MATIC: WE MUST CHALLENGE FOR TITLE
MATIC WANTS TO CHALLENGE LIVERPOOL FOR PREM CROWN
NEMANJA Matic has warned Liverpool not to expect such an easy ride in the Premier League this season as the Serbian targets a title challenge with United.
The Merseysiders ended their 30-year wait for the title with ease last season, winning the Premier League with seven games to spare and finishing 18 points ahead of City and 33 points clear of the Reds.
But Matic, who twice won the Premier League with Chelsea, is confident Jurgen Klopp’s side won’t have it so easy next season, with a challenge not just from a resurgent City, but from United.
“From the next season there is no excuse. We have to go with everything. We have to fight for the title because I felt that this year we dropped some points too easy,” Matic told the UTD podcast.
“We allowed Liverpool to win [the title], I don’t know, ten games before the season finished.
“They won the league, so we cannot allow that. We need to fight to the end. We have to play with more confidence, with more responsibility.”
United made clear progress under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer last season, but talk of the title still seems ambitious at this stage.
But Matic knows what it takes to win trophies and he’s seen enough to believe United can challenge.
“My personal target is to win the league with United and I am sure that everyone wants to do the same. We have to promise our supporters that we will do our best” said Matic.
IF Sergio Romero completes his move away from United this summer then the decision to axe him for three semi-finals this season may well be considered the defining moment of his time at the club.
For five years the Reds have had the best back-up goalkeeper in the Premier League – certainly the only No. 2 with 96 caps for Argentina – but when push came to shove they still didn’t trust him ahead of David de Gea.
The Spaniard has struggled for a second successive season at Old Trafford but when the team to face City in the Carabao Cup, Chelsea in the FA Cup and Sevilla in the Europa League was announced, he was back in. Romero played 17 cup games for United this season but was moved aside at the business end of all three competitions.
Those decisions might have been the final straw for the 33-year-old, but the reality is he’s been a clear understudy to De Gea for much longer than this season, rather than ever being seen as realistic competition, despite his stellar record in the game.
For a few seasons now De Gea has known his status as No. 1 is undisputed. Has that led to some of the error-strewn performances we’ve seen over the past 18 months? On his day the four-time player of the year has shown he remains as good as ever, but there have been too many mistakes to go alongside the memorable saves, perhaps a hint of complacency kicking in.
If that is the case then the 29-yearold is about to get exactly what he needs in the form of some serious competition to be Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s first-choice goalkeeper.
When United begin the new Premier League season on September 19 against Crystal Palace it would be a major surprise if De Gea didn’t start, adding to his 405 club appearances, but he will know that in Dean Henderson he has a young, ambitious goalkeeper who will be determined to end the season as United and England’s No. 1.
To begin with Henderson will get chances in the cup competitions, as Romero did, but while the Argentinean knew he was just picking up an appearance fee rather than putting himself in Premier League contention, Henderson will know that if he can impress he will put pressure on De Gea.
The 23-year-old has had two exceptional seasons on loan at Sheffield United and has never hidden his ambition to oust De Gea.
His presence on the training ground every day will keep the Spanish goalkeeper on his toes and perhaps that level of competition will result in improved performances as well.
If De Gea continues to make the number of mistakes he has been doing then it will surely be a matter of time before Henderson gets his chance in the Premier League. But conversely, the pressure from Henderson might reignite De Gea’s own United career.
In Romero he knew he had a caretaker when he was given the night off, rather than any real competition. That’s no longer the case.