De Gea: United players have to commit or go
The worst Manchester United team of the Premier League era? They might have scraped into the Europa League courtesy of Brighton’s win against West Ham, but even the most rose-tinted fan surely cannot argue against that damning verdict.
Since the Premier League was conceived in 1992, never had United won fewer games, accumulated fewer points or endured a longer trophy wait. They had also never previously lost at Crystal Palace, where Wilfried Zaha scored the only goal against his former club.
Here is the most shocking statistic of all, however. A tally of 57 goals for and 57 against means that a team who, under Sir Alex Ferguson, would routinely end a season up to 60 goals in credit, have finished up conceding as many as they scored. No United team have previously come even close to such mediocrity.
United were again flat, onepaced and lacking in creativity. Ralf Rangnick criticised the collective spirit and there was a blunt message from one of the club’s most senior players. “The new manager [Erik ten Hag] and staff are already looking for new players – hopefully they bring good ones with good character,” goalkeeper David de Gea said. “Ones who want to stay at the club. Ones that don’t want to stay, go out.”
Rangnick, the interim manager, also highlighted limitations of character. “We spoke about team spirit. I think that this team could do with more cohesion,” he said. “The most important thing is that we find players for whom it is the best next sporting step in their career. They shouldn’t want to come because maybe they get a good contract.”
The one uplifting moment for United was the reception for Juan Mata as he waved what felt like a final goodbye to the travelling fans. Yet even that somehow illuminated the wider problem of so many other players on longer contracts and the reality that Ten Hag will probably need several seasons to have any serious chance of producing a team to again challenge for the title.
Palace took a deserved lead when Zaha collected the ball on the edge
of United’s area and sprinted inside Diogo Dalot and Victor Lindelof before firing his shot back inside De Gea’s near post. It was a deadly finish, albeit against feeble defending. Ten Hag, watching on, looked thoroughly unimpressed.