Blame Ten Hag and players for Manchester United’s recent woes, not The Glazers
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Rape, physical and sexual charges leveled against Mason Greenwood were dropped not cleared and for some hardliners, this justifies Manchester United’s decision to release him from the team.
For some hard-nosed groups and individuals, this is the least bit of punishment Greenwood deserves but no one and nothing goes beyond the law and the law’s processes directed that the young Englishman could carry on playing professional football at Man United.
However, any thoughts of Man United letting this happen was quickly taken away by a strong push for the exact opposite with some team staff reportedly ready to resign if Greenwood got reinstated. The reason for this is down to society morals and values but its surprising Man United is in line to be bought by Qatari billionaire Sheikh Jassim Al Thani.
As the son of Qatar’s former Prime Minister, Sheikh Jassim has benefited from the Emirate’s poor human rights record but strangely, there is a strong push for the Qatari oligarch to take over Old Trafford. So where is the balance and why is the morality police not in full force against this?
For others, this decision to let Greenwood go represents the lack of ability of Man United owners to swallow the bitter pill and take ruthless decisions needed at every turn for elite institutions.
While Man United is an international institution with a global reach, it is a football club first of all and since the law didn’t convict Greenwood, the football aspect shouldn’t stand in the way either especially when the on pitch production is severely lacking this season.
Production from the right side of Man United’s attack is sorely lacking looking at the returns from Antony and Jadon Sancho and should have prompted Greenwood’s return to the playing unit once he was legally cleared.
Manchester City cut Benjamin Mendy at the height of his legal troubles because when Mendy was inconsistent and often injured and his production was on the decline prior to the legal issues.
While morals and values are needed to build the fabric of society, winning cures all ills and judging by Greenwood’s pre-legal run after breaking through the first team, the soon to be 22 year old would be an upgrade on United’s attacking options to bag wins and that would be enough to change the perceptions about Man United.
Still don’t believe winning cures all ills? Well some of the best and biggest sports names and personalities who are flat out legends had their “Mason Greenwood” moment(s) in their career.
However, those personalities continue to be celebrated globally because at the time of writing this piece, the fifth year of Kobe Bryant’s passing marked was worldwide. Bryant’s jerseys have been retired by the Los Angeles Lakers and a statue will be erected in his honor on February 8, 2024.
Mid you, all this is happening on the back of Kobe’s dance with the law over similar allegations raised against Greenwood earlier in his career.
Diego Armando Maradona had his fair share of misogynist ways in his heydays and even cheated Argentina’s way into the 1986 FIFA World Cup semifinals with the infamous Hand of God goal. Interestingly, these issues are almost universally swept aside while their achievements are trumpeted and this is simply because the Kobe’s and Maradona’s won and won a lot.
There are many things the Glazers have failed to get right at Old Trafford but one thing they have done right is to invest in the future of the club. This is evident in the capture of top young talents for costly fees in a bid to secure the team’s future at a time fellow top teams like Chelsea, AC Milan, Real Madrid and Arsenal are doing same.
However, the Red Devils are missing the mark this season as pressure mounts on the Glazers to pump more money into the team by buying more players to compliment the present group.
The likes of Sofyan Amrabat, Jean-Clair Todibo and Amadou Onana have been heavily connected to Man United in the transfer market and the dragged out transfer negotiations for these players in the eyes of many United fans is the owners’ fault.
While the rich American family has its flaws, Man United’s underwhelming start to the season is down to the Erik ten Hag led technical team and the players.
Both parties are connected in this mess with Ten Hag failing to find a proper fit and role for the very expensive buy Mason Mount. The former Chelsea player looks lost in the team especially in attack isn’t much involved in building attacks.
Playing him very deep next to Casemiro in a double pivot doesn’t suit his playing style as a high pressing, creative player who plays centrally or on the wings.
Christian Eriksen’s creativity is better suited for the deep lying playmaker role-register than Mount and Ten Hag needs to play Mount in that role even if it means Yanking Antony out of the starting lineup.
At some point, Ten Hag needs to accept that his big money capture of Antony is yielding average returns and needs to upgrade quickly by starting Eriksen with Casemiro in the double pivot of a 4-2-3-1 system with Mount, Bruno Fernandes and Marcus Rashford lining up behind striker Anthony Martial until Rasmus Hojlund is ready to play.
Beyond tactics, Ten Hag and his backroom need to be questioned over its run of transfer business since taking over at Old Trafford. Aside Lisandro Martinez, Casemiro and Christian Eriksen, Tyrell Malacia regressed to an average full back while Marcel Sabitzer and Woug Werghorst didn’t pan out as expected and Antony under performed.
Andre Onana has impressed so far but Hojlund is yet to play and Mount is struggling badly. This track record doesn’t exactly scream “I deserve to be given more money to get new players” and rightly so, the Glazers should be hesitant to give Ten Hag more money to get new players. It therefore shouldn’t be a surprise Man United is set to sign Jonny Evans to a contract beyond this transfer window.
Adding to the complications of Man United in the transfer market is the inability of the Red Devils to sell players to raise money to get their replacements. Man United players get juicy wages compared to the average footballer and barring a contract restructuring, there are only a few teams in the world that can service these wages.
The Glazers sign the checks but they can only sign contract extensions and improved salaries based on the recommendations of the technical unit.
Ten Hag hasn’t been around long enough to fall culprit in this instance but his predecessor Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was heavily involved in getting Eric Bailly, Scott McTominay, Phil Jones, Martial and Axel Tuanzebe lucrative new deals.
Harry Maguire was captured for a world record fee for a defender under Solskjaer to boot. After handing out this hefty amount of cash, how can The Glazers be blamed for Man United’s struggles to ship players out?
While it is very early to panic, the overall play from Man United players is distressing considering the overwhelming quality the team has in games it has played against Wolverhampton Wanderers and Tottenham Hotspurs.
The Red Devils failure to win one on one duels, out muscle and out work the opponent in both outings have had the opposition score big time performances against the Red Devils even if Man United clinched a win in one of those games. This has made Ten Hag’s system look very bad in real time play despite it fitting the demands on paper and all this is in no way the fault of the team’s owners The Glazers.
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