| The gulf between Manchester and Liverpool has not been this great for some time. Thirty points separate the two clubs in the Premier League, and Liverpool have two games in hand over their rivals. The difference in class was clear to see at the weekend with Liverpool’s 2-0 victory at Anfield. This Liverpool side is surely one of the Premier League’s greatest, after making the best ever start to a season in any of Europe’s top five leagues in history after 22 games. They have dropped just two points this season, but you would have to argue they weren’t at their best against United. But Solskjaer’s side were still well beaten. There have been lots of problems to address at United this season, and now they’ve followed up their defeat to Liverpool with a 2-0 defeat against Burnley. It was the Clarets first ever win at Old Trafford and the result was met with boos by fans at full-time. Since Solskjaer was made permanent manager in March, United have lost more Premier League games (12) than they have won (11). This is the weakest squad they have had for a few decades and you can see the expectation is weighing down the young and inexperienced players. Now that Rashford is injured, United are without one of their most important players its difficult to see where the goals are going to come from. Rashford’s injury is likely due to him playing too many games as Solksjaer admitted afterwards that he had been struggling for a little while. That shows the lack of depth in the squad, but the decision to play Rahsford backfired and if they don’t make an investment in this window it’s difficult to see how they can finish in a European spot. But there are now even bigger problems. In the past I don’t think any player would hesitate to play for Man Utd, including myself, but now players are going to think twice. We are talking about Man Utd, the team that you would have only dreamt of playing for. They have invested a lot over the last few years to try and hold on to Fergie’s successful times, but now they are stuck trying to reinvent the wheel. Rebuilding takes time but no one would ever think it would take this much time and money. Do I want to see them at the top again, competing for the title? Of course, but at the moment I am not sure they have identified the underlying problems. They go deeper than just playing poorly. If we don’t see any shift to more success any time soon then there will be even more painful times ahead. #mmlove |
The Athlete | The Man | The Philanthropist