years, but their main sponsor, Adidas, surely won’t settle for this level of mediocrity after the amount of money they have poured into the club.
After dropping out of the Champions League group stage, they have been plopped into the Round of 32 against Danish Superliga club, FC Midtjylland. If there is to be any chance of Louis van Gaal seeing out the final year of his contract, he must ensure that United take this competition seriously and they win the trophy come May.
Manchester United need a miracle to have anything that resembles a successful season. They are running out of time to achieve it.
