This has been an unforgettable season so for Manchester united fraternity , unforgettable and pleasently surprising , standing 15 points atop at the table in the most competetive league in the world is no way a mean feat . A team that had to bear the pain of losing a Premier league title just in matter of seconds , it would have taken some great level of motivation to get them back to their feet , but not only united stood but they stood headstrong , taking every criticism head on and facing them with stern and rigid mentality of winning , and that’s what united have done this season repeatedly, win and win and win. But looking back in past and comparing the present united team, what different did united do this season that earned them this record lead and maybe a record 20th league title? Let’s look at some of the important factors.
1. A weak transfer season for manchester city
This is one of the the biggest factor which lead to city downfall and united indomitable domination . When a teams wins a title it needs to bring in world class and quality players to strenghten their squad and continue their domination in the league whereas city did exactly the opposite , city lost some good players like de jong and adam johnson and replaced them with average players like javi garcia , scott sinclair, a player past his prime Maicon and an inexperiened and injury prone jack rodwell , missing on their prime transfer targets Robin van persie , Daniele de Rossi didnt do them any good either. Whereas on the other side united arguably made the buy of the season in RVP and a bought a bargain in form of Bundesliga player of the year Shinji kagawa which strengthened their squad and gave them an edge in title race.
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2. Unsettled rivals
The 15 points difference is more or less a reflection of the chaos in the rivals,Arsenal lost their two best players to united and barcelona ,but they got some quality players in cazorla and podolski but couldnt replace the talismanic dutchman infront of the goal , the goals have come but not at the required moments , on the other side the huge pressure on wenger on an another trophyless season and the rise of tottehman have threatened to derail an already lacklusture season for the gunners ,the only saving grace for Arsenal will be finishing in top 4.
Roman abramovich did what exactly was needed to be done , he splashed the cash to bulit up on a Champions league and F.A cup triumph ,he got hazard under the nose of manchester clubs , bought the brazilian wonderboy oscar and bought some good players to the club , in all he invested roughly around 100mn pounds , chelsea under RDM started brightly , but lost the plot after early spark , but the loss to Juventus which eventually led to their eviction from Champions league led to his sacking which bought rafa benitez to chelsea , but that did more bad than good , he was never welcomed at chelsea by the fans because of his past remarks , an unsettled atmosphere at stamford bridge deralied the season for chelsea , only ray of hope being Europa cup and F.a cup. A team that underperformed because of off-field factors was a huge respite for united considering chelsea were one of the favourites to lift the title.
Manchester city were ready to build up on their historic Premier league win , but a weak transfer season along with injury to Sergio aguero , vincent kompany and underperformance from key players like toure and silva was a big factor in their slump , the loss to united at Etihad was a big factor and huge dent in the City’s camp confidence which derailed their season , while a failed champions league campaign was salt on wounds for man city , now the only hope of trophy for city is a F.A cup which could somehow be a saving grace for them.
3. Robin van persie
RVP was signed by united for 24mn in an unexpected turn of events , Roberto mancini had publically shown his admiration for RVP and city were favourite to land him as city offered him both the money and chance to win trophies but the chances to work under SAF and play for the biggest club in the world was once in a lifetime oppurtunity , both fans and pundits had reseravtion about this transfer considering his age and past injury problems but the Hattrick against southampton and 19 goals in EPL and 23 in total smashed all those reservations and RVP had announced himself to the united fans , this meant that not only united had bought a goal scoring machine but goals against arsenal , chelsea , manchester city , tottenham, everton proved that united has also bought a big match player , which ultimately will turn out to be the difference between united and city in the title race.
4. Sir Alex ferguson
Sir alex ferguson even at the age of 71 still has that passion , determination , confidence he possesed when he arrived at manchester united, the most successfull coach in the history of English football took a mentally down team to the height of summits this season , everyone believed that SAF will find it difficult to dethrone city , but not only he dethroned them but the 15 points at the top of table means that he destroyed them , whereas the controversial signing of RVP from arsenal turned out to be the transfer of season which has got them to the verge of historical 20th league title.
5.The never say die attitude
Southampton , Aston villa , Qpr, Liverpool, Newcastle, Reading , West ham,Cluj , whats common in these team?? They faced the famous “Never say die attitude” of manchester united team , united went behind against all these teams and came back to win against them , united have came back to win from losing position 9 times this season which is more than any other team in top flight , exemplifies how SAF prepares his team and expects any team he picks to deliver the goods , the mentality had been instilled in players like Scholes , Giggs , Neville which now has been passed on to new group of players who are carrying this legacy of united forward , believing in the phrase – “It’s not over , till it’s over”.
