Manchester United’s defeat to Everton on Easter Sunday ended any hope of a top four finish for the current champions. Any glimmer of hope for Champions League football has been wiped out and United will not be seen at Europe’s top table for the first time in 20 years.
What started as a season of optimism in the new manager has crumbled into a farce of a season, with records tumbled for all the wrong reasons.
Defeats at home against the likes of West Bromwich Albion, Stoke and Newcastle for the first time in decades, being soundly beaten by rivals Manchester City and Liverpool home and away, and their lowest ever Premier League points tally make for difficult reading, and that’s only the tip of the iceberg.
Why is it that things have dismantled so spectacularly at Old Trafford this season?
There was always going to be a transitional period, a vacuum left by the retirement of a figure such as Sir Alex. That was expected, but the performances in themselves have been abject at times.
Sir Alex himself alluded to tough times ahead when he told the Old Trafford faithful to ‘stand by your new manager.’ For most of the season the supporters have kept their word and backed David Moyes and his team, but there are now rumblings of dissention on the terraces which are gaining strength by the day.
That dissention is not just down to the results, but also the way the team seem to have just rolled over at times. There seems to be a lack of fight on the pitch. The players aren't performing, but more than that there doesn't seem to be anyone who can drive them on.
In the past United always had players who could inspire on the pitch, take the team by the scruff of the neck and haul them back into a game. Bryan Robson was the epitome of his Captain Marvel tag in the 1980s, Keane and Cantona led by example. Where are these sorts of figures now when United need them?
Instead of fighting back United are going out with a whimper. These are championship winning players who don't seem to have the stomach for the fight anymore.
Where are the players who can make that one big tackle, go past the opposition, score that goal that will inspire not just themselves but the crowd?
In the last 20 years (summed up most in that 1999 Treble winning season) the team were down and out numerous times, but they always came back.
Remember the last minute goals to turn a 1-0 deficit around in the FA Cup 3rd round against Liverpool; the Schmeichel penalty save at 1-1 in the last minute of the FA Cup semi-final and Giggs's wonder goal to win it; the final game fight back against Spurs to win the league; the game in Turin when United were 2-0 down and Keane led them to the final and, most of all, the Champions League final comeback which was the stuff dreams are made of.
So many times over the years United have been synonymous with turning things around, scoring late goals. They had talismanic figures, people who never surrendered.
The players themselves always had the belief that they would come back - remember the 3-0 deficit at half time to a rampant Spurs and turning that into a stirring 5-3 win?
Where is that attitude now, where has that belief gone? This season the players just don't seem interested, they don't seem to have the passion or the belief anymore.
Has that been drummed out of them? Are the management team too concerned about getting everything perfect, making sure they have every possible strategy covered that they have taken away the players' love of playing?
Steve Round was seen flicking through a set play guide against Everton. That perhaps highlighted one of the problems. It's all too much by the book. The players seem so scared to make a mistake that they are playing safe football, but that makes them easy to play against.
They seem to be overthinking things, trying to be too precise, playing like it's a training session, and that is causing them to make more errors.
United have always had players who are mavericks on the football pitch. In recent years the likes of Cantona and Ronaldo have played with their hearts not their heads, allowed freedom to express themselves with natural talent. Mata and Kagawa are those types of players who can do the unexpected, yet they look constrained, unable to influence proceedings because of the rigidity of the game plan.
The team seem like they are just playing football by the numbers and that is not the United way, it’s not what these players need. Is it that the management don’t have the confidence in this crop of players to go out and perform without so much instruction, or is it the management over-thinking and over-burdening the players? It seems very much to be the latter.
The most damning statistic is that, whilst United have the best away record in the league, their home form has been diabolical.
Old Trafford has always been a fortress, a place teams dreaded going to. This season, though, that fortress has crumbled.
The way United have set up in home games has been far too methodical, far too slow. The great teams who have graced the Old Trafford pitch have always had power and passion, pace and tempo. There has been none of that this season.
It may be a philosophy which David Moyes doesn’t wholeheartedly believe in, and it seems that he is at odds between playing a style he wants to play and playing the United way. In the end, they have done neither.
Perhaps the job is too big for him? In a place where the ghosts of the past are in every hallway, in every room, at every turn, it can either inspire you or weigh you down. It seems the ghosts of Old Trafford are haunting Moyes – even the way he looks on the touchline he looks haunted, too scared to play attacking football because of the expectations of what has gone before.
So what happens now? Where do United go from here?
It seems the management team may well have lost the dressing room. If that is true, then there is surely no way back for Moyes.
The rumour mill keeps adding more and more problems, with the reports that more and more players are unhappy and wants to leave. There has also been an undercurrent around a breakdown in relationship with Ryan Giggs, which may result in Giggs not just retiring but leaving the club for good.
With rivals Liverpool almost certain to take the Premier League crown away from Old Trafford, things cannot get much worse for United’s beleaguered manager.
None of this bodes well for Moyes. His position is fast becoming untenable at the helm as he tries to steer his ship away into calmer waters. Rumours are rife that the Board are split – some want to give him more time to fashion a new side with a war chest of up to £200million to spend – some that say enough is enough now.
There have been reports that talks have been held with van Gaal and contact with Klopp as preparations are made to replace the manager. It may be only a matter of time before Moyes is put out of his misery and someone else is given the chance to rebuild the club to its former glory.
