Crouch claims Man Utd have found their ‘natural place in the modern Premier League’

Joe Williams
Man Utd striker Cristiano Ronaldo looks frustrated

Peter Crouch thinks Man Utd have now found their “natural place in the modern Premier League” after losing 4-0 against Brighton over the weekend.

The Red Devils hit a new low on Saturday as Brighton soundly beat them at the Amex Stadium with chants of “you’re not fit to wear the shirt” coming from the away end.

The arrivals of Cristiano Ronaldo, Jadon Sancho and Raphael Varane in the summer transfer window gave fans hope of a successful season but it has been anything but.

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Man Utd find themselves in sixth position and are in danger of dropping lower depending on how the final couple of weeks of the season pan out.

But Crouch thinks, despite their success under Sir Alex Ferguson, that Man Utd are a “wholly different, disjointed club” and are now in their “natural place in the modern Premier League”.

Crouch wrote in his column for the Daily Mail: “They will always be compared to the greats, because the club will always have its illustrious history and huge expectations. But that was Sir Alex Ferguson’s United. This is a wholly different, disjointed club now.

“The post-Ferguson United is one that can potentially lose at Brighton on any given day. When are we going to stop getting shocked by these results?

“It will never be seen as acceptable but right now, this is United’s natural place in the modern Premier League — chasing Champions League qualification. Sometimes they will do it, other times they won’t.

“They lose and shrug their shoulders and I don’t get the impression that there are any great autopsies inside that dressing room. Nobody digging people out, coming to blows about performances. I feel they just talk behind each other’s backs in little groups. Go on social media, say sorry and move on. Rinse and repeat.

“The fans seem like they have had enough. Plenty were walking out of the Amex Stadium long before the end, which is quite unusual for their away support.

“Quite a lot of those players will be blaming Ralf Rangnick for a season which could yet finish with a place in the Europa Conference League. That is what players do, and plenty will still be around when Erik ten Hag greets them this summer.”

Crouch added: “The club will have to keep the vast majority of that squad, because a churn cannot take place in just one summer, but every single one of them, bar David de Gea, is replaceable based on this season. The only reason they have hung on to the top four for so long is the inconsistency around them.

“Tottenham and Arsenal had shocking starts, West Ham have fallen away a bit. Everyone has badly struggled at times this year, and that isn’t too dissimilar to the two occasions they have finished second since 2013 — miles behind the eventual winners and profiting from others enduring bad campaigns elsewhere.

“It needs change from top to bottom but all of this is broken record territory. We talk about the new manager — again. Whether he is the right man or not — again. Ten Hag has a big job on his hands and I expect him to already be making ruthless decisions on some of them. Big names need dropping. Some of them will be told pretty early that they are not required.

“Yet he needs the tools to be successful. The guys who have been and gone before Ole Gunnar Solskjaer — David Moyes, Louis van Gaal and Jose Mourinho — are all good managers. You cannot deny their track record. And look what happened.”

 

Manchester United Peter Crouch

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