Manchester United (MU) ended the 2024/25 season with sadness and bitterness. They were almost powerless to watch their rivals Liverpool equal their record of 20 English championships. MU could not put any pressure on Liverpool as they ranked 15th, 42 points behind their rivals at the top of the table, meaning they only accumulated half the points compared to their opponents.
Golden opportunity
For many MU fans, the most painful defeat of the season was probably losing to Tottenham, who were in even worse form than them, in the Europa League final. That defeat not only left MU empty-handed but also cost them the chance to participate in the Champions League, or rather, to be absent from Europe next season.
However, if you look at it from another angle, it might be a lucky sign for MU. Yes, it is lucky because they can completely free their hands to pursue the Premier League goal, ending the thirst for the English championship title that has lasted since Sir Alex Ferguson retired, and at the same time taking the lead over Liverpool in the race for the greatest team in England.
The empty-handed season is not really a disaster if you look at the previous two seasons that ended under Erik ten Hag. At that time, MU did not go empty-handed but ensured that Ten Hag's formula of having a title every season, even upgrading from the 2023 Carabao Cup to the 2024 FA Cup. However, they are still a team lacking competition in the Premier League. After all, only a long-term tournament like the Premier League is a measure, not a tournament that is heavy on luck like the Cup.
The fact that MU has been in the European Cup for the past 10 years, including 3 Europa League finals and 1 championship, does not help their greatness. MU is still just an outsider in the Premier League, finishing runners-up twice but being far behind Manchester City, never reaching the 80-point mark - the minimum number of points to win the championship in the 21st century.
Therefore, this time not being tied down in the European Cup is an opportunity for them to "hide in the sky and cross the sea" to regain the throne while the 5 clubs in the "Big Six" group have to worry about dividing their strength for the Champions League.
However, if MU wants to win the championship, they cannot just wait for their opponents to decline, they have to rise up themselves. The proof is that last season when Manchester City lost themselves, MU did not take advantage to do anything, but they fell even more freely with many humiliating defeats against weak opponents such as Wolves, Bournemouth, West Ham...
Reforming the attack
The weakness that caused MU to fail last season came from many factors. But the most convincing is to analyze the numbers. The defense that let in 54 goals is not an achievement to be proud of, but this number is actually not worrying.
54 goals conceded is still the team with the best defense among the 6 bottom teams and less than the teams above such as Brighton (ranked 8th, conceded 59 goals), Brentford (ranked 10th, conceded 57 goals). In addition, if we consider recent years, 54 goals is an acceptable number for MU because in the previous 3 seasons, there were 2 seasons in which the "Red Devils" conceded more than 54 goals.
MU's more worrying thing is the attack because it not only leads to a decline in performance but also the identity, image and commercial value of the team. In 38 matches last season in the Premier League, MU only scored 44 goals. This number is only more than 3 relegated teams and Everton (42 goals). Even Wolves ranked below MU scored 10 more goals than them and Tottenham ranked 17th also scored 20 more goals than the "Red Devils". In terms of goals, Tottenham beat MU in the Europa League and twice in the Premier League last season is also reasonable.
Even 44 goals is the lowest for United in the last half century. The last time they scored worse was 38 goals in the 1973/74 season, which led to their relegation. In the Premier League era, United have only scored under 50 goals once, in the 2015/16 season, when they scored 49 goals but conceded only 35.
MU's poor scoring record is due to their strikers being quite useless, and especially lacking confidence in Amorim's tactics. Last season, after a long time, MU did not have a player reach the 10-goal mark in the Premier League. The player with the most goals was midfielder Bruno Fernandes with 8 goals. Expected striker Joshua Zirkzee only scored 3 goals.
In his first summer at Old Trafford and with the freedom to shop at will, Coach Amorim revamped the attack by investing heavily in two strikers. That was Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha - a duo that cost around 150 million euros, an amount that many people considered a waste of money because both had no experience at big clubs.
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Mbeumo scored 20 goals, Cunha scored 15 goals |
However, Cunha and Mbeumo scored a total of 35 goals in the Premier League last season, almost equal to the 44 goals scored by the entire MU squad. They are not only familiar with the English football environment but also asserted themselves well.
Looking at their entire Premier League career, their records are quite similar: Mbeumo has 42 goals and 30 assists in 136 games, Cunha has 29 goals and 13 assists in 82 games. To put that into perspective, every 1.9 games, each of them contributes a goal.
Under Amorim, the two new recruits are expected to play behind the striker, in two "number 10" roles: Mbeumo on the right, Cunha on the left. Perhaps from now until the transfer market closes, MU will try to buy a classy striker and people can hope to see the "Red Devils" attack really explode like the time "dyed Europe red".
In theory, we can be confident that MU will make a big step forward compared to last season, especially in scoring goals. The only problem is winning the championship, entering the top 4 or top 6. The last season that MU did not participate in the European Cup was 2014/15 and they finished in 4th place. Surely the MU management will not be satisfied if at the end of the season the team only has a ticket to the Champions League.
Source: https://znews.vn/mu-lui-mot-buoc-tien-ba-buoc-post1573449.html
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