Manchester United were a mess on Monday night against Wolves from start to finish. The players looked beaten before a ball was kicked as they trotted out of the tunnel, while Luke Shaw poured gasoline onto the fire afterwards by criticising a lack of togetherness.
You would expect the players to back at it the next morning, analysing what went wrong and conducting a post-mortem.
Or at least today.
Yet it seems the players are not scheduled to return to ‘work’ until tomorrow. The Mirror and The Athletic report United’s players were given two days off after the defeat.
Bad optics when United’s players need to improve
The decision was reportedly made in advance, and it is due to scheduling, with United having seven days between matches, as the FA Cup match with Aston Villa will be next Monday night at Old Trafford.
But you would think, considering the team’s form, some adjustment would be made to the schedule.
This was a team complaining at not having enough time on the training ground after Carrington was shut for a few days in December due to Covid.
Club captain Harry Maguire even blamed it for the poor display at St James’ Park.
Maguire told Sky Sports after the Newcastle game: “The training ground has been shut, half the lads playing today are recovering from the virus. So, of course, it is not going to help us. We don’t want to use it as an excuse, but, of course, it has a big impact on the game.”
So when this team do not even know their best formation, play like they can’t pass the ball to each other, and perform as a group of individuals, shouldn’t they be back at Carrington already?
United’s players are highly paid and live a life of luxury, and these recent performances have not been good enough, supporters are utterly fed up.
We don’t want to hear any more complaints from the players or manager over Carrington being closed in December, when its ready and open now, and the players are sitting at home.
It’s a farcical and self defeating choice to deny this group of players extra time on the training pitch, when they quite clearly need all the time they can get.
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