A cloud of uncertainty hangs over Manchester United, both on and off the pitch. Photo: Getty Images/Christopher Furlong
A couple of anniversaries of something like what happened at Manchester United this week. Wednesday marked 12 months since United made it clear that Cristiano Ronaldo would leave the club by mutual consent. That announcement was followed four hours later by news that the Glazers could sell the club after officially launching a strategic overhaul at Old Trafford.
Despite United's enduring flair for the dramatic, it was an eventful day, but both events hinted at the winds of change blowing through the club and the possibility of a brighter future.
This was a club that for too long allowed the players' aggressive power to take root now stands firmly behind its manager in the battle with its biggest and highest-paid star. At the same time, United fans dared to look beyond their reviled American owners of 18 years. It emerged that brokers were targeting a sale in the first quarter of 2023.
On the pitch, United were fresh off their eighth win in 12 Premier League games before the mid-season break for the World Cup in Qatar, a run that would reach new momentum after resuming with 15 wins in 19 games, ending with the first trophy in six years – the Carabao Cup.
Discipline and unity were being restored by their progressive new coach Erik ten Hag, Old Trafford were rediscovering the fear factor, and newcomers Lisandro Martinez, Christian Eriksen and Casemiro were enjoying success. everything is fine and Marcus Rashford will soon be in the shape of his life. There was plenty of optimism.
Good form 12 months ago led United to League Cup victory in February Photo: Reuters/Andrew Moggridge
If fans had been told then that a year later the club – with nine defeats in 18 and struggling to score goals – would be beset by problems on and off the pitch and still under Glazer control, then they might rightly wonder what happened in the subsequent period.
Similarly, it is likely, given United's failures this season, that their trip to Goodison Park this weekend should also be Everton's first game since the club lost 10 points for violating the financial rules of the Premier League.
In fact, Goodison hasn't been United's happiest hunting ground over the past few years, with just two wins and a couple of dreadful defeats in their last five league visits. Ten Hag and his players can now be fairly confident that they will be in the lion's den, given the sense of injustice at the Merseyside club and the scale of the punishments handed out, and with it the potential for Sean Dyche to create a siege mentality.< /p>
Four league wins from five before the international break at least gave Ten Hag the opportunity to develop, but performances in all of those matches were far from convincing and, like most things at United at the moment, a sense of fragility and uncertainty remains .
The match against Everton, which suddenly took on a more testing aspect, marks the start of a terrible run of matches. Lose to Galatasaray in Istanbul next Wednesday and United will be knocked out of the Champions League. After that they will face Newcastle, Chelsea, Bournemouth, Liverpool, West Ham and Aston Villa until Christmas. It's a dangerous sequence of moves that could help United's season if they come out of it strong, but also with the real potential to make their problems worse. Survive Galatasaray and they may still need something from their last Group A match, facing Bayern Munich and Harry Kane at home, to progress.
The sight of Luke Shaw – United's much-missed left-back – returning to training this week has been a welcome boost for Ten Hag, while goalkeeper Andre Onana should be ready for Everton despite returning prematurely from international duty. – for fears of injury. But Ten Hag is still without Martinez and Casemiro, and Christian Eriksen and Rasmus Hoylund succumbed to injuries against Luton in the final match before the last round of international matches.
Luke Shaw's return to fitness will be of great help to Erik ten Hag. Photo: Getty Images/Ash Donelon
Meanwhile, Jadon Sancho remains in exile following his public row with his manager at the start of September and many other out-of-form strikers, not least Rashford, Anthony and summer signing Mason Mount. United's 13 goals in 12 league games is perhaps the fewest of the division's top 12, and the longer it continues, the more problematic it will become.
Off the pitch, Richard Arnold has resigned as chief executive , never truly recovering. over his bungling management of the Mason Greenwood saga as Sir Jim Ratcliffe finally looks to complete his £1.3 billion purchase of a 25 per cent stake in the club after 12 months of trying to secure a deal that suits the Glazers.
< p>This is not it a revolution that United fans crave and it raises more questions than answers, but they can only wish it would mark the beginning of the change they hoped to believe was already happening this time last year.
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