- Joined
- May 8, 2002
- Posts
- 427,795
- Reaction score
- 44
You must be registered for see images attach
Neither Tottenham nor Manchester United fans will be even close to satisfied with the season from their sides - Getty Images/Michael Regan
There is a chance either Manchester United or Tottenham could finish as low as 17th in the table. It would have been a scarcely believable prospect a year ago but both clubs have endured miserable campaigns, albeit with a tantalising silver lining in prospect.
Who has had a worse season? James Ducker (Manchester United) and Matt Law (Tottenham) pick the bones over a wretched campaign and you can vote too.
Results
Manchester United: To put United’s miserable season into some perspective, if Liverpool had not kicked another ball after beating Spurs 6-3 on December 22, they would have still had more points (39) than United (38) currently have. That win in London was four months and 15 games ago.
United’s 15 defeats are the most in a league campaign since 1989/90 and you have to go back to 1962/63 to find the last time they lost more home league matches in a single season. Five teams have done the league double over United this term, the worst record on that front for 91 years. So, no, it has not been pretty.
You must be registered for see images attach
Tottenham: The defeat against Nottingham Forest was Tottenham’s 18th in the Premier League this season. Two more will set a new unwanted record. Only the relegated trio of Southampton, Leicester City and Ipswich Town have lost more games than Spurs so far.
There have been a couple of notable wins. A 3-0 success against United at Old Trafford in September and a 4-0 victory away at Manchester City in November were the highlights, but they both feel like a very long time ago. Results in Europe have generally been good, although Tottenham did lose away at AZ Alkmaar and Galatasaray on their way to the semi-finals of the Europa League.
Manager
United: United fans may sing about how Ruben Amorim will “bring the glory days again” but his record since taking over has been woeful. Since replacing Erik ten Hag in early November, United are the only team apart from the bottom three sides who have not recorded back-to-back Premier League victories.
He has lost half of his 22 league games in charge, with his 11 defeats as many as he suffered across his final 114 league matches with Sporting in Portugal. Amorim warned there would be problems trying to get the players to adapt to his 3-4-2-1 formation in mid-season and suggested this may be the worst United team in history but they have often looked confounded by the system and a blunt instrument going forward, with the chronic lack of goals a major concern.
Tottenham: Ange Postecoglou is not at his best in front of the cameras straight after defeats and there have been a lot this season. If he is not staring downwards and talking to his shoes, then he is usually snapping back at a television reporter’s line of questioning.
You must be registered for see images attach
This season has been a poor one for Ange Postecoglou to put it lightly - Reuters/David Klein
He is, however, far more reasonable in his main pre-match and post-match press conferences when he has had some time to decompress. It is not just the media he has lost his patience with at times, as the Australian has also confronted some angry Spurs fans this season and memorably cupped an ear at the travelling supporters at Stamford Bridge this season after they had chanted ‘you don’t know what you’re doing’.
Investment
United: Amorim has only been able to make one signing to date, the £29m recruit of left wing back Patrick Dorgu from Lecce in January, but dispatched a number of players he does not fancy out on loan, including Marcus Rashford and Antony. Troublingly, there has been little improvement in much of the squad he inherited and some players, like Rasmus Hojlund, even seem to be going backwards.
You must be registered for see images attach
Marcus Rashford’s unhappy season at Old Trafford came to an end in January - Getty Images/Marc Atkins
Amorim’s room for manoeuvre in the transfer market this summer will be heavily influenced by whether the club win the Europa League and, with it, secure Champions League qualification and its attached revenue boosts. A centre-forward of note is an overwhelming priority.
Tottenham: The club spent over £100 million last summer, £65 million of which went on Dominic Solanke. The striker was the Premier League’s most expensive signing of last summer’s transfer window and the club would have hoped for more than seven League goals so far, although his season has been interrupted by injuries.
Teenagers Archie Gray and Luca Bergvall, who both arrived in the summer, look like excellent players in the making but Spurs did not invest heavily enough on players who could make an immediate impact and left themselves short for combined campaigns in the Premier League and Europe. The club’s biggest signing of the January window was a loan move for Mathys Tel, but he too has shown promise rather than making a quick difference.
Off-field issues
United: How long have you got? Ten Hag was sacked 116 days after being awarded a contract extension, new coaching staff and £200 million to spend in the summer window. Dan Ashworth was then dismissed six weeks later after just 159 days as sporting director, ensuring the club incurred another hefty compensation bill.
Amorim froze out Rashford after publicly criticising his application and attitude in training before farming the England striker out on loan to Aston Villa. Staff morale is on the floor with another 200 jobs set to be cut on top of the 250 redundancies last summer. Co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe said United would have gone “bust by Christmas” but for his cost-cutting drive and claimed some players in the squad were “not good enough” or “overpaid”. But, apart from that, everything is hunky dory.
Tottenham: Spurs chairman Daniel Levy and owners ENIC are now facing sustained protests from angry fans, with one group ‘Change For Tottenham’ organising marches and demonstrations. Fans have been urged to ‘back the team, not the regime’ with Levy and ENIC accused of putting the business ahead of football.
You must be registered for see images attach
Patience with Daniel Levy is wearing thin in some portions of Spurs’ fanbase - Reuters/David Klein
There will be behind-the-scenes changes this summer with former Arsenal chief executive Vinai Venkatesham joining and chief football officer Scott Munn expected to leave his position. But such moves will be viewed as no more than the usual reshuffling of the deckchairs until there are bigger changes involving Levy and ENIC. It is now a year since Levy publicly revealed he was seeking outside investment, but there have been no updates on that.
Signs of hope?
United: The entire season now rests on the Europa League, which witnessed one of the most extraordinary comebacks in United’s history last week when, from 4-2 down with six minutes of extra-time to play against Lyon, Amorim’s side scored three times to win 5-4 and set up a semi-final meeting with Athletic Club of Bilbao.
Win the competition and Amorim will have his first trophy and the valuable revenues that come with Champions League qualification. Lose and this will go as one of the very worst campaigns in the club’s history and place an even greater burden on the need to sell well to raise funds to reinvest in a squad requiring urgent regeneration - something we seem to have been saying every summer for a decade.
Tottenham: All of Tottenham’s hope rests on winning the Europa League, which would end a trophy drought stretching back to 2008 and also earn qualification through the back door to the Champions League. That would be a huge bonus at the end of what has been an embarrassing League season for Spurs, but it certainly would not solve all of their problems.
Long-term, there is hope that youngsters such as Gray and Bergvall will blossom into important players for Tottenham for years to come.
Have your say...
Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.Continue reading...
