Premier League Preview 2019-20: Manchester United
Manchester United Football Club
Credit: Manchester United
2018-19 Premier League Finish: 6th place
2019-20 Premier League Prediction: 4th place
Transfers In:
Aaron Wan-Bissaka DF - Crystal Palace £50,000,000
Daniel James MF - Swansea City £15,000,000
Transfers Out:
Ander Herrera MF - PSG, Free Agent
Antonio Valencia DF - LDU Quito, Free Agent
James Wilson FW - Aberdeen, Free Agent
What a difference a year makes. Last year at this time, Manchester United were right there with Manchester City as favorites to compete for the title. United was coming off of a second place finish and looked to improve further in another season under then head coach Jose Mourinho. But surprise, surpirse, Mourinho’s third season in charge failed to live up to the hype and Mourinho was canned 4 months into the season. Manchester United would then go on a run of 12 games unbeaten under new coach Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and miraculously climbed their way into the top 4. Before they slowly slipped back and finished in 6th place, which just so happens to be the same place in the league they were when Mourinho got fired. As I’m writing this, I’m really starting to question why I picked them to finish in the top 4 (would seriously consider switching Arsenal and Man United for the 4th and 5th spots). This team is just so incredibly dysfunctional and has been since Sir Alex Ferguson retired from coaching. We all knew filling his shoes would be tough, but I’m not sure even the biggest pessimistic could have imagined this. 7 years on and it’s still a circus. But enough bashing Manchester United, I have to defend why I chose them 4th. Worst case scenario for this team is around 6th or 7th, still getting a Europa League spot as they have too many stars on this team. Best case scenario is more than likely 3rd, which is a pretty good possibility if that Chelsea team from last season could manage it.
Strength:
Martial & Rashford
Credit: GiveMeSport
Their attack, and more specifically their wingers. Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial are quite the combo to have out wide, arguably the best in the Premier League behind Mane and Salah or Liverpool. Rashford and Martial both scored 10 Premier League goals last season for United. Rashford scored 10 goals in 26 starts and 33 appearances. Martial scored 10 goals in 18 starts and 27 total appearances. The reason I put that in there is to show that they would and should be capable of a lot more if they were starting as much as they should, which should be 30+ games a year. Another thing about these two is that they are still both really young and will hopefully continue to grow and get better. Martial is 23 years and Rashford is 21 years old. Give one of them all the penalty attempts that Pogba gets and they could go for 20+ this season. Elsewhere in attack, United have Romelu Lukaku as their striker, currently. Lukaku is a very good striker, but I’m not willing to say a great one like Aguero, but all of that may not matter anyway as it is rumored heavily that Lukaku is included in a potential swap deal for Paulo Dybala. That move could be a big risk, but also have a huge reward. Lukaku is proven in the Premier League and you know you’re getting 15+ goals at least from him. Dybala in my opinion has more upside than Lukaku but is unproven in the Premier League so you never know how that will play out. Something to definitely keep an eye on.
Weakness:
£50 million man Wan-Bissaka
Credit: TalkSport
Do I even need to say? I’m going with United’s defense, granted you could also make a case for overpaid, bad attitude players that sunk Mourinho. Manchester United’s defense was really bad last season. Now they did get slightly better once Solskjaer took over as coach but this defense definitely needs some adjustments. And that’s exactly what United have tried to accomplish with their £50,000,000 transfer of Aaron Wan-Bissaka, but man what a question mark and a very expensive one. £50,000,000 for Wan-Bissaka might be the most overprice transfer of the window. Going into last season the 21 yr old had played 7 total Premier League matches for Crystal Palace. He became a mainstay in the line-up last year for Crystal Palace with 35 appearances and I’ll admit that he played decent for a 20-21 yr old. But let’s be serious, the Crystal Palace defense wasn’t that great last year and are you really wanting to spend that much money on a guy with that little experience. United have essentially thrown £50 million at a 21 yr old RB and are hoping that fixes their problem. He costs no more than £20 million if he played in any other league than the Premier League. The way United will likely line-up now is with Luke Shaw at LB, some sort of combination of Jones, Smalling, Bailly and Lindelof at CB, and Wan-Bissaka at RB. I will say, the one positive is that they do their full back positions covered for the foreseeable future with both Shaw and Bissaka. Now they just need a star defender to pair with one of their above average CBs.
Top Goalscorer Predictions:
Romelu Lukaku: 19 goals (granted he’s stays)
Marcus Rashford: 16 goals
Anthony Martial: 13 goals
Home Kit: Decent home kit. Basic all red. I wish the black collar went all the way around, doesn’t make sense the way it is. Also I really like the black and gold United crest.
Credit: FootyHeadlines
Away Kit: Not sure if I like this away jersey or I absolutely hate it. Definitely leaning towards hating it. It’s a tough ask to make a beige sports jersey look good. Imagine buying a United jersey for this season and actually spending money on that jersey.
Credit: FootyHeadlines