Why did United play its worst season? Five deadly sins exposed: C Ronaldo pushed down dominoes, and the winter window was broken

After the crushing defeat to Brighton, when Cristiano Ronaldo smiled bitterly, the United fans who accompanied the team shouted angrily, "You don't deserve to wear this shirt." "It's a scene that no one could have imagined at the end of last season, and it's a scene that no one could have imagined when Cristiano Ronaldo returned.

After finishing runners-up in the Premier League last season, Xia Xiao signed Varane, Sancho and Ronaldo in one go, and Manchester United's goal was even to impact the Premier League and Champions League titles. However, a heartless truth lay in front of United fans: they played the worst season of the Premier League era.

Although there is one round left in the season, United will certainly break the record for the lowest number of points in a single season in the history of the team (currently 58 points), the record for the most goals conceded in the Premier League in a single season (56 goals), the record of more than 4 goals in the history of the team in six games (the first time since the 1960-61 season), and the five consecutive defeats on the road also set the worst record in the history of the Premier League (the first since December 1980).

So how did United go from third place in 2019-20 and runners-up in 2020-21 to sixth place this season?

The return of Cristiano Ronaldo

Needless to say, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's abilities cannot be compared with those of a famous manager like Guardiola, Klopp and Tuchel. However, he built a tactical system with the Red Devils label when he coached Manchester United, activating players like Bruno Fernandez, Rashford and Greenwood with a quick and sharp attack, and judging by their performances last season, all they lacked was an efficiency shooter.

In the summer window of 2021, C Ronaldo's departure from Juve has long been a foregone conclusion, but his next home has not been finalized. After learning that City were interested in signing the legendary goalscorer, United took the lead and took advantage of a phone call from Ferguson to smoothly sign back Ronaldo.

Judging from C Ronaldo's performance this season, the deal did not make Manchester United suffer, and even some insiders said, "Without C Ronaldo, Manchester United will even go to relegation." "In fact, this is also the problem, since leaving Real Madrid, Ronaldo's personal data has declined in the next four seasons, but it is still eye-catching enough, but the results of his team have plummeted, from Juve to Manchester United, which is no coincidence.

What's the problem? Cristiano Ronaldo is an ambitious player who often requires the team's offensive resources to tilt towards him, which leads to a lack of changes in the team's attack and makes it easy for opponents to predict and control United's attack. If Cristiano Ronaldo is in good form, then he will help United win with goals. However, once he is in poor form and physical fitness, then the defeat of Manchester United is inevitable.

Three stats are enough to illustrate this point, with Ronaldo scoring in 13 Premier League games this season, Son Heung-min in 18 and Salah in 23. Secondly, Ronaldo's goals account for 32% of the team's statistics, and are only lower than Norwich goalscorers Puki and Tottenham hotspur goalscorer Son Heung-min in the Premier League.

Third, United's other attacking players have seen a cliff-drop in numbers this season, with Bruno Fernandez falling from 45 in 58 games last season to 24 goals in 45 games this season, Rashford falling from 36 goals in 57 games last season to 7 goals in 21 games this season, and Sancho falling from 36 goals in 32 games last season to 8 goals in 37 games this season.

Attacks rely only on Cristiano Ronaldo, resulting in United scoring just 57 goals in the Premier League this season, the lowest in nearly six seasons. At the same time, in the ranking of the rating website, C Ronaldo is only ranked 27th among Premier League players with 7.11 points.

Because of this, the famous journalist Emmons pointed out, "Regardless of the talent of C Ronaldo, will Tenhach want to build his own team around a player who is almost 38 years old?" Manchester United are a team that needs to be completely rebuilt! ”

Babyface was dismissed

The addition of Cristiano Ronaldo has allowed United to knock down one domino after another, and the first to fall is Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Coincidentally, after losing 4-0 to Watford, Babyface was left behind, just four months after he renewed his contract with Manchester United.

In fact, of the four Manchester United managers since Ferguson's retirement, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has a 54% win rate, ranking second behind Jose Mourinho (58%). Equally important, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has found a proven tactical system for United.

However, like Allegri, Sarri, Pirlo or later Lonnick, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer can only be a victim of a bad record because of the inability to solve the contradiction between Ronaldo's personal ability and the overall ability of the team.

Abandon Conte

After firing Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, United made a series of decisions, first to have Carrick as firefighting manager, then to Ronnick as interim manager, and then to sporting director after the end of the season. At the same time, Manchester United will spend half a year to choose a new manager, that is, in just half a year, Manchester United has changed four managers.

Even with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's sacking, United have a better option than the interim manager, Lonnick, with Conte, who has been waiting for United's final decision.

Of course, Conte has always been known for his bad relations in his career, especially since he has always hoped for transfer dominance, but from Juve, Inter, Chelsea to Tottenham, the club is reluctant to give up power, and so is Manchester United.

Secondly, Conte has also been boycotted by the Manchester United dressing room. The reason is simple, Conte was never afraid to play against big players. However, Conte's iron-fisted management and the tactical and physical requirements of the players are exactly what this Manchester United team needs.

The data shows that since Conte took charge, Spurs have averaged 1.88 points per game, second only to Liverpool in the Premier League in the same period. After Lonnick took charge, United averaged just 1.61 points per game. The reason why Tottenham Hotspur can surpass Manchester United in the fourth match may be Conte.

The winter window is broken

Even if it is decided to overhaul the team in the summer window, United should use the winter window to make up for the team's weakness. However, United surprisingly opted for zero reinforcements in the winter window, for the first time in 19 years.

At the same time, Manchester United sent away Van der Beek, Diallo and Martial, but the players such as Lingard, Pogba and Phil Jones, who should have been sent away, remained in the team.

Anthony Martial left the team on loan and Greenwood had an accident that left United with two fewer strikers. United had two days left to make up for their losses, however, they chose not to move.

Renowned transfer expert Romano revealed after closing the window, "Manchester United talked with Alvarez, Zakaria, Camara, but in the end did not win any players. ”

This was also confirmed by Lonnick, "Manchester United was originally interested in Díaz, Alvarez, Vlahović in the winter window, I talked to the board and should sign at least one player, but the final answer was no. ”

Tenhach was announced in advance

Lonnick will certainly be fired at the end of the season, many players are about to expire their contracts, the atmosphere of manchester United's dressing room can be imagined, and the morale of Manchester United players can also be imagined.

At this time, Manchester United should choose to reduce the "volume" and minimize the impact on the dressing room. However, after a 4-0 defeat to Liverpool on 21 April, United hastily announced a contract with Tenhach.

After that, Manchester United won only 1 win in 4 games, completely missing the chance to get tickets to next season's Champions League, and even maybe play in UEFA's third level of the UEFA UEFA. Such achievements will affect Manchester United's reinforcement and rebuilding plans in the summer window, and Ronaldo's future has also raised huge doubts.

Longnick was sacked, Tenhach was about to take office, Nemanja Matic announced his departure, Mata, Pogba, Cavani and even Ronaldo and Rashford were about to leave, and the collapse of Manchester United was justified.

"Hearts are scattered, the team is not good", Brighton was able to win the first home win of the 2022 Premier League on Manchester United, scored four goals in the Premier League for the first time since April 2018, and the Red Devils became the first team in the history of the Premier League to be scored by Watford and Brighton to score four goals in a single season, which is enough to prove this.