The Guardian reports this weekend that, statistically speaking, Manchester United have just had their worst December on record. They say:
Last month United failed to claim a single victory and were knocked out of the Champions League. It was the poorest December in the club’s 138-year history
These are absolutely crucial times for Manchester United and Ed Woodward needs to face up to the situation rather than simply brushing it under the carpet.
A win against Swansea will simply mask the patent deficiences in Van Gaal’s dated methods and allow the rot to set in even further.
Manchester United are not going to win the league this season playing this style of football. After 18 months everyone in the football world can see that it is not paying dividends.
But if Jose Mourinho came in right now then he would have just about enough time and points on the board to mount a proper title challenge.
Some Manchester United fans are concerned about this idea that Mourinho teams don’t play exciting football.
But
A) It wouldn’t have to be very exciting at all to beat the current dross on offer and
B) Does anyone remember watching Chelsea with Robben and Duff on the flanks? Was that boring? I really don’t think so. And, what’s more, the team that won the league last season played some scintillating attacking football in the first half of the campaign.
Football veteran Neil Warnock summed it up best when he told Radio 5 last week that he thinks Jose Mourinho would be the right man for the job at this time but that Ed Woodward and Manchester United ‘don’t have the bottle’ to make change.
“For me, Mourinho absolutely fits it. 100 per cent. The cheekiness and the smile in his eyes when he would be playing Chelsea with a better squad because his aged squad [at Chelsea] now is really not the team it was.
“I’m not sure Ed Woodward has got, whatever you call it, to actually do it. They could stick with him [Van Gaal] and try and rough it out but they won’t get another chance to bring in someone who, for me, has all the criteria for a club like Man United.
“If he comes in now, you wouldn’t write off that he wins the league. I think they should get Jose now because he will get taken by somebody else quite soon. It’s their only chance.
“But I don’t think they have the bottle to do it. I don’t think it will please everybody – it will upset people. They will go with Van Gaal until it looks like he’s not going to do it and then they’ll give it to Giggs temporarily until the end of the season but, by that time, Jose will be gone.”
