So Manchester United’s players have had a week off and are back in action on Wednesday night.
But, considering we’re obviously going to progress, we should be taking that opportunity to give most of our first team players an extra few days rest. Not too many – it’s a fine line between having them rusty and match fit, so a good mix of first and reserve team players should be enough even if it won’t be particularly thrilling.
The pressure is off, apparently – that’s what most people are saying after we got Champions League qualification with that win at Leicester. But we should still take the Europa League seriously. Football is about winning, and this is a trophy we could win. It’s not about making money and lining the pockets of the owners.
It’s a few extra games, nothing that should be too taxing, and then a few weeks off until the next season starts again. A few wins will be good to get some of that momentum back and that will be handy for the start of the league.
Another thing that should be helpful is the potential addition of a few players – and hopefully these players will be top technical talents ready to walk in to the first team. It looks like the first of those is going to Jadon Sancho.
That deal is moving ahead now and what I’ve heard is that it should be wrapped up by next week. That’s the standard we want. A player who can deliver assists and score goals, a player with intelligence and smart decision making. That’s exactly what we need in this side, and he also looks to have the confidence to handle the number seven shirt which has been a bit too heavy for some players in the recent past.
I’m sure Ole will be looking at the situation and he will know that United need to be better. The defence has come in for criticism some times and some people think it’s been harsh because the number of goals conceded is obviously much lower than it previously was. But to me that’s a case of stats being misleading. I think defensively we have to improve if we have to challenge.
Some people say we’ve just been unlucky with injuries but that only counts to a certain extent. We’ve had a nightmare and the backroom staff have to take some responsibility. Other teams either don’t pick up as many injuries, or, they have the squads to handle them.
One player still getting stick is Harry Maguire and partly because of the price tag. It didn’t help him, nor did people expecting him to be Virgil Van Dijk when he clearly isn’t. That’s not a dig – they’re different players. He obviously needs someone quicker because the partnership he has with Lindelof is not strong enough to make a challenge. So, he needs a better partner, but he will know he needs to improve as well. He’s done okay – but United’s standard has to be much better than okay.
I’ve been asked to pick my player of the season. The best players for United this season all missed large percentages of it. My pick is Anthony Martial. Bruno Fernandes was an obvious candidate because without him, United would have had to rely on Paul Pogba to get us to the top four, and I don’t think he would have done it.
But neither would they have done it without Anthony Martial, a scorer of some important goals.
So that’s my pick for the player of the season – but the campaign isn’t over yet, and even though in the past I’ve been apprehensive about big changes in the team, I am looking forward to Wednesday to hopefully see some young players get some game time.
