This post was done after the Spurs defeat. With the first paragraph, you'll see which Spurs game it refers to.
Upon re-reading it, I just wanted to add a few things after the season and it's sad to say, that not only have all that was said remained, it's perhaps gotten worse.
Ironically, the first line can be repeated after the Europe League final.
After their embarrassing 'performance' against Spurs in the 3-0 defeat, it became clearer that MUFC have a culture issue that predates Erik ten Hag and now Ruben Amorim.
The Dutchman was the man in charge for two-and-a-half years and was replaced by Ruben Amorim who's been manager for 6 months. But in the years since Sir Alex Ferguson retired, we've come to face the same problems time and time again.
David Moyes, Louis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho (which is where I believe this culture issue truly began), Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Ralf Rangnick, Erik ten Hag and now Ruben Amorim. Seven different managers all had a reoccurring problem: the club culture.
For some reason, Man Utd have changed from being this club where everyone associated with it had a burning desire to be the best and win. No matter what, that were the only two things that mattered.
Of course, other aspects of being a United player would've come into it such as the money, fame, the brands and the simple fact of saying 'I'm a Man Utd player' were all motivators to be part of the Red Devils but that will to win was the major fuel behind every player whenever they were at our once great club.
In the decade following Sir Alex's retirement, that winning culture has taken a complete 180. It appears that now all that's good enough for these players is the money, fame and status rather than being the best.
They'll say the right things and do what needs to be done to a certain extent, but come matchday, we see something else entirely, something that doesn't conform with what our club is all about.
What we saw against Spurs (in both the September loss and Europa League final) was two of the worst performances in recent times, performances where the team didn't show up.
This isn't the first time we've said this.
I can't count how many times I've had to say this over the years.
I never did under Sir Alex.
People say that we (MUFC fans) like to keep living in the past and that we're not the club we used to be, which is correct, but the standard always remains and is something former manager ten Hag said quite a lot and has been repeated by Ruben Amorim in that their teams have to conform to this standard.
The current crop should look to the teams of the past and find some inspiration from them. A lot of them look up to those players as heros and idols. Would those idols have EVER performed like they did in some of the matches throughout the season? Will those same idols have not turned up to games?
That's one thing from the past we should never let go of: the standard.
But it seems like that doesn't matter anymore regardless of how many times the managers say it does.
I was really disappointed in Diogo Dalot in September's defeat. I know he was out of position and was having to do a job for the team but that was the first performance in all his time at United where it looked like he couldn't give a shit.
I've seen him play badly a couple of times before but that wasn't for a lack of trying. This game against Spurs looked like he wasn't.
In one player, he summed up United. Dalot couldn't pass straight, he couldn't control the ball, he was slow to react to things, his marking was poor, he lacked concentration. The full-back looked slow and lethargic too. These aren't things we ever associate with Dalot yet it was plain to see.
The team were the exact same.
This is why I say it's more of a club culture problem as players like Dalot didn't even show up. This is from a player who is an ultimate professional and was singled out by Ronaldo in that interview as one of the players who does have the right mindset.
It seems that no matter how good a player is or how strong their mentality is, after joining United, eventually, they will become shite.
Bruno Fernandes is another example.
In his first few seasons at the club, brilliant, superb., amazing, magnificent.
Last season and for a decent chunk this (he only truly started to perform like the Bruno we know in the last few months of the campaign), he was a shadow of his former self. I've even noticed for a period a lack of whining and bickering from the captain something that, although can be quite frustrating, was a part of what made Bruno the player he is. Even that was gone as well.
We also saw very little creativity from him for the early stages of the season however, that returned from February onward and he managed to bag 17 assists. But for Bruno tobe quiet in the final third for any amount of time was unforeseen even in a struggling United side.
Before, he would also lead the team pretty well, he would show those leadership qualities, his performances were ones that the rest of his team-mates could look up to and follow. This was before he became captain.
Perhaps that's also part of the reason as to why we've seen this fall from Bruno: the captaincy. Maybe the weight of the armband is too much for the Portuguese to handle as while he might be the best captain available, many would argue whether he's a captain at all. He wouldn't be the first to have this problem.
The magnifico just doesn't seem to be a player who's enjoying his football at the moment. His red card back in September, albeit unlucky imo, was a reflection of where he's at right now. There was no need for the foul whether reckless or not. Absolutely silly from the man who's supposed to lead the team.
Even the new players looked well out of their depth. Yes it was only early days for Mazraoui, De Ligt, Ugarte and Zirkzee but they were as bad as everyone else. Mazraoui was torn a new one by Timo Werner. With all due respect to the German but if he's causing you a lot of problems, then you have a problem.
