Three weeks ago, Manchester United’s place in the top four of the Premier League and a return to the Champions League looked practically assured. Now, though, they are anxiously looking over their shoulders, feeling the heat from a resurgent Liverpool and dreading the very real prospect of their number one objective evading them at the last.
While Liverpool have awoken from a difficult campaign and hit their stride at the business end of the season with six consecutive victories, United’s exciting season has spectacularly come off the rails. Erik ten Hag’s side have taken only four points from their last four league matches, and in their last six matches in all competitions they have only won once inside 90 minutes, scoring just three goals.
After losing back-to-back games against Brighton and West Ham, United are only one point ahead of fifth-placed Liverpool and need to win three of their last four matches, against Wolves, Bournemouth, Chelsea and Fulham, to be assured of a top-four finish. It is hardly a mammoth task, but with the way United have been playing recently, three wins is far from guaranteed.
The team that in March Jurgen Klopp described as “a results machine” is now looking rusty and faulty, its features no longer working properly from overuse. United have played more matches than any team in Europe’s top five leagues and have been badly affected by injuries to their two first-choice centre-backs Lisandro Martinez and Raphael Varane. But too many games is no excuse. A team of United’s size and ambition should be going deep in all competitions and must be set up to do so.
Which is why the blame for the team’s sudden decline should fall squarely on the Glazers woeful management of the club and for dragging the sale of the club on for months.