IT HAS been a nightmare-like season for all those connected to Man United.
For diehard fans like me, it has indeed been painful. So painful that I cannot bear to watch the team play anymore.
This is the lowest point for the club in a long time and by the look of the situation, it is going to get worse.
Nothing has improved since Sir Alex Ferguson left at the end of the 2012/13 season after winning the league, Man United’s last Premier League title.
There is a sense that many within the Man United dressing room are now simply waiting for the end of the season.
On the basis of the performance at Anfield on Tuesday, the current squad is desperately lacking in physicality, nor do they have the technical ability to play the possession-heavy, dynamic brand of football played by the likes of Liverpool and Man City.
The mentality of the current players are also extremely weak.
Man United interim manager Ralf Rangnick described his side’s heavy defeat by Liverpool at Anfield as “humiliating”. Indeed, the team played like a pub team who were nursing a hangover.
The Reds Thiago Alcantara was a class above, while new signing Luis Diaz was full of running and urgency. In contrast, the likes of Marcus Rashford and Phil Jones were made to look like novices.
The question is, how can a team that promised so much after finishing second last season, not show any motivation, desire or fight against its most hated rival.
“It was a sobering evening”, former Man United defender Gary Neville told Sky Sports, describing the players as “broken” and “they’re done this season”.
“Not one United fan expected to get anything. It is predictable but I can’t explain how it has gone from being promising at the end of last season, when United finished second, to where we are today, which is an all-time low.
“I’ve never seen it as bad as that. Liverpool weren’t that great but they never made it that easy for us. I’ve never seen a United team wilt or be as flaky as they were in this game.”Painful reading indeed if you are a Man United fan.
There is bound to be a clear-out next season with the club confirming the appointment of Ajax boss Erik ten Hag as the club’s next permanent manager.
Ex-Man United captain Roy Keane said: “It’s not anger now, it’s sadness. It’s not the club I played for. It’s chalk and cheese. I don’t see a Man United team out there fighting with pride.
“There is no leadership, no characters, no fight, no determination. It’s a long way back for this club. Whatever we had when I played – that bit of pride – has gone.”Man United travel to Arsenal in a must-win game today if they are to keep their hopes of a top-four spot alive.
Rangnick now faces an uphill task to secure Champions League football with five games remaining and while Arsenal will be lifted after a spirited performance in their 4-2 win over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in midweek, Man United face the prospects of playing Thursday night football in the Europa League, if they don’t secure all the points in north London today.