Zirkzee looked a player low on confidence as everything he did was poor. De Ligt was reckless and out of control at times. Ugarte looked like a fish out of water. Not a great start for a player we have high hopes for and a man that I call the messiah because we need a savior specifically in the midfield.
Luckily these players have shown their quality as the season has gone by as some like Mazraoui, De Ligt and eventually Yoro when he came into the side, displayed that they are better than most. Ugarte and Zirkzee showed that they're top players as well.
However, some would ask the question of how long will it take before we start seeing these poor performances and bad attitudes from them?
Everyone gets infected with this negative culture.
Everyone.
Conversely, when looking at those who've left the club, they look different class.
Aaron Wan-Bissaka looks like a player reborn at West Ham (at least the couple of times I've seen him play for his new club), Anthony Elanga was one of the standout players in Notingham Forest's incredible season (he even sat Garnacho on his arse en route to scoring a brilliant solo counter-attacking goal), and Scott McTominay appeared to be Maradona reincarted when watching him for Napoli. The Scotsman went on to win Serie A MVP in a debut season that saw him lift the title.
Even Fred who left after the 22/23 season, is a mainstay and regular top performer for Fenerbahce. In one of their matches, the Brazilian scored a hat-trick.
Fred scored a hat-trick.
I also think that the impatience we see in the fan base and media don't help. I'm not saying that their opinions on players and the manager are wrong as perhaps they aren't good enough, but we do like to jump on players and the manager as soon as things go wrong.
Indeed ten Hag and some players have been here long enough to have shown signs of improvement but when looking at the manager's first season, he over achieved, he was decimated by injuries in 23/24, and this season until his sacking, is the only one where I'd say it's mainly on him as he hasn't been good enough.
However, I did feel that we were displaying signs of improvements in our style of play even if there wasn't a clear identity under the Dutchman. But compared to his second season, we saw no identity nor style of play at all.
We then in general, started to create good chances, we kept more possession, didn't give the ball away easily and we didn't concede too many chances. The only main worry was not scoring.
With a new manager in Ruben Amorim who came in in mid-November, took over a struggling side with players that weren't/aren't his and with a completely different style of play and formation, it was always going to be difficult. We couldn't have expected him to do miracles with a squad that wasn't good enough before he arrived.
The squad remained not good enough for the former Sporting manager and the performances somehow worsened to a point where we finished 15th (we were 13th when he took over), won no trophies and will have no European football next season. How do things go that badly?
The manager does have to take some of the blame particulalrly with that final defeat to Spurs, but he is a small part of the problem. A lot of these players have been here for a long time and have been doing the same things for so long. That's not on Amorim.
He needs time and the players he wants and only then can we truly judge him.
And this is where the impatience comes in and the club culture being a problem.
If we give the manager a little more time, perhaps we can see this style flourish even more so if and when he gets the right players.
Thanks to the culture problem that infects everyone who joins the club though, regardless of who he has and how he wants to play, if the players aren't up for it, then what difference does it make?
It's clear that there isn't only one problem at the club. There's too many issues to pin it onto one person or even a couple of people.
I think the club hierarchy have to set the tone of the club as everything starts from the top. For too long, much like the stadium, it has been allowed to rot and fall apart into what we've seen these last 10 years. Bringing in players with the wrong mentality and attitude that end up infecting the rest and not doing anything about it has been a major cause for our downfall.
Also not getting rid of those bad apples plays a part in keeping this poor culture alive.
Player power was something that we all knew was a problem and I don't think we've truly removed it.
I'm not solely blaming the players but they do have all of the responsibility whenever they step foot onto the pitch. It is then all on them.
As much as people can say that the manager is not good enough, he does need players that will give him everything more often than not. I believe that then is the only time we can truly say whether Ruben Amorim is the man as he will have no place to hide.
Finally, I just want to say, I never really thought about the players not turning up again this season. I thought that that was gone. You'd think that with a new manager and European final looming, they would give everything to impress and win. How foolish of me.
As we can see though, the players are still a massive issue as they can turn it on or off whenever they want to.
To not know whether your team will show up or not is a problem. That is unacceptable.
The board need to do something about this as they are the only ones who can make the real changes.
Old Trafford: Photo by Carlos Wathome via Pexels
Erik ten Hag was sacked as Man Utd manager in October 2024 | Erik ten Hag: Image credit: Getty Images via Goal
Ruben Amorim after losing Europa League final to Spurs | Ruben Amorim: Creator: Michael Steele | Credit: Getty Images Copyright: 2025 Getty Images via Goal