Pauly – The Head Coach/Manager
It seems simple but sometimes simplicity is best. No story dominated the Manchester United season more than who was sitting in the dugout.
Ruben Amorim entered the season under a lot of scrutiny due to his unwavering loyalty to a back three formation and a 15th place finish last season. If that low finish was due to United putting out weakened teams to focus on the Europa League game, a fast start to the season would be crucial to alleviating that scrutiny.
Instead, it went the other way. United opened
the season with a loss and a draw before getting knocked out of the Leageu Cup by Grimsby Town. Two images stood out from that game: Amorim playing with his tactics board, and Amorim not even watching his teams’ penalties.
Amorim was never able to generate any momentum. Three straight wins was followed by consecutive matches where United threw away second half leads. Then came the disastrous 1-0 loss 10 man Everton. With such lackluster results every week the focus remained squarely on United’s back three formation and whether or not Amorim was getting the most out of the squad. That he wasn’t giving Kobbie Mainoo any minutes only added to the circus.
United pulled the plug in January. In came Michael Carrick for what should have been a very simple caretaker spell of just getting the club over the line before saying goodbye in the summer. United would probably land Europa League football and all the focus would be on who United would go after to coach the team next season.
But then Carrick won his first game – a Manchester Derby. Then he won his next game, away to eventual Champion Arsenal. Perhaps some beginners luck? But then Carrick won again, and again. Carrick kept on winning ensuring the story was now about Carrick. Would he be the man in charge next season? With every win that question only grew louder. By the end of the season Carrick had proven he was the best man to lead United forward.
Suwaid – It’s Never That Bad, but It’s Not Good Yet
I went into this season fairly confident that we’d get European football, and I thought our biggest challengers to the Champions League spots were going to be Chelsea. I also thought we’d end ahead of Chelsea; I simply did not buy the hype around Chelsea’s FIFA Club World Cup win. I was wrong about Chelsea ultimately, but United didn’t let me down.
I did not feel this way because I was fully aligned with Ruben Amorim’s methods at the start of the season, or because I thought Michael Carrick had all the answers once he came in, or even because the signings were an improvement on previous transfer windows. I simply did not rate the sides of some of the contenders for those spots very highly, regardless of the pedigree of the managers in charge of those clubs.
I thought it was close and that no European football would give us an edge as our key players would likely stay fit for most of the season, and I thought that if, at some point, it looked like we were moving further away from achieving Champions League qualification, something would have to give way: a change in strategy from the manager or a change in manager. It helped that, within a few weeks, we learned that United’s underlying numbers were better than those of the other contenders. It meant that, regardless of our own troubles, there was potential within the squad to do something about it and that other teams would have to work harder to solve their own.
After finishing 15th in the league last season, there was a sense that it would take United years to sit on the top table again. I don’t think finishing in third place means that United are sitting at the top table yet, but just as I believed heading into this season that, as poor as United were last season, they were capable of going from 15th to a top-four finish in the league, I believe they’re capable of at least sitting on the same table as Arsenal and Manchester City next season. United aren’t too big to fail, but they’re more capable than most clubs of clawing back into a respectable position. They’re also more capable of going from a respectable position to a dominant one.
Things can go bad, but they don’t have to stay bad, and not for too long. Things are also not good yet and certainly not great yet, and things could go bad again, so I hope United end this summer window with signings that inspire, as opposed to stabilise.
