fergiesredarmy

[fergiesredarmy]

21 in 21

21 in 21?

The day’s 26th January 2021. Who would have thought this Manchester United side would have been sitting at the top of the table at this stage of this Corona virus riddled Premier League season. They have proved to be mentality monsters. 2 months ago, after the Leipzig disaster in the Uefa Champions League, the Manchester United board started talks with former Spurs and current PSG Manager Mauricio Pochettino about taking over as the new Manchester United manager. The fans were expecting a glorious season after last season’s magnificent turn around after Bruno Fernandes’ arrival at the club to secure their spot in the Uefa Champions League. Only to bottle it in the Group stage this next season. Times weren’t easy for the Club nor the fans as rivals Chelsea, Man City, Liverpool and Spurs looked locked in a title race which promised a lot. While United’s rivals were all looking all set for an exciting campaign, the Club itself was sitting in 8th in the Premier League table and had already gotten knocked out of the Champions League. The club was going 4 games unbeaten in the Premier League but the Champions League disqualification had ignited a fire inside the fanbase. Some of them wanted Ole Gunnar Solskjær to remain Manager of the club till the end of the season and see where he took the club. While some of them were against this and everywhere on Social Media . A Goalless stalemate against arch rivals Man City increased the doubt inside the loyal fans mind and really started to question themselves if Ole was the right man to get Manchester United “back on their perch”. Although after that draw against Man City, Man United sat 6th on the table but this wasn’t an ordinary season in which by December you already have one club running away with it or you know which 2 or maximum 3 teams or going to challenge for the Premier League. Only 8 points separated Champions and League Leaders Liverpool from 10th place Wolverhampton Wanderers. Manchester United fans saw a very little glimpse of hope that they might be able to turn things around with teams around them underperforming because of the fatigued routine for the clubs due to Covid-19. Suddenly every game started to feel like a Cup final. United kept building on that hope and by the end of Matchweek 17, they found themselves 3 points ahead of Champions and League leaders Liverpool!

Manchester City had also put their foot on the throttle in hope to catch up with the Top 4 sides and challenge for the title. United were to face Liverpool in their next game which people were referring to as the “Match of the season”. Not only was it 1st vs 2nd, but one of the most brutal and oldest rivalries in football was finally going to have so much at stake after it had not lived up to the potential in the past few years. The day came and the match was played. Unfortunately, it ended in a goalless draw but Manchester United felt like they could have won had they netted their chances in the 2nd half. Never the less it was a decent result for the Red devils but it showed the evolution in the mentality as the players were disappointed not to win against their Merseyside rivals. 2 months ago, if someone had told any football fan that Man Utd would

be ahead of Liverpool and top of the league in January, they would have laughed for sure. Something in that dressing room had switched for sure and it was turning out to be effective. United just beat Liverpool 3-2 a week later in the FA Cup 4th round in a 5-goal thriller and it just shows that they are now capable of taking on arguably the best team in England for the past 2 years now. They face Sheffield United on Wednesday night which of course you would expect them to win. Another huge test for the Red Army would be on the weekend when they take on their old and bitter rivals Arsenal on opposition territory. Arsenal would be treating this game as a Cup Final and maybe even their game of the season considering their place in the table. For Manchester United, it would also be the rivalry but as well as to keep this momentum going and win this match no matter what because as we’ve seen so far, you lose one game this season and you go down 3 positions. Lets all back the team to win those important 2 games and make a statement by this that NUMBER 21 IS COMING HOME IN 21!