Man Utd are in freefall and could finish outside top eight let alone top four with their lame-duck squad

MANCHESTER UNITED have a lame-duck manager and a squad with lame-duck players.

And just like a duck, there is plenty going on below the surface – but not a lot to show for it. It’s quackers.

The team’s head is barely above water with the season now in danger of total freefall and the real prospect of the club finishing outside the top eight, never mind the top four.

That is the sad reality as the dust settles from the Champions League last 16 exit at the hands of Atletico Madrid on Tuesday.

United’s next chance to win a trophy will be in 11 months in the Carabao Cup.

That means a trophy drought of almost six years, so this is already their most barren period since 1983.

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Soon they will be hanging up a banner at the Etihad – as they used to at Old Trafford – to remind their city rivals of how long it had been since they lifted a trophy.

In the Premier League they could easily finish in their worst position since 1989-90 when they came 13th.

Seventh was their worst since then under David Moyes in 2013-14.

They have Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea in their final nine games, but no game will be easy for a team in the state they are now in.

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Their season effectively finished on Tuesday night and it will be very difficult to lift the players for a battle to finish in the top four, one which in reality they will not win.

Particularly when everyone knows the manager will no longer be at the helm in three months time. And a number of your team-mates are no longer fully committed to the club.

Paul Pogba, Jesse Lingard and Edinson Cavani will all be off. And 24-year-old homegrown star Marcus Rashford is considering his future.

Cristiano Ronaldo, 37, does not want to stay if they are not going to be in the Champions League.

Bruno Fernandes’ negotiations to extend his deal remain on hold.

They also have a captain in Harry Maguire who can no longer hang on to the armband while his own fans are abusing him.

The cheering when he was hooked on Tuesday was sad for a man, 29, who constantly plays through the pain barrier while others cry off at the slightest pull or strain.

And all the time, the noise around the club is deafening.

It is the same after every game, plenty of criticism but no solutions.

Get a new manager? They keep doing that.

Grow from the academy. They continue to do that.

Get directors of football in? They have them.

Invest in the squad? They have spent almost £1.3BILLION since 2013.

Get more ‘football people’ in at boardroom level?

David Gill was not one. He was a chartered accountant who just happened to be at the helm when the greatest manager of all time was in the dug-out.

For the last eight years Gill and Sir Alex Ferguson were in tandem, the Glazers also owned the club.

So what exactly would former players Rio Ferdinand, Paul Scholes or Owen Hargreaves do to change things?

Scholes said they had to get the right manager this summer but could not say with any certainty who.

Sir Alex made a big decision in 2013 on his retirement in naming his successor and that man – Moyes – was gone ten months later.

The best idea I heard came from his former No2 Rene Meulensteen who said United need to identify NOW the players they would have in every position to compete for a title in THREE YEARS’ time.

Is there the patience for that? I doubt it.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was on the right track getting to semi-finals before things unravelled – but he apparently took the club backwards.

Jose Mourinho won two trophies – but now we are told he was past his best and not the right fit.

So who is? Erik Ten Hag? Because, well, he is from Ajax, dumped out of the Champions League on Tuesday as well by Benfica.

Thomas Tuchel’s future is uncertain at Chelsea, Mauricio Pochettino will be let go by PSG in the summer and Antonio Conte is growing frustrated at Spurs. All good candidates.

Will any have this club challenging again for a title soon, given the state it is in?

With each passing year the desperation of grows.

A microcosm of the current Manchester United was there for all to witness on Tuesday.

An excellent first half had everyone bouncing, by full-time water bottles were flying and fingers of blame being pointed here, there and everywhere.

The one certainty at Old Trafford right now is that it is chaos and between now and the end of May it will only get worse.

Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk