Return To Glory : Manchester United

A tough ending but a league title is there to be celebrated. It shouldn't dampen the mood too much!

Mission accomplished, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has managed to steer a formerly rudderless ship back to the top of English football. Despite all of that the end of the season was more like a sad trombone than the trumpeting of a return to glory, it’s still hard to deny the incredible season Solskjaer was able to put together. The bitter pill of watching Liverpool go on to win their third Champions League in a row, a 5-2 win over Arsenal, can’t erase Manchester United’s historic season. United finished the season with (103) points, a new Premier League record, eclipsing Manchester City’s (100) point 2017/18 season. They also scored (104) goals to set a new club record, just shy of City’s (106) scored in that 2017/18 season, and managed to set a club low for draws with (1). Financially they did a great job by turning a £1.7M on transfers, while that doesn’t sound all that impressive City managed a £169M loss.

In terms of individual awards a small core of players, and one manager, walked away with a number of awards and honors. Marcus Rashford was pretty close to taking home scoring awards, coming in 3rd in the league with (20) while Tammy Abraham (27) and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (23) beat him by playing in all (38) league games. If Rashford hadn’t missed league games to play in the Champions League, where he tied his teammate Mason Greenwood for 1st with (6), he could have taken the league scoring title. He would lose the Champions League title on assists, posting (0) while Greenwood had (2). He would manage to take home the Champions League ST award, he will continue to have chances to finish 1st so nobody is crying just yet.

David De Gea would end up being the most decorated member of the team by winning the Premier League Golden Glove and Champions League GK of the season. De Gea’s (26) shutouts would beat out Alisson and Ederson in the league and his (37) across all competitions would set a new team record. Sadly for United, De Gea would be the only player to make the Premier League Team of the Year. Other notables that didn’t bring home any silverware were the midfield triangle of Bruno Fernandes, Paul Pogba, and Sergej Milinković-Savić dominated the league on a weekly basis. The three finished 1-3 in average rating, Fernandes posting an impressive 7.96 to better Pogba (7.68) and Milinković-Savić (7.64) by quite a bit. Fernandes also put up an impressive (17) goals and (11) assists, his path to becoming a United legend seems pretty clear.


Statistically, few players really stood out as elite with Rashford as close as it got. United did manage to have three players score (20) or more goals in all competitions, with Rashford leading the way with (29) in (28) appearances. Just think what he could have done if he hadn’t missed time with a back injury. Anthony Martial, who did an incredible job making sure nobody forgot about him when Jadon Sancho moved in, tied Greenwood with (20) goals in all competitions. The out-of-nowhere star of the season turned out to be RB Enzo Marino, who suddenly makes Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Diogo Dalot look expendable, as he cranked out (8) assists in (10) starts where Wan-Bissaka managed (10) in (32) starts. Solskjaer’s United look to be much better at scoring from all over the place instead of relying on a single player to carry the load, a great sign going forward and a possible buffer against cold streaks.



The level of success this year has boosted United’s standing in the FIFA club rankings, bringing them all the way up to 3rd. Ownership was also convinced so they decided to take on some much needed stadium upgrades, committing £97M to expanding and modernizing Old Trafford. Adding 16,000 seats will help keep the coffers full, but more importantly it will help them keep up with a certain team who would love to climb back on their perch.

United are well on their way to becoming the force they once were.

Crews were barely done sweeping up the mess left by Manchester United’s championship parade, their 21st league title, when the news leaked out that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer had been sacked. Despite an entire season of the media making a meal of how fragile his position was it still came as a shock, how many managers have been fired after winning the league? There were so many factors in this situation that weren’t in Solskjaer’s favor, primarily ownership’s desire to restructure the club from the front office all the way down to the coaching staff put his job at risk. Seen as a panic hire by the Glazers it seems obvious now that Solskjaer was serving as a bridge between the Glazers and Ma Huateng, the fact that the manager hired to replace him remained unemployed (along with a number of his former long time assistants) for over a season points to Huateng planning this well ahead of time. Perhaps a Champions League title was the only thing that could have stopped this.

