LGV Hopeless For UEFA Blames Mata
The Red Devils slipped to a 1-0 defeat to West Brom on Sunday as they failed to gain ground in the race to finish with a Champions League spot - is there any way back for LVG?
COMMENTOn Wednesday night it was stand-in skipper Juan Mata who threw Manchester United right back into the Champions League reckoning with a dazzling late free-kick to down Watford, but just four days on the hero became a villain as his first ever red card led to a 1-0 defeat at West Brom. The very differing storylines surrounding the Spaniard this week perfectly reflect United’s season as a whole. Every time a corner is seemingly turned, they come a cropper once more. In a Premier League campaign full of indescribable inconsistencies, United’s have been the most glaring.
Louis van Gaal claimed recently that it was the media rather than his team which had failed to show consistency this term, but the truth is that the constant inability to build on good runs of form will leave United shy of the top four come the season’s end and their manager without a job.
United went top of the league at the end of September off the back of four straight wins, only to be subjected to a shellacking by Arsenal at the Emirates. They looked to be back on course for a title run in November but followed it with an eight-game winless streak which also sent them tumbling out of the Champions League. And even in 2016, improved runs have been brought to shuddering halts by Southampton, Sunderland and now West Brom.
They are now three points and one game behind the fourth-place pace set by neighbours Manchester City, and the Reds might just have blown their last chance to have a real say in the Champions League reckoning.
Mata’s 26th-minute dismissal for a wild swing at Darren Fletcher moments after being shown a yellow card for blocking a quick free-kick undoubtedly had a big hand in United being undone by Salomon Rondon’s winner midway through the second half, despite the fact it was they who had initially responded best to the sending-off.
READ MORE | 'Mata damaged Man Utd'Either side of half-time they played with great composure and could easily have taken the lead themselves, but as soon as they were truly stretched for the first time they left Rondon unmarked to fire home the game’s only goal.
The next order of business for United is a Europa League trip to arch-rivals Liverpool, and the secondary continental competition is fast becoming their only hope of Champions League inclusion next season. All this despite the Premier League being as wide open as ever before.
A squad built with as much money as United’s should have found a way to get themselves through relatively unscathed, but instead they keep constantly letting Arsenal, Tottenham, Leicester and Man City get away with it. Van Gaal and his players just keep finding new ways to let themselves and their fans down.
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