CHENNAI: Ballon D'or winner and former England forward Michael Owen shared his views on the problems behind Manchester United's dramatic fall from grace.
Last season, United finished 15th with 42 points — their worst in the Premier League era. Winning consistently has been a problem for the team coached by Ruben Amorim, who has won only 10 out of the last 34 league games since his first game as coach in November 2024.
For someone like Owen, who has seen the zenith of football, and been in dressing rooms that have won titles, he felt that changing coaches frequently, heavy investment on players to suit the style of coaches has been a 'big problem.'
"You go back only one season ago to their previous manager (Erik ten Hag) and the reason he got sacked or the reason he left the club was because performances weren't good enough. When Amorim came in and he said, 'right, I'm going to change the system. And he's changed the shape of the squad as well. I mean, if you think, he doesn't play wingers. He obviously plays wingbacks. And you think of the wingers he's letting go of, Marcus Rashford, Alejandro Garnacho, and Antony, etc. So he's changed that. He's brought in more that number 10 role in Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo. So he is currently changing the identity and the makeup of his squad," he said in a virtual press room facilitated by JioStar.
The Red Devils did not make the best of starts this season. Owen felt that the little progress the team made with Amorim as the coach may frustrate fans as well as the top brass. "Now, what do you do if you're the board and you've allowed all these players to go and then you've brought inside types (forwards) of players, and then you let the manager go and then the new one says, 'I want to play with wide players.' What do you do then? You've got rid of some of the best wide players in the world in many ways. So that's then got to come into the equation. I mean, Jim Ratcliffe's (whose company Ineos manages the club's operations) probably thinking, can we afford, one, to change the manager, but then to totally change the outlook again, because a new manager will want a new style of players," he added.
In the losses to both Brentford and cross-town rivals Manchester City, United's three-man defence, which employed a high line, were constantly exposed in the counter attack. The defensive profiles, Owen felt, do not meet the requirements to maintain the high line.
"(In the game) against Brentford, they just kicked the ball over the top and it was 1-0 (to Brentford). You have to have speed at the back. If you're going to play a high line, you're going to be aggressive and press from the front. You have to have pace. if you're going to stick with (Matthijs) De Ligt, and (Harry) Maguire, players that are brilliant defending their box, (then) you have to be a counter-attacking team. If I was the manager at Manchester United, the first thing I would do is inject speed into the back line," he added.
Surprise signing
As always, Premier League clubs have splurged the most money on players across, when compared to their European counterparts. According to reports, English clubs spent a record amount of 3 billion pounds, with Liverpool spending more than 400 million pounds. The exponents from within and outside the league have signed for other big teams like United, Chelsea and Arsenal.
"Liverpool have probably been the most active, I think, with big money signings. So far, I've probably been most impressed with (Hugo) Ekitike. I think he's been the one that's hit the ground running and done particularly well.
"Now, whether he continues in the team, (with Alexander) Isak getting fitter and fitter, remains to be seen. But so far in Liverpool's team, I think Ekitike has been the one that I've been really impressed with. Outside of that, obviously United have got a total new front three. I do like Cunha (signed) from Wolves. I think he's a very good player and I think he could be a star signing for them. And Mbeumo as well is proven in the league," he said.
Here is the video where Owen spoke about the signings
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