“Manchester United regretfully announce that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will no longer continue in his role as manager, effective immediately. We would like to thank him for his years of service as a player, manager, and ongoing role as a member of the Manchester United family. This is not a decision that was made easily or in haste as the club continues to restructure for improved performance on and off the field.”

That was all the club had to say officially about his termination, unofficially there was enough to fuel the media and fans for years. Inside sources and members of the media close to the team primarily point to the meltdown at the end of the season that saw Liverpool stomp all over the team on their way to the Champions League and Emirates FA Cup trophies. His style of play also became a sticking point, with ownership more interested in exciting attacking styles like Liverpool’s transformation under Jürgen Klopp. Oddly enough, the Lucas Lourenço work permit saga was also high up on the list of issues ownership had. Lourenço has been having great seasons for Napoli, buying a player that can’t set foot on English soil is not something the board are happy about. As the team moves toward a more integrated approach to signing and developing players it seems Solskjaer found himself the odd man out, while most of his back room staff remain they may see themselves as the next to go. The world of football is very cutthroat and moves quickly, evolve or die seems to be the mantra of ownership as they work to catch up to and overtake clubs like Liverpool and Manchester City.



The man to take Solskjaer’s place wasn’t a surprise to anyone who follows the team closely, for the most part one name came up over and over whenever the subject of sacking Solskjaer came up. Mauricio Pochettino became a hot commodity the moment he left Tottenham with rumors swirling that he could have just about any job he wanted outside of Liverpool and Manchester City, Real Madrid became more of an option the longer he stayed on the market but in the end he was waiting out Solskjaer. Pochettino retained most of Solskjaer’s staff while adding a few of his own that have been with him for years, most notably Toni Jiménez and Jesús Pérez who were with him at Tottenham. The immediate response to Solskjaer’s termination was very negative, the fan base in particular felt that the move wasn’t part of the “Manchester United Way” as former players even came out to denounce the move. Perhaps it’s a comment on the modern news cycle, but the announcement of Pochettino was met with almost unanimous praise even so close to Solskjaer’s removal. It doesn’t change how people feel about how and when Solskjaer was cut loose, but it certainly softened the animosity towards ownership.

Shocking stuff going on at Old Trafford!

The appointment of Mauricio Pochettino brings less changes tactically than anyone might expect. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was essentially sacked for playing too passively, especially against big teams, and failing to assert themselves against weaker squads. While that whole argument could go on for ages, Pochettino will play a more attacking 4-2-3-1. Pochettino’s setup is almost identical to Solskjaer’s, relying on wing backs to bring the ball up the sidelines and cross it into the advanced forward or opposite inside forward. The central attacking midfielder role, along with the deep lying playmaker and box-to-box midfielder will be the same as under Solskjaer. Tactically, the change in manager should be very seamless, ownership should be credited with making that as easy as possible. On the field, things should be much less dramatic than off, the investment in faster wingers (wing backs and inside forwards) should make things really difficult on the opposition.


Goalkeepers
Despite the change in manager there is no change here. David De Gea (30) is coming off one of the best years in his career and could have an even better one if Pochettino can match Solskjaer’s defensive record. It’s easy to pile up shutouts when your defense doesn’t allow shots, but when De Gea faced them he was incredible. Mike Maignan (26) was a good backup, working mostly in cup matches with the second squad, but the gap between him and De Gea is substantial. Beyond Maignan things are rather bleak at the moment, John Allen (18) is on loan at Napoli and Owen Flowers (16) is just too young for the senior squad. Both of them could be very good, but they are years away from the first squad.

