Man Utd devastated, dream of hegemony shattered

*The match between Man Utd and Brighton in the FA Cup semi-final will take place at 10:30 p.m. on April 23 at Wembley Stadium.

The defeat to Sevilla a few days ago made Man Utd bitterly leave the Europa League. They "died" because of too many individual and collective mistakes. But suppose, if they had all their best faces, would the Red Devils have collapsed in such a way?

The loss of central defender duo Varane and Martinez until the end of the season has caused difficulties for Man Utd (Photo: Getty).

Remember, Man Utd had a dream 84 minutes when leading Sevilla 2-0 in the first leg at Old Trafford, before losing the central defender duo Varane and Lisandro Martinez (leading to Maguire scoring an own goal in the first leg, making a mistake in the second leg).

A few months ago, people were still talking about Man Utd's dream of winning four titles. But after winning the English League Cup, the Red Devils could no longer maintain their position. One of the main reasons was that the club was "full of holes" due to injuries and suspensions. Eriksen and now Varane, Martinez are all out for long periods of time. Meanwhile, Casemiro and Bruno Fernandes are also suspended for important matches.

Statistics show that the ideal trio for Man Utd in midfield, Bruno Fernandes, Christian Eriksen and Casemiro, have only played together 7 times in 2023. Of which, the club won 6 and drew 1.

Before the FA Cup match against Brighton today (April 23), coach Ten Hag was not even sure if he would have enough central defenders with Maguire suspended and Luke Shaw still racing against time to be available. The Dutch coach only had one option left: Victor Lindelof.

Eriksen's injury causes Man Utd to decline (Photo: Daily Mail).

The question is whether coach Ten Hag is too "greedy", wanting to win all the trophies? That leads to the overload of the whole team. But from another perspective, it is clear that Man Utd lacks squad depth. The season is still more than a month away (Man Utd has 8 matches left in the Premier League), no one can predict anything. Bruno Fernandes or Marcus Rashford are at risk of injury due to exhaustion in the tight schedule and lack of rotation.

Look no further than Rashford, who has just missed three games due to a muscle injury, leaving Man Utd struggling. Wout Weghorst can't fit into this shirt, and Anthony Martial, who shone in the first leg against Sevilla, is… injured.

Coach Ten Hag looked straight at the problem: "We need at least two quality players in each position. Sometimes you have to make decisions to aim for victory in the next match and you can't let a few players rest. The more matches you play, the more you need to rotate your squad.

Coach Ten Hag has a headache because of Man Utd's force problem (Photo: Getty).

This season has been crazy with the World Cup in the mix. I think we've played more games than any other club in Europe. There are a lot of Man Utd players who are really overloaded."

Man Utd are dragging their feet painfully on the road to achieving their season goals. Coach Ten Hag’s neurons are working at full capacity because of the team’s complicated situation. If they don’t solve the problem of personnel well, Man Utd could lose a lot when the season ends.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-thao/man-utd-tan-hoang-giac-mong-ba-vuong-vo-vun-20230423105349678.htm