Have Manchester United Finally Recovered from Ferguson’s Retirement?
After two games, Manchester United sit atop the Premier League by virtue of their two convincing 4-0 wins over West Ham United and Swansea City. Now, of course, it is very early days, but United are playing their best football since manager Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013. So, is the team showing the right signs to indicate that they’ve finally recovered from the departure of their legendary manager?
The new-look team
When Ferguson retired, Manchester United saw David Moyes buy just two players and fail to find any form of success with the Premier League champions that he inherited, and Louis van Gaal saw a whole slew of new players come into the club. Jose Mourinho has calmed that down, sticking to four last season and three – maybe four – this season, making sure that only the right players were coming in.
Mourinho needed the three trophies to ensure job security last season, and United fans are thankful that he achieved that as he can now bear the fruits of his transfer exploits in the form of a big, strong team that may play defensive football, but is terrifying on the attack.
What’s more is that Mourinho has won the domestic title in his second season with every single one of his former clubs, which includes Chelsea in both spells, Inter Milan, FC Porto, and Real Madrid. This, coupled with the strong team that he’s assembled, is one of the reasons why Manchester United are 2/1 to win the Premier League and would make a good use of Betfair’s £30 free bet offer.
Manchester United get bigger and scarier
In Mourinho’s first season, he signed center-back Eric Bailly – who has been a pleasant surprise thus far – and midfield maestro Paul Pogba, both of whom topple 6’1’’ in height. Then, this season, center-back Victor Lindelof and big Belgian Romelu Lukaku brought in more talent and more muscle.
But, one of the best signings of the summer in the Premier League, has got to be the near 6’4’’ defensive midfielder Nemanja Matic. Chelsea have been slated in many circles for selling the massive Serbian to a title rival who desperately needed a man of his talents, and his match-winning performances – without even contributing to the scoring in the league – are proving his £40 million transfer fee to be a bargain in the modern market. So far, Matic has been so dominant that he’s taken a lot of pressure off of the somewhat lacking defensive corps, being a key factor in the two shutouts kept so far.
There’s also a good chance that the 6’4’’ striking dynamo Zlatan Ibrahimovic will be returning as a Red Devil this season, with Eric Bailly’s cheeky Instagram post adding some fuel to the rumour flames:
With Jose Mourinho at the helm of this mighty set of players, Manchester United finally have a chance to pick up near where Sir Alex Ferguson left off, by winning the title. But, in the not too distant future, the Old Trafford residents will want to reinforce in other areas of the pitch, such as at left-back, if they wish to sustain success.