Best Player : David De Gea (Captain)

Defenders
With a Scrooge McDuck sized pile of cash Pochettino went to improving the central defense and the right wing position. Outside of the two seismic transfer moves, landing Dayot Upamecano (22) from RB Leipzig could help United better their defensive record this season. Upamecano will be paired with Harry Maguire (28), who quietly had an excellent season, and once the two form a solid partnership Pochettino shouldn’t have any concerns here. There is some risk in the second squad, Victor Lindelöf (26) gets demoted but Eric Bailly and Axel Tuanzebe are gone in favor of Armel Bella-Kotchap (19) getting a shot at starting. Moving Lindelöf should provide a veteran presence to settle Bella-Kotchap, but there is definitely some risk in relying on the young German. Albin Elmander (18) was a solid backup bench option, floating between U-23 and the senior squad, and he gets a permanent move to the senior squad and first shot at a starting slot if someone gets injured. Elmander will need to fend off rising star László Puskás (18) who had a really good season on loan at Huddersfield, starting in (46) games, if both of them can continue their development they might be in line for a second squad pairing. For now they just provide a solid safety blanket.

LB is unchanged from first squad to the bench, Jorge (25) returns despite interest from Barcelona and Luca Pellegrini (22) will handle the second squad. English / Brazilian youngster Renato Leônidas (17) continues to earn a space on the bench while playing for the U-23 squad, but if he wasn’t there it wouldn’t be as big of an issue. Luís Campos’ strategy of piling up wing backs looks to be paying off already, especially at LB, with an assembly line of wonderkids heading toward the senior squad. Don’t be surprised if Jorge and Pellegrini get sold in two years to make room for better players. RB became a dumpster fire near the end of last season with Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Diogo Dalot unable to stay healthy, getting injured often and regularly struggling with match fitness, and they were both shipped out almost immediately by Pochettino. In steps Álvaro Odriozola (25) from Real Madrid, he’s much faster than either of the departed and looks like an instant upgrade at RB. Enzo Marino (18), who managed to play a lot thanks to all the injuries, gets his shot at starting in the second squad. This is definitely a risk, but he played well enough and scouts believe he could be a top player so United might as well see what they have here. Much like LB, the team has a ton of depth and nobody will be surprised if uber Wonderkid King Holland (17) gets fast tracked to the bench or sees a start or two in a cup game.

Best Player : Dayot Upamecano

Midfielders
The day all United fans were dreading finally arrived when Paul Pogba decided he wanted to leave for PSG. While his departure looks bad, it might be a £110M blessing in disguise as United have stockpiled so much midfield talent it might not be as bad as the fans are making it out to be. Apparently there was a great deal of discussion between Pochettino and Luis Campos around the vacated DLP position, but ultimately they opted to purchase Florentino Luís (21) instead of promoting future superstar Eduardo Camavinga (18) just yet. This was a little more about not wanting to rush another future superstar, Danny Ginger (16), into the senior squad. Luís is a legitimate elite talent so pairing him with Sergej Milinkovic-Savic (26) in the double pivot seemed like a no-brainer. Ryan Gravenberch (19) and Camavinga return to man the double pivot for the second squad again, if they continue to improve the team won’t need to buy replacements for Luís or Milinkovic-Savic if they leave. Camavinga might already be there, but Gravenberch definitely needs some improvement to become a first squad stalwart. Pochettino was also quick to jettison Scott McTominay and add Nadiem Amiri (24) as a solid bench option who can handle both DLP & BBM duties, if anyone gets injured he won’t be forced into bringing up Ginger.

Bruno Fernandes (26) has the central attacking midfielder job on lock down and it’s likely Pochettino wouldn’t trade him for anyone in the world right now. Fernandes had a true breakout season last year, scoring (17) goals while driving a Premier League best offense, and asserted himself as one of the best players on the team. You could even make the argument he is now the best player at United, he showed a consistently excellent level of performance and managed to remain healthy all year. With Pogba gone the role of team leader and Vice-Captain is his, another season like last year will have some of the world’s best teams clamoring to buy him. Andreas Periera was very good last year, and developed a solid connection with Mason Greenwood, but he was sold off after demanding more starts. He wasn’t going to unseat Fernandes and the Lucas Lourenço debacle was still hanging over his head, so in comes the (surprisingly affordable) Dani Olmo (23) to man the second squad. There was some discussion around moving Gravenberch to CAM to make room for Ginger, but Olmo and Amiri were so affordable that the added depth and flexibility was too much to pass up. Angel Gomes (20) remains a bench option, but with the flexibility Pochettino has it’s unlikely he ever moves into the starting lineup unless a massive wave of injuries strikes the side.

