I guess it wouldn’t be wrong to say that Manchester United have been stuck in a rut since the departure of the much-loved Sir Alex Fergusson. No manager has enjoyed long term success since that glorious man who had commanded Manchester united to the treble in 1999.
Jose Mourinho had a brief run which again ended in a bit of controversy even though he managed to make the club relevant still and also managed to win a Europa league which is a big deal considering their hostile environment in the past few years.
Ole came in and brought some fire into the boys, but he too suffered a lot of inconsistency because of the injury issues and other reasons. Still, after some much-awaited time, we can finally see the giants rising from their slumber.
What do you think has caused this? Well, the acquisition of Bruno Fernandes has undoubtedly played a big part in their recent turn of fortune and Paul Pogba coming back from his injury is just like the icing on the cake.
Over the last few seasons, we have noticed that they have lacked a certain dynamism, movement and verticality in their attacking and positional play. Still, the addition of Bruno Fernandes has filled that role.
What it has also done is given Pogba the freedom to sit behind and dictate the game from the deeper position with his signature immaculate long balls that somehow always reach his teammates. Fernandes brings another trait to the table, which seems to have been missing amongst these players for a long time, which is character.
You look at him stepping onto the field, and you know that he means business. No silly antics just pure hunger, passion and dedication. Celtic has given us some great players in these recent years, and Bruno certainly lives up to that hype.
He may be the missing part in the Ole Gunnar style of play and is working wonders. Ole who likes to function in a 4-2-3-1 adopted by quite a lot of the top teams allows Bruno Fernandes to roam around and come a bit deeper to pick up the ball and create something for those in front of him.
Pogba with his long vision, Fernandes with his exciting style of play coupled with the defensive abilities of Matic or McTominay have certainly made this into a reliable midfield, something that they have been missing in the past few seasons. Let us not forget that Fred has also put in a significant shift whenever called upon in recent times.
While their defence may be great but one can argue that Maguire can be caught off guard or lacks the speed to catch up with the big sprinters. These flaws may not always present itself on the field, but then again, he was brought in for a record fee and should undoubtedly be held up to those standards. De Gea has occasionally had a few bizarre moments. Still, we all know how much of a contribution he has in this team, especially a couple of seasons ago when he would almost provide you stunning saves in every match.
With a bit more fine-tuning this team can go places!
There have always been glimpses of the talent in this team but what they have really lacked for some time now is the consistency to back it up so maybe it is too early to tell, but it certainly seems like the red devils are ready to rise again.