Written by Andrew
What started as a season of optimism in the new manager has crumbled into a farce of a season, with records tumbled for all the wrong reasons.
Defeats at home against the likes of West Bromwich Albion, Stoke and Newcastle for the first time in decades, being soundly beaten by rivals Manchester City and Liverpool home and away, and their lowest ever Premier League points tally make for difficult reading, and that’s only the tip of the iceberg.
Why is it that things have dismantled so spectacularly at Old Trafford this season?
There was always going to be a transitional period, a vacuum left by the retirement of a figure such as Sir Alex. That was expected, but the performances in themselves have been abject at times.
Sir Alex himself alluded to tough times ahead when he told the Old Trafford faithful to ‘stand by your new manager.’ For most of the season the supporters have kept their word and backed David Moyes and his team, but there are now rumblings of dissention on the terraces which are gaining strength by the day.
That dissention is not just down to the results, but also the way the team seem to have just rolled over at times. There seems to be a lack of fight on the pitch. The players aren't performing, but more than that there doesn't seem to be anyone who can drive them on.
In the past United always had players who could inspire on the pitch, take the team by the scruff of the neck and haul them back into a game. Bryan Robson was the epitome of his Captain Marvel tag in the 1980s, Keane and Cantona led by example. Where are these sorts of figures now when United need them?
Instead of fighting back United are going out with a whimper. These are championship winning players who don't seem to have the stomach for the fight anymore.
Where are the players who can make that one big tackle, go past the opposition, score that goal that will inspire not just themselves but the crowd?
In the last 20 years (summed up most in that 1999 Treble winning season) the team were down and out numerous times, but they always came back.
Remember the last minute goals to turn a 1-0 deficit around in the FA Cup 3rd round against Liverpool; the Schmeichel penalty save at 1-1 in the last minute of the FA Cup semi-final and Giggs's wonder goal to win it; the final game fight back against Spurs to win the league; the game in Turin when United were 2-0 down and Keane led them to the final and, most of all, the Champions League final comeback which was the stuff dreams are made of.
So many times over the years United have been synonymous with turning things around, scoring late goals. They had talismanic figures, people who never surrendered.
The players themselves always had the belief that they would come back - remember the 3-0 deficit at half time to a rampant Spurs and turning that into a stirring 5-3 win?
Where is that attitude now, where has that belief gone? This season the players just don't seem interested, they don't seem to have the passion or the belief anymore.
Has that been drummed out of them? Are the management team too concerned about getting everything perfect, making sure they have every possible strategy covered that they have taken away the players' love of playing?
Steve Round was seen flicking through a set play guide against Everton. That perhaps highlighted one of the problems. It's all too much by the book. The players seem so scared to make a mistake that they are playing safe football, but that makes them easy to play against.
They seem to be overthinking things, trying to be too precise, playing like it's a training session, and that is causing them to make more errors.
United have always had players who are mavericks on the football pitch. In recent years the likes of Cantona and Ronaldo have played with their hearts not their heads, allowed freedom to express themselves with natural talent. Mata and Kagawa are those types of players who can do the unexpected, yet they look constrained, unable to influence proceedings because of the rigidity of the game plan.
The team seem like they are just playing football by the numbers and that is not the United way, it’s not what these players need. Is it that the management don’t have the confidence in this crop of players to go out and perform without so much instruction, or is it the management over-thinking and over-burdening the players? It seems very much to be the latter.
The most damning statistic is that, whilst United have the best away record in the league, their home form has been diabolical.
Old Trafford has always been a fortress, a place teams dreaded going to. This season, though, that fortress has crumbled.
The way United have set up in home games has been far too methodical, far too slow. The great teams who have graced the Old Trafford pitch have always had power and passion, pace and tempo. There has been none of that this season.
It may be a philosophy which David Moyes doesn’t wholeheartedly believe in, and it seems that he is at odds between playing a style he wants to play and playing the United way. In the end, they have done neither.
Perhaps the job is too big for him? In a place where the ghosts of the past are in every hallway, in every room, at every turn, it can either inspire you or weigh you down. It seems the ghosts of Old Trafford are haunting Moyes – even the way he looks on the touchline he looks haunted, too scared to play attacking football because of the expectations of what has gone before.
So what happens now? Where do United go from here?
It seems the management team may well have lost the dressing room. If that is true, then there is surely no way back for Moyes.
The rumour mill keeps adding more and more problems, with the reports that more and more players are unhappy and wants to leave. There has also been an undercurrent around a breakdown in relationship with Ryan Giggs, which may result in Giggs not just retiring but leaving the club for good.
With rivals Liverpool almost certain to take the Premier League crown away from Old Trafford, things cannot get much worse for United’s beleaguered manager.
None of this bodes well for Moyes. His position is fast becoming untenable at the helm as he tries to steer his ship away into calmer waters. Rumours are rife that the Board are split – some want to give him more time to fashion a new side with a war chest of up to £200million to spend – some that say enough is enough now.
There have been reports that talks have been held with van Gaal and contact with Klopp as preparations are made to replace the manager. It may be only a matter of time before Moyes is put out of his misery and someone else is given the chance to rebuild the club to its former glory.
Written by Andrew