Best Player : Bruno Fernandes (Vice Captain)



Forwards
Boy, that escalated quickly. After getting lucky with Jadon Sancho (21) the team went all in on spending big with the addition of Ousmane Dembélé (24) to try and catch up with Liverpool and Manchester City. The winger positions were a concern for Solskjaer, but it doesn’t look like Pochettino is going to have the same problem. Sancho came in and snatched the LW job away from Anthony Martial (25) who responded by having one of his best seasons at United. Martial’s (20) goals made him untouchable on the transfer market and sets up a deadly rotation at LW for Pochettino. Gomes will continue to come off the bench as the third choice LW / CAM, but this could be a prime opportunity for any youngster to unseat him. Antonio Marin (20) looked to be the next bench option, but he had such a good loan spell at PSG that he was sent out on loan to AC Milan to continue his development. RW has become fairly turbulent, with Dembélé getting handed the starting job immediately. His pace and improving play as an inside forward represents a massive upgrade over Victor Tsygankov (23) who has been really good for United. Jesse Lingard became the odd man out and found himself being shipped out, Tahith Chong (21) remains on the bench but he’s going to be looking over his shoulder at some of the youth talent joining the team. If he doesn’t show significant growth he could be sold off or find himself stuck in the U-23 side until he’s released.

The center forward position remains untouched with Marcus Rashford (23) returning as the first choice striker. Even with an extended absence due to a back injury he managed to score (29) goals across all competitions, a solid return for a player many continue to overlook. Mason Greenwood (19) was very good in Rashford’s place and didn’t stop being good as the second squad striker. Both players are young and performing at a high level, it’s doubtful either one is going anywhere for a while. If one of them sustains a long term injury Luis Nazario (17), who filled in a bit last year, won’t be available as he has been sent out on loan. The next best option is wonderkid Marco Overmars (15), but the youth ranks are becoming so loaded that just about anyone can fill in for a game or two. If Pochettino can continue Solskjaer’s record when playing down a man it probably won’t matter who gets called up as an injury fill in.

Best Player : Ousmane Dembélé

Pogba may have gone, but it doesn't mean that the quality of the squad has dropped. Some absolutely huge additions. United and Poch mean business.

More news that shocked nobody came with the announcement of Manchester United’s new kit. After a protracted legal battle between the club and Adidas led to the two sides agreeing to part ways this season, an agreement made prior to winning the league, Nike swooped right in when they smelled blood. With Adidas out of the picture, the acrimony between the sportswear manufacturer and the club (Ed Woodward to be precise) had become “irreparable”, Nike was essentially bidding against themselves. An identical deal, £750M over (10) years, is what happens when there aren’t any other bidders for your services. While that number seems ludicrous for most teams, the fact that they weren’t able to improve on the Adidas deal with rapidly rising interest from the Chinese market is a sign of how well Nike did. Where United (Woodward) did manage to score a win was in the kit sponsor as Lenovo, a Hong Kong based company, agreed to a £375M deal over (5) years. Not the same total as the Chevy deal (£450M), but they managed to move up to £75M a year compared to the £64M from Chevy. Both deals are laced with clauses reducing the revenue based on performance, so Mauricio Pochettino is really going to feel the heat to win everything.


United have returned to the classic Red-Black-Blue color scheme with very subtle vertical stripes. The color difference is achieved with alternating glossy and matte fabrics for an understated look, the third kit will likely be used mostly in the Champions League and domestic cup competitions.

