MANCHESTER, England – There will be no FA Cup win to undo the cracks for Manchester United this season. Unless they win Champions League – and that seems possible now that Ralf Rangnick’s team takes a mid-season break on the moon – the club’s title drought will last until five years later Middlesbrough .’s 8-7 penalty shootout win at Old Trafford ended United’s only realistic silverware hopes of the season.
Not since the 1980s have United gone so long without a trophy, but the club and the team are in such a state of flux that only the most optimistic fans will claim that they can end a string of dismal failures. This is a team built of dead wood and driftwood – players are past their best and others are performing so below their abilities that they risk wasting their original talent. make them worthy to wear the United shirt.
United were out of the title race and their Carabao Cup participation lasted just one game, with West Ham United eliminated them with a 1-0 victory at Old Trafford in the third round last September. This loss to Championship side Middlesbrough ended their FA Cup entry into the fourth round and secured their first loss at home to lower-division opponents in the competition since losing. League One Leeds United in 2010.
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So a season begins with such optimism – after the signings of Cristiano Ronaldo, Raphael Varane and Jadon Sancho – just head for the rocks, and you won’t be going back to many of Rangnick’s teams to turn the ship between now and the end of the season.
Against Middlesbrough, United will assume they misunderstood the handball rule when Chris Wilder’s side canceled out Sancho’s first-half equalizer when Duncan Watmore’s left hand dominated the ball before falling to the centre-back. Matt Crooks in the near corner scored. Watmore’s involvement was deemed accidental rather than intentional by officials, and because the ball did not go directly into the net, Crooks’ goal was allowed to stand still.
“We conceded a goal that I don’t understand why it held up,” said United interim manager Rangnick. “He controls it with his hands.”
Even Boro coach Wilder said he was looking forward to the goal being ruled out.
“I immediately thought it was handball,” said Wilder. “I thought it would be chalked out and glad it didn’t.”
But as puzzling as it could be, United missed enough opportunities to win the game convincingly. Ronaldo took a penalty in the 20th minute and Sancho and Marcus Rashford Both missed obvious opportunities to score, so Middlesbrough’s goal proved decisive in the end given United’s previous defeats. Rangnick’s side squandered more chances as the game went on, so United are solely responsible for their exit from the FA Cup following their seventh defeat in the past eight penalty shootouts, which has confirmed when Anthony Elanga sent his spot free kick over the bar.
The fact that United are in disarray right now is not revealing. The sacking of coach Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in November comes after a four-game losing streak Premier League games, including a 5-0 loss at home last Liverpoolso the rotting happened long before Rangnick was assigned a rescue mission in December.
Although the German strategist has halted defeats and offloaded underperforming players like Donny van de Beek and Anthony Martial, he has so far not been able to figure out how to instill faith and faith in the players. When United won under Rangnick it was unconvincing, and when they drew or lost, their performance was poor and too poor.
This is a team with huge talent, especially in the attacking areas of the field, but they always play fair and don’t take risks. Ronaldo, Rashford and Sancho are all struggling in form, while Bruno Fernandes been looking for his best performances for over a year now.
However, with a temporary manager, the players know that their boss is just a slip and lacks the authority to ask for better. Rangnick is dealing with a group of players who look and play as if they want nothing more than the season to end and a new permanent manager will come in and give them some much-needed clarity and direction.
It’s a team that lacks guts and personality, but contains players with great reputations and can’t justify them.
When Juan Mata came on as a second-half substitute, which ensured that 11 players on the pitch had been signed by no less than five different managers, since signing Sir Alex Ferguson Phil Jones in 2011. That’s a big part of the problem: Too many players should have moved years ago and too many were signed to make a splash so quickly.
There is no sense of a plan or consistency and that is why failures like this one, which ended hopes of winning a major title, have become the norm at United for years. recently.
Will it ever end? It doesn’t look like it at the moment.
