The curtain finally came down on Manchester United’s season last weekend, a year after it first started!
At the start of the 2019/20 season everyone was hoping to see some settlement in the team that would bring consistency. Before we were able to see that, we had injuries, and just when it seemed as if Bruno Fernandes’ arrival might help , along came coronavirus that left the game and the entire world at a standstill.
The most important thing was the safety of the players and safety as supporters – that was the priority. I didn’t know if the season was finished and for a while I thought we might follow the lead of other countries and draw a line in the sand with March’s positions being the final ones.
Credit to the authorities who came up with ways the season could be finished. Yes, fans weren’t able to physically be there, but they were still able to now watch their team play in what became a mini-season with rules altered to adapt for the new conditions.
There were some disappointments – but wow, didn’t United have a great time for the majority of that mini-season, and you have to say they exceeded expectations both from the start of the season and then even in March, when going into the lockdown they were some way behind Leicester and Chelsea. United finished third, they are back into the Champions League, and they fought until close to the end in three cup competitions.
You can’t win them all, and United aren’t at the point where we can expect them to, so to be as competitive as we were has to be a big positive.
We still need another centre half – Maguire is not the finished article and he needs help alongside him. Nathan Ake would have been a good buy, especially at that price, but he’s gone now – hopefully we can get another player of even better quality in.
The other new signings have been generally good – Aaron Wan-Bissaka has been very steady and looks a safe buy, James started well but fell away, whereas Fernandes has obviously been the best buy, but I’d still like to see more from him, too. Yes, he’s come in and showed he can play and light up games. Next season I’d like to see him command control of the midfield more, and not drift in and out of games as he was doing in the last few games. He has so much potential.
One thing I was hoping Ole would do is to give the young players a chance to show they could perform. Boy, did some of them step up and look exciting – the most promising we can say they have been in years. We had some genuine exciting football to watch with Bruno Fernandes fitting in so well, and the emergence of Mason Greenwood and Brandon Williams has to be a great thing. Yes, it’s probably saved the club a few pounds having to buy players, but we are talking about the lifeblood and backbone of Manchester United.
Dean Henderson is a young lad through the club who might be given a chance next season. It looks like he will be sticking around so it’s the right time to put that pressure on David De Gea and see what he is made of. He has made mistakes. Are they down to complacency? Hopefully having some proper competition can bring the best out of two good goalkeepers.
I’ve been asked a few times who my player of the year was, but I think most of them can say they had a strong period where they stepped up when the club needed it. The most important thing is it’s starting to look like a team after a few years of it being individuals and that is very pleasing.
Ole’s done a good job – there’s no denying he was very fortunate to be given such a job in football, but the club made that decision, they’ve also given him time and now they have done so they have to be patient for even longer in order to see the hopeful benefit of what he is putting together.
United have the league and Champions League kicking off almost straight away when the season begins. Now we have seen the signs of settlement and consistency, and we know we have quality and other important ingredients – as much as we do need strengthening, the impetus is on this current group of players to step up as well.