More news that would surprise nobody as Manchester United headed to Beijing for their preseason training camp. Fans came out in droves, mostly to see Paul Pogba, and the whole thing was a massive success on and off the field. The team even managed to steer wide of any controversy by avoiding any publicity with members of the government, there were persistent rumors that Pogba would have a photo op with President Xi Jinping but it never happened. There are now more than enough photos of Pogba dabbing with fans, even with a transfer saga looming he was the face of the club.



The highlight of the preseason would be Ousmane Dembélé (spoiler alert) scoring a double in his first game against Lyon. Overall the team displayed the crushing defense seen last season with a level of flair and aggression that hasn’t been seen in years. Mauricio Pochettino has the advantage of a mostly intact squad from last year, so there is a familiarity among the players even with a new manager.

Based on the talent on hand, and Jürgen Klopp leaving for Barcelona, Manchester United enter the season as 2-1 favorites to win the league. Liverpool, with new manager Thomas Tuchel, Manchester City, and Arsenal have the next best odds. Lucien Favre should dust off his resume, if Tuchel gets fired he might be in line for the job.

A very fresh-faced crop of managers in charge of the title challengers these days.

While Mauricio Pochettino was brought in with the understanding that United were looking to build from within and weren’t going to light money on fire, ownership handed him a massive £177M transfer budget. Add in the £40M left over from last year and that £217M total would burn a hole in United’s wallet, and it wouldn’t end there as Pochettino and Luís Campos would sell off a number of senior players for various reasons.

The first players to go were the high cost players who weren’t able to make a permanent place in the first squad. Eric Bailly, Andreas Periera, and Jesse Lingard were transfer targets for other teams and United were happy to be rid of their contracts. It was sad to see Lingard go, but he would be made into a very expensive bench option almost as soon as the transfer window opened. The next players to go were the guys who just couldn’t stay on the field; Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Diogo Dalot. Ma Huateng’s board had no qualms about moving on from players that were bought during the Mourinho Regime, especially because they were constantly injured and Campos was willing to bet he could find one good player for the transfer fees he could get for them. After them it was younger players that the club felt were not going to be 1st squad regulars but were being paid well enough to be one, so Scott McTominay and Axel Tuanzebe found themselves being shipped out. Now Pochettino had £338M to work with and very few positions to fill, it was time to break the bank.

With Victor Tsygankov playing so well at RW and all the money in the world it was time for United to take a massive swing at upgrading their squad. The oft injured, yet young and mercurial, Ousmane Dembélé represented a major opportunity for Pochettino to put a superstar across the field from Jadon Sancho. At £98M he represented a serious bargain, with some guy named Lionel Messi starting over him and growing animosity between him and management it represented a win-win for everyone involved. His transfer would be a new record for United, passing the £86M they paid for Paul Pogba, and now Nike would have one of their marquee talents on a team they now sponsor.



With their primary target in hand Pochettino moved to address the only two positions on the 1st squad that could use substantial upgrades; CB & RB. Dayot Upamecano could not have been more perfect, his price tag kept him at RB Leipzig and he was now itching for a big payday, he’s also the athletic CB United have craved to pair with Harry Maguire. With so much money still left £75M didn’t seem like much and RB Leipzig were happy to cash in. Pochettino then made a smart buy, landing RB Álvaro Odriozola who was on loan at AC Milan after being stuck behind Daniel Carvajal. The £37.5M spent on him was less than the fee they got for Wan-Bissaka, and he was highly recommended by United’s scouts. With the first squad in hand Pochettino found some bargains to fill in on the second squad with Dani Olmo and Nadiem Amiri, both players landed for less than the price of Scott McTominay and likely better than him and Pereira.

