It was almost taken for granted that Manchester United would win trophies during Sir Alex Ferguson’s reign.
If United didn’t win the Premier League one season, it was expected they’d roar back with a vengeance the following year.
Now, at the end of the seventh season since the Scot’s retirement, United have finished their third consecutive campaign without silverware.
How United lost that winning habit
Winning the FA Cup wasn’t enough to save Louis van Gaal’s job. Jose Mourinho’s subsequent appointment was supposed to be a guarantee of trophies, but many hoped they’d be more high profile than the EFL Cup and Europa League.
The Portuguese oversaw a 2018 FA Cup final defeat to Chelsea months before his reign completely unraveled.
Now, there aren’t enough players at the football club who have experienced winning trophies. Maybe they don’t know what it takes to get over the line.
Three semi-final defeats in 2019/20 suggests that; especially given the abject first leg EFL Cup performance at home to Manchester City and the Wembley aberration against Chelsea.
Throw in sub-par displays in crucial late-season games against Southampton and West Ham and perhaps this United side freezes when the pressure is on?
How do United change?
Solskjaer’s messages about consistency and professionalism still clearly need more time to soak in.
Big matches are won in both boxes and that’s where United came up woefully short against Sevilla.
United have to learn from their losing semi-final experiences this term to push beyond the last four next time around.
Breaking that duck can mean the floodgates open; even Arsenal have clinched three further FA Cups after ending that nine-year trophy drought back in 2014.
Things aren’t that drastic for United yet but at a club where trophies are the currency, getting out of the habit of winning silverware is a worry.
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