Injuries, bad luck, wrong calls, fixture glut, Manchester United’s manager, Jose Mourinho has had no shortage of excuses to give for his side’s short-on-standard achievements so far this season.
Don’t get me wrong, a reasonable number of those claims are valid; like how Marcos Rojo got knocked the moment he formed a promising partnership with Eric Bailly. And then we have the scenario where it seems the universe has sworn to frustrate the living daylight out of United. How else do you explain the fact that Paul Pogba has hit the wood work more times he’s found the back of the net?
Let’s not even get into the task of analyzing just how many times the Red Devils have had to settle for a draw despite outplaying their opponents. They’ve had 14 so far this season, making a mockery of their 25-game unbeaten run set in yet another draw against Swansea.
These and many other self induced misfortunes are the reasons why the Red Devils are gunning for a 4th place finish – something Wenger might be proud of but certainly not the Glazers family – despite spending a €150 million summer war chest in addition to landing the Harvey Specter of club football – Mourinho – to oversee everything.
Luckily for them, away from the gloom and doom of the one step forward, two steps backward premier league campaign, the Mancunians managed to navigate their way to the final stages of the Europa League and are one step away from playing at the finale.
For a semi-final pool made of United, Ajax, Lyon and Celta Vigo, Mou’s team are obviously the favourites. Be it in talent, history and experience the Red Devils simply outweigh the rest to the point that even if all their first-teamers pick up injuries, their second eleven will still be able to get the job done.
They dare not fail.