Everything was going exactly as planned, Pochettino had managed to improve the squad while getting financially leaner and making room for promising youngsters on the bench or in the second squad when all hell broke loose. PSG were making a lot of noise about Pogba all last year, but management are used to teams saying they were interested in him. Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, and Juventus had all expressed interest but it was always just part of the background noise of transfer gossip. PSG was the first to actually put in a bid, an insultingly low bid of £60M, and Pogba was rather upset it wasn’t accepted. Pochettino was about to experience a baptism by fire, he was going to need to steer clear of Instagram for a while. His first experience with Mino Raiola while at United was going to be a big one, and it was going to be ugly. After a number of discussions with Pogba it was agreed that the team would not sell him for less than £100M, so of course PSG came back with an offer of £75M with £34M in a long list of incentives. Pogba just saw £109M total and lost it when United didn’t like the incentives package, the thrashing attracted sharks and Real Madrid joined in along with Barcelona to lodge obnoxious £70M bids. After protracted negotiations PSG agreed to a £110M package, £78M up front with three additional payments to get to the total, and Pogba was Paris bound. Au revoir PogBoom.


Pochettino now had an issue with no DLP for the first squad. He was tempted to move Eduardo Camavinga up, but with a massive pile of money left and pressure to win the Champions League he had to go big on a replacement. Florentino Luís, seven years younger than Pogba, had already made a move from Benfica to Inter Milan where he was showing his quality. While £81M was a lot for the Portuguese midfielder, United had money to burn and trophies to win.

Senior / Major Transfers (Out)
Paul Pogba (CM, PSG) £110M
Andreas Periera (CAM, Bayern Munich) £45M
Jesse Lingard (RW, Arsenal) £39.5M
Aaron Wan-Bissaka (RB, AC Milan) £38M
Eric Bailly (CB, PSG) £35M
Scott McTominay (CM, Bayern Munich) £35M
Diogo Dalot (RB, West Ham) £28M
Axel Tuanzebe (CB, Juventus) £25.5M

Senior Transfers (In)
Ousmane Dembélé (RW, Barcelona) £98M
Florentino Luís (CM, Inter Milan) £81M
Dayot Upamecano (CB, RB Leipzig) £75M
Álvaro Odriozola (RB, Real Madrid) £37.5M
Dani Olmo (CAM, Dinamo Zagreb) £19M
Nadiem Amiri (CM, Stade Rennais) £14.5M

Final Transfer List (Impact Signings)
Fernando Júnior (CF, Athletico Paranaense - Brazil) £9.25M
Didier Atangana (CAM, Olympique Lyon - France) £6.75M
Pierre Rémy (GK, Stade Rennais - France) £6.75M
Rudie Eymbert (CF, Galatasaray - Netherlands) £4.6M
Kasim Pasha (CAM, AS Monaco - France) £4.3M
Juan Manuel Sanabria (CM, Racing Club - Argentina) £4.0M
Jupp Böhme (RW, VfL Bochumm - Germany) £3.9M
Hasan Hanoğlu (CF, Fenerbahçe - Turkey) £3.7M
Mamadú Candé (CB, Sporting CP - Guinea-Bissau) £3.4M
Lorenzo Etxeberria (CM, Málaga - Spain) £2.7M
João Bastos (LB, Benfica - Portugal) £2.3M
Slavisa Buzadzija (CB, Spartak Zlatibor Voda - Serbia) £850K
Juan Marín (LW, Barranquilla FC - Colombia) £525K
Simon Kamango (RW, Vita Club - DR Congo) £400K

With the Lucas Lourenço disaster fresh on Campos’ mind, EU Nationals became the order of the day and United continues to stockpile young talent. Chelsea is going to start complaining about the number of players United have out on loan, until FIFA stops them they are going to keep adding the best players they can find. Just about everyone from non-EU countries has dual citizenship; Júnior (Portugal), Sanabria (Italy), Candé (Portugal), and Kamango (France). A few of these players stand out as future superstars, mainly Júnior and Pasha, the primary issue that will hold them back initially is all of the other future superstars clogging up United’s youth system.

