Manchester United’s struggles continued as they fell to an ignominious 3-1 defeat to Liverpool last weekend, leading to them sacking manager José Mourinho.
That Anfield defeat is the latest setback in a season that is turning into one to forget for Manchester United and their fans.
It wasn’t just the fact that United went down to a heavy loss to Liverpool but the manner of it that will have hurt the Old Trafford fans most.
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Over the past twenty years, Manchester United have prided themselves on the quality of their football and the way in which they had gone about winning. Under Sir Alex Ferguson, United played expansive attacking football and won trophy after trophy under the Scotsman.
But last Sunday at Anfield, United were a shadow of the teams that the watching Ferguson had overseen during his quarter of a century in charge.
Liverpool dominated them running rings around a static and cumbersome United defence and creating chance after chance, shooting almost at will.
And for the first half an hour Manchester United could hardly string more than two passes together. They were giving away possession constantly, it was an almost embarrassing level of mediocrity.
And of course, this lamentable defeat to their greatest rivals almost inevitably led two days later to Mourinho’s sacking and his replacement by their ex-striker Ole Gunner Solksjaer.
It was impossible for the club to continue in this vein for much longer. The increasingly critical public statements by Mourinho about his players were becoming a serious problem for team morale.
It seems to me that the approach of Mourinho and his great rival from past days, Rafa Benitez at Newcastle United, are becoming increasingly outmoded.
Their negative and defensive mindset is reflected in the football their sides are playing. In an era of more progressive managers playing pressing, high-tempo football they are looking dated.
But the first rule if you are going to play a defensive-orientated game-plan is to have players who can defend. United though don’t seem to have those players. Despite all the money spent on defenders by Mourinho they still don’t have a settled and effective defence.
And although he also has some good attacking talent at his disposal, Mourinho didn’t seem to know how best to deploy them either.
His club-record £89 million midfielder Paul Pogba was sitting on the bench in the Liverpool game and was not called upon despite United’s struggles.
Pogba’s dysfunctional soap-opera-style relationship with Mourinho seemed to epitomise Manchester United’s woes. The Frenchman was almost constantly in conflict with his manager.
And their difference in style seemed to represent the conflict between those wanting a more offensive intent from Manchester United and the inherent negativity in Mourinho’s approach and tactics.
The appointment of Solksjaer doesn’t feel like a long-term solution. He’s been parachuted in to take over for the rest of this season after the failure of the latest high-profile replacement for Ferguson.
It’s an open question as to whether he will get the chance to prove he can do the job for the long haul or whether Manchester United will once again turn to one of the big names to revive their fortunes.
Although Spurs’ Mauricio Pochettino and ex-Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane have been mentioned as Mourinho’s replacement, would United be better off investing in a less high-profile manager with the hunger and desire to rebuild the team?
I’m thinking of someone like Eddie Howe. This might seem a little left-field for some United fans but he is a well-regarded young English boss with proven Premier League experience.
He’s an advocate of the progressive, attacking football that United supporters demand, and has also shown he is an excellent man-manger who seems to command a lot of respect from his Bournemouth players.
Obviously, Bournemouth is not Manchester United! But nevertheless, Howe represents the new generation and might just prove an astute choice if he’s given the time to put his ideas in place.
That’s the key though – will he be given the time he needs. United might have to resign themselves to a period of transition like Liverpool had to at the beginning of the nineties.
It would be refreshing to see a manager like Howe given a chance at one of the big clubs.
But with Manchester United’s level of debt and the relentless pressure to deliver trophies and Champions League football, that’s a tall order.