Watching Manchester United players make short sideways passes in the 92nd minute of a game they desperately needed to win on Tuesday night was the final straw for this observer.
We keep hearing that Manchester United are getting decent results so the performances don’t matter so much. But 0-0 against PSV in a must win home game certainly isn’t a decent result.
And, but for the own goal in injury time vs Watford, Manchester United would have dropped points there too.
Manchester United have drawn 5 games 0-0 this season. They have drawn 4 of their last 7. And they aren’t scoring freely.
In fact, if it weren’t for the regular slip ups of City and Chelsea this season, United wouldn’t be sitting pretty in the league either – the fact that Leicester are top after a third of the season tells you it’s not a normal campaign by the big hitters.
United are almost second by default having failed to score goals regularly enough or given any convincing performances this season – possibly bar Everton away.
And, over Louis’s entire tenure, rousing performances are few and far between. The 4-2 against Manchester City was the standout game. Beyond that, there was a good win at Anfield against a poor Liverpool side. Every other game has seen scrambled victories by fine margins, bore draws and defeats against mediocre opposition.
There has to come a point soon where the board gives Louis some kind of ultimatum. Having spent so much money and worked so hard to get back into The Champions League, United are in peril of throwing it all away again at the first hurdle because of far too much caution in their play.
Louis has had a year and a half to buy who he likes and imprint his style on a club with fabulous resources – it’s the dream job for any manager – but he keeps telling us to be patient in the face of little to no discernible progress. How long do we wait?
Having watched Manchester United all of my life, I have never seen such boring performances, and I would be seriously inclined to give Giggs the reins right now.
Fergie’s last game saw United score 5. Even Moyes managed a 5-0 against Schalke. In 18 months an LvG has never managed 5 and his team have only managed 4 goals three times. Once against Club Brugge, Once against QPR at home (they were relegated) and once against an ailing Manchester City.
Louis has to make changes – at least take one of his defensive midfielders out of the side – otherwise we can’t see him lasting beyond this season.