A lot of business conducted in a hectic summer at United. Poch is far removed from his rather inactive days at Spurs now. On paper, the team has been improved massively. I can't help but laugh a little at Bayern spending so much on the duo of Pereira and McTominay. The standards in Germany must have dropped considerably!

2020-04-01 14:54#268139 ScottT : A lot of business conducted in a hectic summer at United. Poch is far removed from his rather inactive days at Spurs now. On paper, the team has been improved massively. I can't help but laugh a little at Bayern spending so much on the duo of Pereira and McTominay. The standards in Germany must have dropped considerably!

Sometimes the game just offers their "value" and doesn't seem to care that McTominay was a bench option all year. Not going to question it...

If anyone had a problem with hiring Mauricio Pochettino, United shut them up real fast with an explosive start to the season. Pochettino, Ousmane Dembélé, and Dayot Upamecano immediately endeared themselves to fans as the memory of Paul Pogba rapidly faded into the distance. Every factor of the squad (team cohesion, locker room atmosphere, and support from ownership) couldn’t have been in better shape heading into the season, spirits couldn’t have been much higher.


GROUP A
Manchester United (England)
Barcelona (Spain)
Lazio (Italy)
Club Brugge (Belgium)

Pochettino really has his work cut out for him right out of the gate. Just being drawn in a group with Barcelona, with Jürgen Klopp in charge, is bad enough but the addition of Lazio increases the chances of United being eliminated. They are favorites to advance, with Barcelona heavy favorites to win, but Lazio has a very good chance of catching either one off guard.

English teams mostly got a raw deal on the draw, with Spurs (Porto, RB Salzburg, Young Boys) getting the easiest group. Arsenal (Bayern Munich, Ajax, Real Sociedad), Manchester City (PSG, Shakhtar Donetsk, FC Midtjylland), and Liverpool (Napoli, Lille, Olympiakos) all find themselves in tougher groups.




The second game between these two sides would roughly decide the group, and that just added to the media buzz around it. Klopp, Camp Nou, Champions League, how much more could you ask for as a United fan? The 1-1 draw at Old Trafford acted as a bit of a litmus tech for Pochettino as it was his first test against a European superpower and United had only played Liverpool in the Community Shield up to that point. Klopp did his part in helping Ole Gunnar Solskjaer out the door, would this be a shove out the door for Pochettino?

“They played well at home, they had some crowd support, but they couldn’t win.” said Klopp prior to the game in a sly Mourinho-esque comment “but, we are at home now. We know we can take the group now.”

Klopp was clearly happy to be United’s boogeyman, it would be up to Pochettino and his players to do something about it. Pochettino, taking a page from Solskjaer, would walk into this game with a little edge thanks to using the second squad in a 3-0 win over Nottingham Forest just three days ago. In contrast, Klopp used his first squad in a 3-0 win over Real Betis. Some of these things are hard to tell, but tired legs and Gegenpressing are not a good combination and Barcelona would be fighting exhaustion almost all game. Either way, both teams went at each other in a sumptuous display of attack football.

Klopp’s primary problem was Jadon Sancho scoring just 4’ in to put United up frighteningly early. The opening score would leave Klopp fuming, and with good reason. Álvaro Odriozola took a long pass from Dayot Upamecano and sprinted up the right side, looping around the edge of Barcelona’s defense and rushing down the end line to get near the goal area. He was quick enough that Barcelona’s back line formed up too far from Marc-André ter Stegen, leaving a wide lane for him to pass the ball across the face of goal to find Sancho crashing down on the far post. Ter Stegen never had a chance as he closed down the near post to keep Odriozola from scoring himself. Things got much worse at 14’ when Antoine Griezmann went down with a twisted ankle, with the ball at his feet he went down untouched and the man who created so many problems at Old Trafford was out.

