Most of the rumors this January were swirling around the "Manchester United" club, which was linked both to active player hunting and to the possibility of changing the team's manager. However, February came, and "Manchester United" made no changes and took no action to change the current situation. "Eurofootball.com" presents five questions that arise when looking at the actions of the "United" team in January.
Why did the team not strengthen during this transfer window?
James Rodriguez, Felipe Anderson, Sadio Mane, Moussa Dembele, Renato Sanches, Edinson Cavani, Islam Slimani, or Ryan Bertrand. All these players were mentioned in the media as players for whom "United" had submitted or were considering submitting offers. How many players did the team add this January? None.
Without a doubt, the press always comes up with highly unlikely rumors, which announce offers from "United" for players like Neymar or Gareth Bale, who only the most naive fans of the club could think about acquiring. Nevertheless, there is no doubt that at least a few of the aforementioned players were definitely attempted to be acquired by "United". Louis van Gaal mentioned several times that reinforcement was being sought in the attacking line, and as January was nearing its end and Ashley Young suffered an injury, the team simply had to look for a full-back. However, none of these positions were reinforced.
Why did the team fail to acquire any players? There can be two main reasons. Firstly, under Van Gaal's management, "United" managed to create a reputation of overpaying for players. Training under the Dutchman, the "Red Devils" repeatedly paid thirty million euros or even higher amounts for players like Ander Herrera, Memphis Depay, or Anthony Martial, so it is naive to expect that the clubs that "United" tried to negotiate with did not notice this and did not try to artificially inflate the prices of their players. Does the Manchester team have enough finances to continue throwing huge sums of money to acquire the players the coach desires? Certainly. However, another reason why "Manchester United" may not have acquired any new players is the dissatisfaction of the club's managers with the utilization of the high-cost players they had already acquired. Depay, who cost 27.5 million euros, often spends more time on the bench than on the field, while Herrera, who cost 36 million euros last year, finds himself in the starting lineup less frequently. If the club's leaders decided not to waste huge sums on players who had not yet proven their worth, such a step is certainly not incomprehensible.
How is the team committed to solving the problem of attacking players?
It should be noted that there were some changes in the Manchester United team's attacking line. The team recalled Will Keane from the Championship and loaned Nick Powell from the second highest division in England. By the way, the same Nick Powell who was brought on as a sub instead of Juan Mata 21 minutes before the end of the match against Wolfsburg, to save Manchester United in the Champions League.
What do we need to know about Keane? He has played for five minutes in the Premier League, and this year, in 20 matches representing Preston North End, he scored one goal. Since his return to United, he has not been registered for a single match, spending his time representing the under-21 team, which says a lot.
In January, Manchester United's attack was not as bad - in five Premier League matches they scored nine goals. Up to the new year, they scored just 1.16 times per match, so almost two goals per game is a significant step forward. During this period, Wayne Rooney scored five times - 2.5 times more than in the first eighteen rounds of the Premier League. However, it is naive to expect that the 30-year-old Englishman will play as productively for the rest of the season, and the other two players who scored two goals during this period - Jesse Lingard and Anthony Martial, do not seem stable enough to pose a threat to the opponents' goal in every match.
Does anyone still believe in Louis van Gaal besides the club's management?
Journalists have already sacked him three times. There have been rumors that the players no longer believe in his managerial abilities. The team's fans chanted Jose Mourinho's name during matches, and Louis van Gaal himself mentioned that he was disappointed with his team's results. However, it seems that the club's management still has a serious backing for the coach.
Failure in the Champions League, defeat to a Championship team in the league cup, a series of six winless matches in the Premier League, and the worst start to a season since 1986 - regardless of all these results, the coach is still in his position. The further we go, the more it seems that everything is heading towards Van Gaal finishing the season in his role. However, if the team does not drastically change its playing style and results in the remaining part of the season, it is hard to imagine the Dutchman remaining in his role for the next season.
How will the young team players replace the injured full-backs?
The main left-back, Luke Shaw, was sidelined at the beginning of the season, and filling in for the left-back position, Antonio Valencia and Ashley Young also suffered serious injuries and will spend a lot of time without football. With three full-back positions missing players, "United" currently has only one player for this position - Matteo Darmian.
After Young's injury, the young player Cameron Borthwick-Jackson was thrown into the left-back position from the youth team, but a player who has had no first-team football experience until this season is certainly not the player you want to rely on in all important matches remaining in the season. Another young player, Guillermo Varela, was also allowed to play in this position twice, and without acquiring reinforcement for this position, the team's coach will have no other choice but to turn to players who have not yet played at a similar level in the first team. Borthwick-Jackson has already proven capable of handling his tasks in several matches, but the lack of experience raises doubts about his ability to perform consistently at a high level in top-level matches.
Does the club's management really approve of such results?
The team did not achieve its goals in Europe and dropped out of the Champions League, although they had one of the easiest groups in the competition. The team lost league cup matches to a second division team, and in the Premier League, they are out of the top four, trailing the leaders by a two-digit point difference. Are these really the results that satisfy the club's leaders who have invested 250 million pounds in the team over the past couple of seasons?
First and foremost, dissatisfaction with the results is demonstrated by the team's fans. Interest in the upcoming Europa League matches is so low that "United" is planning to close a stand holding 26,000 seats during these matches. Fewer spectators gathered for Europa League matches in 2012, but then the team was just ten thousand fans short of a full stadium.
The fact that the management did not take any action in January certainly did not strengthen the fans' trust in the club's leadership, and the club's leaders will have to prove to them in the near future that "United" is determined to do everything to bring victories back to the homes of fans adorned with trophies. If the team does not return to a serious fight for trophies, the club may risk losing the most impatient of those millions of fans worldwide who significantly boost the team's budget by purchasing the team's merchandise. Of course, "Manchester United's" management definitely does not want that.
Some of these questions "Manchester United" team may already have answers to this season, but in order to return to the football elite, the team and its management can no longer delay the solution to the emerging problems.
Tautvydas Sakalauskas
