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Why Manchester United need to look beyond the transfer market to challenge next season
The assertion that Jose Mourinho and Manchester United need to get it right in the summer transfer window or risk becoming also-rans in the fight for the English Premier League title next season has great merit.
Jose Mourinho and his team achieved the bare minimum of qualifying for the Champions league, while adding two trophies to the mix. Their recruitment this summer is deemed pivotal in preparing United for a sustained title challenge next season.
Such assertions are not false, considering how abysmal showings in three of the last four summer transfer windows have hampered United in their chase for the ultimate prize. However, a title-winning team is made of more than star-studded signings.
A lot goes on before and after the transfer window that makes a team possess champion-worthy credentials – you can get advice on who to put your money on next season with .
Creating a team identity has been something of a challenge for Jose Mourinho for various reasons. Jose’s lack of trust in some of his player’s abilities and injuries to key players are some of the reasons a defined playing style has eluded this United team. Of the ‘big six’ United are the only team who have no defined playing style.
Disorganisation and inconsistency were part and parcel of United’s attacking play last season, ultimately leading to their inability to finish off teams who ‘park the bus’ and drawing a club-record 15 games. Though only Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur put up a sustained title challenge, the Red Devils’ ‘lack of identity’ hampered their hopes of a title challenge last season.
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Elite teams, such as Real Madrid and Bayern Munich, possess more than one playing style. However, their ability to switch between these systems presents a strength rather than a hindrance to their success, evidenced by their respective league successes last season. Manchester United, under Jose Mourinho, are in dire need of a team identity if they are going to be big-hitters next season.
Executive Vice-Chairman Ed Woodward has employed something of a Galactico strategy in Manchester United’s transfer dealings in recent years, signing stars like Juan Mata, Angel Di Maria, Radamel Falcao, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Paul Pogba. However, not all of these big names signed have produced consistent performances for the team. Di Maria and Falcao are prime examples.
Their failures, though, shed light on the cons of poor management of players by managers. Having purchased Pogba and Ibrahimovic last season, Jose Mourinho’s proper management of the two stars helped them produce impressive performances, with Zlatan bagging 28 goals in all competitions. Nonetheless, Jose, as is his norm, still managed to rile up players, like Luke Shaw, Phil Jones and Chris Smalling, with his constant criticism of their attitudes to injuries.
As shown by Antonio Conte and Zinedine Zidane – managers who inherited squads in complete chaos – proper management of the whole team is integral to any team’s success. It doesn’t pay to just buy talented players, but managing them properly produces great dividends, as players now possess so much power in the modern game.
When building a team, every manager looks to his team’s ability to produce performances in line with his philosophy. Great teams, though, possess more than just ability or talent. Mental strength is a key feature of every title-winning team. Having players with speed, agility, vision, and skill certainly helps, but in a gruelling and long league campaign teams usually find a way to produce the goods without being particularly brilliant.
United, last season, conceded too many ‘soft goals’ and failed to finish off opponents, resulting in so many wasted chances and one all draws. Their twenty-five game unbeaten run glosses over the fact that twelve of the twenty-five were draws. Turning six of those draws to wins would have seen United finish third rather than the embarrassing sixth.
Champions, Chelsea, played brilliantly for most of last season but also gained hard-fought 1-0 wins against stubborn opposition. United didn’t show enough mental strength to win scrappy games last season and would need to develop that attitude if they have any hope of usurping their London rivals.
Everyone anticipates the kind of team Jose Mourinho will put out next season. Anything short of a title-winning team would certainly not meet the expectation of the United board of directors and, more importantly, those of the fans. Nevertheless, Old Trafford officials must not depend on the transfer market to fix all the problems in his team.