The storyline got even better at 41’ when Ousmane Dembélé threaded a gorgeous pass between two Barcelona defenders to find Marcus Rashford just inside the box. With a defender on his left shoulder and ter Stegen closing down his opening at the right side of goal Rashford used the outside of his left foot to sneak the ball into the far side netting and put United up 2-0. Heading into the half, Klopp was watching his grip on the group slip away.

The second half is likely where that game against Real Betis came into play as Clément Lenglet, Rafa, and Lionel Messi started looking tired around 60’. Klopp was already forced to sub Griezmann, then he took Sergi Roberto off at the half for being tired, and Frenkie de Jong at 63’. It was becoming more and more obvious that Barcelona didn’t have the energy to come back in this one, and United were happy to keep pressing the point. Their collapse was well under way prior to Sancho adding a second at 85’ on a very similar exchange with Odriozola, this time Sancho managed to get his foot out before Moussa Wagué. 3-0 would be good enough to win this one and take control of their group, now it would be on Lazio to unseat them. United’s win was rather impressive against such quality opposition, none of Barcelona’s players rated higher than 6.8 while all of United’s starters passed 7.2 with Sancho (9.0), Odriozola (9.0), and Dembélé (8.1) having excellent games.


The immediate take away from the first half was Pochettino maintaining the ability to crush opposing teams without the ball while being more aggressive with bigger teams. August was a series of shutouts, with a single 0-0 draw against Arsenal, and 3-0 wins over Liverpool (Community Shield) and Manchester City. Pochettino wasn’t interested in sitting back, and it would show in a stunning run of results even compared to last season. From August to December United would win every game but two across all competitions, a 0-0 draw to Arsenal and a 1-1 draw to Barcelona in the Champions League, and they would only allow more than (1) goal twice in bizarre 3-2 wins against Bournemouth and Burnley.

With a little more than half of the Premier League done United already appear to have an insurmountable lead. With a 19-1-0 record their (58) points is (15) clear of second place Manchester City. Their (48) goals scored and (7) allowed leads the league while Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and Bruno Fernandes are right back on top of the average ratings rankings. Few opponents have been able to do much against United as they score (3) or more goals in (17) of their games, Marcus Rashford seems to be the biggest beneficiary with (13) goals in (20) appearances across all competitions. The weirdest part of United’s scoring is that Upamecano is 4th in scoring with (7), only Rashford, Anthony Martial (8), and Mason Greenwood (9) have scored more.

United received yet another unlucky draw in the Champions League, landing Juventus in the first knockout round, but at this rate it might not matter who they face. Pochettino is still alive in (4) competitions, and with each successive win United look more and more likely to pull off a clean sweep of all of them. They already have the Community Shield, can Pochettino add more?




There were a number of awards to go around with Mason Greenwood and David De Gea the primary beneficiaries. The FIFPro Team Of The Year also featured (4) United players, the most of any team and tied for 1st with PSG if you include substitutes.


FIFA U21 Player Of The Year : Mason Greenwood - (15) goals, (3) assists, 7.62 rating
European Golden Boy : Mason Greenwood
FIFA GK Of The Year : David De Gea
Serbian FA Player Of The Year : Milinkovic-Savic
Serie A Midfielder of the Year : Venâncio (Loan)



Pochettino has been very fortunate on the injury front. The worst was losing Jorge for (5) weeks with sprained knee ligaments, this forced Luca Pellegrini into the first squad and brought Renato Leônidas off the bench but they got through it very well. Dembélé has been the most injured player with (6) separate injuries that added up to (30) days with the physio. He would end up sitting out twice for (9) days, once with a thigh injury and one with an ankle injury, but Pochettino has managed to make it work. For the most part workload has been managed well and United is experiencing significantly less injuries than the rest of the league, if this holds Pochettino might be able to top last year.

Poch has certainly improved on his days at Spurs. He was notorious for struggling against his fellow top six sides. It's been a great season thus far and although United are unfortunate to be paired alongside Juventus, they've demonstrated they have the ability to beat the best.