End of Season; New Beginnings?

     On Sunday, May 28th, the premier league season officially ended. Manchester United placed third in the league compared to sixth last season. After being in three cup competitions, one European and two domestic, we won the EFL Cup, made it to the finals of the FA Cup, and were knocked out of the Europa League in the quarter-finals. After placing third in the premiere, we have been guaranteed a spot in the champions league. Compared to last season, this season has been successful. After appointing a new manager, Erik Ten Hag, for this season and upcoming seasons, you cannot ask for more. Placing in the top four of the premier league and winning a trophy is arguably one of the greatest debut seasons for a Manchester United manager. Not to mention, Erik Ten Hag has one the most amount of games for a debut manager for Manchester United. The club has seen obvious improvement with the new manager, especially at home games.

    When it comes to the season, there are three areas to talk about. Attack, midfield, and defense. This season attacking has not been the greatest. While Marcus Rashford, left-winger, has had the best season in his career so far, with 30 goals in all appearances. Even with Rashford playing his best soccer, other positions are lacking heavily. Our starting striker, Anthony Martial, is constantly injured and missing a huge portion of the season, leaving us to play Wout Weghorst instead. Martial is a good player; however, constant injuries have destroyed his form, and Weghorst is not good enough. This season Manchester United has scored only 58 goals which is exceedingly low. Even though our attack is not as good as it needs to be, our midfield and defense have been much better.

    In midfield, we have Casemiro, Bruno Fernandes, and Eriksen. Fernandes plays as an attacking midfielder, while Eriksen and Casemiro play deeper in midfield. The midfield this season has been good but not great. With the addition of Casemiro in a previous transfer window, the midfield has quickly gotten better. Without Casemiro, though, the midfield is in shambles. Eriksen has been an important part of the midfield as his passing ability is fantastic, but he sometimes becomes a liability when it comes defensively and likely will not continue as a starter but will be a good backup midfielder. Bruno Fernandes has been great this season and for a long time. He is always at the top regarding big chances created and through ball, if not first. People do not give him the credit he always deserves, as sometimes he acts like a crybaby. The midfield has been good but lacks depth, and in order to compete for trophies constantly, we need at least 2 more midfielders. The midfield has improved, but this season we have relied on defense heavily.

    Defensively, this season has been great. We have 17 clean sheets, no goals scored against, which is the highest out of any team in the premier league. Not to mention, we have the fewest, 8, goals conceded at home this season. This season, the Varane and Martinez duo has been fantastic, with Lisandro Martinez being one of the best centre-backs in the league. In terms of fullbacks, Luke Shaw, left-back, has been great defensively and when attacking. Both left-backs, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Diogo Dalot have been good, with both competing for the starting position. Also, our backup defender, Victor Lindelof, has been playing fantastically when he gets the opportunity. The only issue is depth defensively. One issue with our current defense is our goalkeeper. David de Gea cannot play with his feet, an important part of modern games. This has caused issues throughout games and his saving ability has looked suspect recently. Due to injuries, the depth on the bench has cost us multiple games and made games much closer than they should be. 

    This season has been nothing but a comeback. With a new manager and new motivation to improve, it looks clear that Manchester United is ready to advance forward and, hopefully, in a few seasons, compete consistently for trophies. My previous analysis showed that squad depth is the main issue, and multiple positions needed to be upgraded. However, I am excited about what the future may hold.