Alyson Rudd: Manchester United brought to its knees by star obsession and must start afresh
There is no cause at Manchester United, no undying passion, no desire to feel physical pain in the name of unity. For all the preening, they are an average team on the slide, writes ALYSON RUDD.
Football
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Diego Simeone has no time for the custom that is the post-match handshake with the opposition manager. He understands that it is de rigueur in Britain but regards it as meaningless at best and hypocritical at worst.
And so, as soon as his Atletico Madrid side had knocked Manchester United out of the Champions League on Tuesday, Simeone ran down the tunnel to the dressing rooms only to re-emerge a short while later to tell us that his players would dive into an empty swimming pool for him and their club and for each other.
Instead of pelting the Argentine coach with water bottles, the United fans should have pondered on this assessment of his team and the way Simeone puts results before niceties. United’s players are the precise opposite of a side who would dive into a concrete hole. Indeed, many of them look like they would wrinkle their noses if asked to jump into a fully stocked infinity pool at a five-star hotel if it were not at a temperature of their choosing.
United last won silverware five years ago when Jose Mourinho guided them to victory in the Europa League, a competition the Portuguese had previously derided but, given the state of the club, soon realised needed to be coveted in a hurry. A distraught David de Gea fronted up to the media on Tuesday and said too many years had passed with the club unable to fight for trophies.
“We need much more from everyone,” the United goalkeeper said. “This club is too big for where we are. We are far from fighting for the Premier League, the Champions League.”
He raises an intriguing point: where do the club begin and everyone else end? When their supporters sit through disappointment upon calamity, do they still feel big? Do they feel entitled? Is a club’s history, wealth and fame enough to propel it to sustained glory?
Clearly not. Indeed, the club’s reputation is a significant factor in their slow, painful demise. Their ability to spend big and their glittering past are enough to attract some of the most high-profile names in the business but when those feted players arrive at Old Trafford, they soon realise they have been duped by smoke and mirrors. Not even Meryl Streep could step on to the set of Sex Lives of the Potato Men and turn it into a classic. There are too many players who look highly miffed at how big a shift is expected of them, as if they thought they had joined a well-oiled machine in which they could strut their stuff and be lauded for the occasional wonder strike and backheeled pass.
I may well smash a window the next time someone says how much talent Paul Pogba has before adding the rider that he has the wrong manager or is played out of position.
One of the most comically old-fashioned elements to the demise of United is the notion that expensive players should be allowed to preen or coast because of their status.
After Crystal Palace’s hard-fought draw against a Manchester City side that had previously scythed through United, Conor Gallagher said he could not feel his legs, so relentlessly had he run to deal with the technical excellence of Pep Guardiola’s team. This is the latest version of elite football. No matter their salary, their reputation, their Instagram popularity, players have to keep at it, relentlessly, all match.
United need at least six Gallaghers, even before they appoint a new manager or build a new stadium, players who have skill, commitment, energy and reliability. Of course, this is not the sort of signing United go for. They want to grab headlines. Look at us, we signed Pogba, we signed Zlatan Ibrahimovic, we signed Cristiano Ronaldo, we signed Edinson Cavani. We sign icons.
Who are they kidding? Old Trafford is crumbling literally as well as metaphorically to the extent that a demolition and completely new build is under consideration. Those who attend for the corporate, fine-dining match-day experience report that is underwhelming at best and falling well behind what is offered at their Premier League rivals.
The Glazers are deeply unpopular and have made no effort to connect with the enormous fan base, seemingly unaware that a few well thought-through postings or appearances would dilute the mix of anger and apathy.
The most invigorating recent contribution to society made by the club is to have sparked the creation of a new industry, usually most visible in the studios of BT and Sky Sports, where former United heroes queue up to be as sarcastic, incensed, incredulous and belittling as they possibly can be about the organisation they say they love.
After the defeat by Atletico it was the turn of an extra dour Paul Scholes. “How [Ralf Rangnick] was chosen to be manager of this club, I don’t know,” the former England midfielder said. “Getting a proper coach for this team is a massive thing.”
Much of the rest of the time the nation is in stitches as Roy Keane glares at the feet of his fellow pundits to declare how various dreadful United players are not giving the fans value for money.
Rangnick was a misguided appointment. The team were too dysfunctional for an interim no matter his devotion to gegenpressing and in any case, given the German will inherit whatever mess he has made while the manager, he was bound to be inherently cautious. No point annoying wannabe galacticos when there is a desk job waiting.
Ronaldo is not the cause of the malaise, but he does rather sum it up. His best days are behind him but the occasional thrilling performance plays tricks with our perception of what is possible from now on. United were not appalling against Atletico. They were reasonably inventive and quite hard working but undone by a side with a stronger belief in the cause. Even United being a better-than-average version of themselves is not enough.
There is no cause at United, no undying passion, no desire to feel physical pain in the name of unity, but instead a depressing wistfulness.
Whoever becomes the next manager has to be allowed to treat United as an average Premier League team on the slide, to sell off the ageing or underperforming assets, to start afresh rather than attempt to make what they have more effective. Some managers, such as Jurgen Klopp, use images of past glory to inspire the new generation. In this instance, however, the club need to pull down the posters of Eric Cantona and Sir Alex Ferguson, turn down the volume on Scholes, Keane and Gary Neville and breathe in gulps of nostalgia-free air.
– The Times
Originally published as Alyson Rudd: Manchester United brought to its knees by star obsession and must start afresh
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