Manchester United were one of the most feared teams in the Premier League during Sir Alex Ferguson’s reign as manager at Old Trafford.
But for the past year or so, the Man United that everyone loved to watch for their attacking flair and consistent dominance had all but disappeared, leaving us with a shadow of its former self as they struggled to break down teams and appeared to have lost their attacking edge. Fergie’s teams would always be sure to provide entertainment. A brand of very fluid, attacking football that was a joy to behold for any neutral, let alone the United fans themselves. Teams always feared having to play them, away or home, and the Theatre of Dreams was a daunting prospect for the opposition.
When ever it was your team’s turn to play at Old Trafford you naturally wrote that weekend off as a loss and conceded the fact your team would end up coming back home without any points, although you always hoped for them to put in a good performance and perhaps perform a smash and grab victory.
Recently, though, there has been a different type of entertainment from the Red Devils; the sheer volume of funny memes and jokes doing the rounds on social media whenever David Moyes lost another game or broke another unwanted record were just as good.
Jesting aside, it was quite a sad situation to see the once great Man Utd crumble in such a manner. The rapidly dramatic demise initially appeared to be permanent undoing all the hard work and success Ferguson had put and enjoyed during his tenure. The fear factor was no longer there for anyone. The professionals were no longer scared of playing the team that could once demolish them. They were lacking belief and an attacking edge. They very quickly became the laughing stock of the Premier League. The butt of all jokes.
It was surprising how little time it took for them to get to that stage and it was a sad sight to see one of the country’s greatest and most successful clubs going through what they will claim is a transitional period. They had quickly gone from knowing exactly what it takes to win a Premier League title to struggling to grind out three points each week.
Now Louis Van Gaal has arrived with a massive mountain to climb. But he’s already got his hands dirty in the transfer market a much needed, yet fantastic, summer of spending. The calibre of signings he managed to tempt to Old Trafford has many fans dubbing the ‘new look’ United the Gaalacticos of English football. Such a nickname is only worthy of proper ‘Dream Teams’ and that acolade is certainly a step in the right direction to re-establishing some credibility and positivity to England’s most successful football club.
The football, until this last weekend, left a lot to be desired with no wins registered in the first three fixtures and a shocking cup exit at the hands of League One side MK Dons. It is a slow process to re-build at a club that was left in tatters but Van Gaal has slowly established himself at the club with his own philosophy.
He masterminded an emphatic 4-0 romp over a very poor QPR side on Sunday and that has already got some fans suggesting now that they should be considered serious title challengers. This may be a bit premature, particularly considering the lack of fight QPR put up at Old Trafford, but what we did see is the return of Man United’s fear factor. Forget for a minute who they were playing, forget how easy the victory was, forget the fact that one game does not suddenly make you world beaters. They played with swagger, confidence boarder-lining on arrogance. They played sexy football with some outstanding passing and attacking play from Angel Di Maria and Ander Herrera. They played like the United we are all so used to seeing.
Yes, there is still a lot of work to be done before they can say for sure that they are back to their best and yes, one game will not change the fact that they have been nothing short of terrible in the past year or so. But there was certainly something different in the way they played against QPR. Something exciting. Something sexy.
And you can be sure they will build on that performance as the season goes on, slowly but surely reinstating the fear factor that once a played a big part in their dominance of domestic and European competitions.
Sexy football is on its way back to Old Trafford. Viva la revolution de Van Gaal!
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