Manchester United are once again a club in crisis. It feels as though it has largely been this way since the departure of Sir Alex Ferguson in 2013. Gary Neville has stated that the introduction of Jim Ratcliffe will not turn the club around quickly while both he and Roy Keane have been getting stuck in to the attitude of the players at the club. Tonight they face a club who have been on a meteoric rise since being purchased by Yasir Al-Rumayyan and the Saudi Public Wealth Fund last year, Newcastle United.
Thoughts of Wes Brown
Wes Brown has spoken exclusively ahead of tonight's cup clash with Newcastle to Ladbrokes Fanzone. Brown was part of the Treble winning squad of 1998/99 and went on to win four more league titles, an FA Cup, a League Cup and was a key part of United's second European Cup victory under Ferguson in 2008. He was once described by Sir Alex Ferguson as, "without question the best natural defender this club has had for years." He remains a wholeheartedly devoted Manchester United fan and feels tonight is an important marker in understanding the psyche of this current United squad.
“This is a game to see where the lads are at and how can we come back from a defeat. Have we the courage to bounce back? We will find a lot out tonight I suppose. I know it is a cup game which takes the sting out of it but we are the title holders and we beat them in the final last year so they will want to get revenge. ”
Brown even went on to make a score prediction for the Carabao Cup clash at Old Trafford;
“I fancy United 1-0 tonight. As a defender, I believe clean sheets are the key. As a defender, I believe clean sheets are the key.
He believes one of the issues fans have had with performances in recent years is a lack of desire, aggression and willingness to assert themselves on the opposition;
“We started the Manchester Derby ok but as the game went on City had a lot of control and time on the ball and they created the chances. Once it went 2-0 it was very difficult for us to get back in it. We aren’t as aggressive as we used to be. We should get into their faces more, tackle more, and spice the game up and that’s not the case nowadays."
He did go on to state that he believes in the current group of players ability to right the ship this season and begin to string together results;
"We have been in this position a few times and we just have to be able to battle this out together. It is as simple as that. We showed that last year a little bit. When we stick together and believe in ourselves, we can come back from it. The mental aspect is important as well. We need to get a few wins together to get the team’s confidence back. We are more than capable of going on a good run."
Speaking about Erik Ten Hag, Brown professed his belief in the current manager;
“I believe in Erik ten Hag and I really like him and what he sets out for the lads. The manager is the manager but it’s the lads on the pitch who need to get the job done. I don’t like throwing blame in different directions. When I was a player, it was up to me to do the job to the best of my ability. I feel that there are too many players at the moment not doing that and a lot of it is down to confidence. I do think the players are still behind Ten Hag.I don’t want him to lose his job. We have had big big managers here before after Sir Alex Ferguson and no one has quite got it right.”
Manchester United kick off against Newcastle United at 20:15 tonight at Old Trafford.
