Besides Paul Pogba and the as of late rejuvenated David De Gea, there truly isn’t a lot to discuss with regards to Manchester United‘s present squad. Ole Gunnar Solskjær believes in giving adequate chances to the youth and wants to look at them as the reason of Man Utd’s success. But success eludes the Manchester United manager. He is not able to work out his tactics and seems to be lost in crunch situations.
What is the reason? Utd are in a position they surely won’t be proud of. The reason one can say is that they lack leaders. Take an instance of the mouth-watering 3-3 draw against Sheffield United. The side demonstrated extraordinary flexibility to mount a rebound yet the absence of leaders and experienced players saw them yield in injury time and couldn’t see the game through.
The January transfer window will be pivotal for Solskjær in acquiring players as well as getting rid of dead weights. These players are past their prime and should be shown the door at an appropriate time.
Jesse Lingard
The boyhood Utd fan is a product of United’s famous academy. Since the beginning of the 2018/2019 season, Jesse Lingard has scored just four goals and has two assists in 37 Premier League matches. The recently signed Welsh winger Dan James has scored three and assisted three in four months of Utd career. Lingard will be 27 in less than a month.
The young prospect who Man Utd thought could reach certain heights, has now become stagnant and is hardly able to influence results. Recently, he was named the captain against Astana in Europa League and he was overjoyed and did not hold back from letting the world know about his dream of captaining Man Utd. But it’s high time Man Utd get rid of dead weights and invest in the right players.
His performance seems to deteriorate this season. He has just recorded one goal and doesn’t look to produce wonders in the field. His poor show has prompted Gareth Southgate to not call up the Man Utd player in the national side.
Phil Jones
The match against Sheffield United in late November fundamentally condensed Jones’ profession in the post-Fergie time. Ferguson once had high commendation for Phil Jones in the wake of carrying the safeguard to Old Trafford from Blackburn Rovers. Jones has been a frail connection in the United protection for a long while now. In that match, he had existence to clear the ball before Lys Mousset tormented him off it on the way to a Sheffield objective.
The 2018 FA Cup is another genuine case of how Jones isn’t as reliable at centre-back. Eden Hazard gave him a torrid evening and exposed him consistently during one on one situations. His lack of game awareness enabled Hazard, who was a couple of yards behind him to arrive at the ball, drive into the box and win the penalty after Jones fouled him. It is of little shock that he has scored four own goals in a Man Utd shirt.
