Life Without Champions League For Manchester United

When Ole Gunnar Solskjaer came into the fold at Manchester United as their new manager, it seemed as if he was going to be the man to turn everything around. The Norwegian former striker was already a hero at the club, and after just a few wins, he became an all-time legend. The victory over Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League seemed to be the turning point, and as such, he was offered the full-time managerial position.

Alas, some are suggesting that was a bit of a kneejerk reaction from the Red Devils, as things haven’t gone swimmingly ever since. Not only did they miss out on a place in the top four, but they also won just two of their last 12 games of the season in all competitions. That has included a six-game winless streak, where they weren’t even able to defeat already relegated Huddersfield Town and Cardiff City. If that isn’t cause for panic, then nothing is.

Can he do it?

Ole will get a full summer transfer window in order to try and turn things around, and as reported by BBC Sport, it seems as if he’s going to get the backing for that. That’s all well and good, obviously, but the man himself needs to be able to do the business in the market before we wind up getting too excited.

The other question mark is how they’re going to deal with Europe. If Arsenal are able to win the Europa League then Manchester United will be the only team in the top six to play in the Europa League next season, with the other five playing in the Champions League. United will then be joined in the competition by either Wolverhampton Wanderers or Watford.

It’s all well and good having someone like Ed Woodward talking about the changes that could be made in the UCL, as reported by Manchester Evening News, but that’s a pretty damning statistic. The club are in one of the lowest positions in terms of overall stature they’ve been in a long time, and it’s kind of astonishing to think about how important the Europa League could wind up being for them next season.

Questions, questions

They may have to go down the same route as Arsenal have done this time around, by putting most of their attention into it to the point where they try and actually win the competition. The race for the top four in the Premier League is only going to get progressively more and more competitive, and United know that they’ll be one of the favourites to win the Europa League – if they’re able to keep hold of their top stars, that is.

We happen to think that it probably would’ve been better for United to not be in Europe at all instead of being in the UEL, purely because they would’ve been able to focus more on domestic competitions. With that being said, though, there’s nothing they can do about their situation, and they’ll just have to embrace it in the best way that they can.