THIS sounds weird, but I actually think Manchester United’s Europa League final defeat is the best thing that could have happened to them.
You need to hit the bottom, and they truly have bottomed out now.
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Had they got into the Champions League next season, they would have spent crazy money just to try and bridge the gap and probably get the recruitment wrong again.
Now, they are going to have to spend properly, be diligent and work from the ground up.
It could be a blessing in disguise.
But this remains a massive summer for Ruben Amorim, Jim Ratcliffe, CEO Omar Berrada and technical director Jason Wilcox – and they have run out of excuses.
They know who their manager is, they know how much they have got to spend and they know what the problems are. Now, go and solve them and make it happen.
And if they don’t, then you will all look like clowns.
It’s pressure, but to me it is a great pressure. The question is whether they can handle it.
With this latest round of redundancies, it looks like Ratcliffe’s true colours are on show for all to see now.
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He is a very smart businessman, much smarter than me.
But in terms of understanding and feeling a football club, he is just off the mark all the time.
You talk about having your finger on the pulse – he hasn’t got a clue.
I know they are a big club, and to be able to get rid of hundreds of people and still be operating is remarkable, which shows you how bloated they are as an organisation.
If you are going to lay people off, do it in the summer, don’t do it now. It’s crazy.
You need to hit the bottom, and they truly have bottomed out now.
Troy Deeney
No sense of empathy and shows an element of delusion when it comes to what the average person is going through right now.
It is a difficult climate, but ruthless businessmen clearly don’t think about your pennies. They want to get the job done.
Would they still have made those cuts had they won the Europa League? Who knows.
It was never going to be a barnstormer of a final because of how inconsistent both teams were, and both goalkeepers were competing against each other to see who could be worse.
Man Utd ratings: Diallo best player in Europa League final but Hojlund out of his depth
AMAD DIALLO’S fizzing first-half display was little consolation for Manchester United in a dismal 1-0 Europa League final loss to Tottenham.
Rasmus Hojlund’s plight up front continued in one of the worst European showpieces for many years – as both sides showed why they will finish in the Premier League lower reaches.
Spurs clinched it from virtually their first opportunity – on 42 minutes.
Brennan Johnson bundled in Pape Sarr’s inswinging cross, with United left-back Luke Shaw also getting a touch on the way.
The Red Devils dictated possession more and more after the break, with Leny Yoro stretching to test Guglielmo Vicario from a free-kick.
But United’s chances only arrived regularly in the final quarter of a patchy contest.
The Red Devils belatedly piled on the pressure in the seven minutes of stoppage time, but Spurs just held on.
Here’s how SunSport’s Dave Courtnadge rated United on a miserable night individually and collectively for Ruben Amorim’s men…
The attitude of those United players stinks too, especially Alejandro Garnacho, who threw his toys out of the pram when he didn’t start the final and claimed he should have played more than 20 minutes off the bench, posting all over Instagram.
This kid is talking like he got United to the final all by himself, and that sums up this entire club right now: lots of selfish people putting themselves before others, and look where it has got them.
You have every right to be frustrated, but do you think handling it like that is going to get you what you want at the end of it? You’re part of a team.
You reckon Amorim is going to stand for that and start playing him more next season? I don’t think so.
You talk about having your finger on the pulse – he hasn’t got a clue.
Deeney on Sir Jim Ratcliffe
I remember earlier on in the season, back in February at home to Ipswich, he got taken off because United were down to 10 men and he had a full hissy fit then, storming straight down the tunnel while the game was still going on.
He is a very talented kid, but he is as entitled as they come, and if he had a proper dressing room around him, he would have a clip around the ear for that.
That wouldn’t be allowed in any of my dressing rooms, or any United dressing rooms of the past, and people should be going up to him and saying: ‘Who are you?’.
When he was linked with a £50m move away in January, how many United fans threw their arms in the air desperate to keep him?
