Yes we had some top players (albeit Torres was already a shadow of himself by then), but in football you track far closer to your average or even worst player on your team than you do your best. People for some reason continue to treat Utd’s players like a collection of championship players getting an unexpected opportunity when what they are are players with collectively a ton of CL and international experience, with very few players not fitting that description. Look at our team that year. Ngog got 30 appearance because even when Torres was still here he was needed. Poulson, Konchesky, Jovanovic, Wee Jay, a half dead Joe Cole, that Greek lad at the back. Raw inexperienced versions of Kelly and Shelvey. Personnel wise we were shit, quite possibly the shittest we’ve ever been in my lifetime.
The turn around in the second half of the season was impressive and driven a lot by Kenny, both in terms of him simply being better than Roy and by just lifting the atmosphere around the club. But it was also driven by being given Suarez (and Carrol).
They could easily finish 16th in this league and even potentially 17th if Wolves have a run. 16th considering those teams below is awful and 17th would be comedic.
All well and good saying throw your eggs into one basket but it rarely works like that. Klopp sort of did it in his first half season but even then he was going on the league cup front and also in a much harder Europa League.
They also won two League Cups, two FA Cups and Europa League in that period, which makes me green with envy as Liverpool once went with one League Cup in twelve seasons - and I’m convinced that some of those Liverpool sides that went trophyless would have wiped the floor with their cup winners.
I half expected them to win FA Cup this season, too, seeing how a lot of big guns went out early, so now I fully expect them to stumble their way to Europa League, the devil’s club.
I think you give them too much credit. This Utd is utter shite. They are demonstrably an absolute car crash of a team.
They may actually have, on balance, better individual talents than the other sides (even that is incredibly contested), but the other teams are just that, actual teams.
Every week Utd look like they just met in the local Spoons’ carpark, and for some fucking insane albeit truly wonderful reason, it’s actually getting worse.
Around this time last year, I thought “this is the worst Man United side I’ve seen in my life”. Now, I think that side would somehow find a way to beat their current iteration - Liverpool have exactly one win in five games against those two sides and that truly grinds my gears and makes me tear my hair out.
Make no mistake, I’m thankful for every bit of success that Liverpool can deliver and for every bit of schadenfreude I can feel due to Man United’s plight. It’s just that I never feel confident that lot would self-implode when I expect them to.
Leeds were Champions League semi finalists i think 1 or 2 seasons before their relegation. They were at the time a lot bigger than many people remember
