Europa League

AS torrential rain lashed down on Bilbao in the early hours of this morning, the forecast for Old Trafford looked bleaker than ever.Manchester United’s bullet-ridden squad and their weather-beaten supporters made their retreat from the Basque country with a chilling prospect ahead.Man Utd suffered a 1-0 loss to Tottenham in the Europa League finalCredit: AlamyRuben Amorim admitted he will leave if club officials want him toCredit: PABecause, while almost half of the Premier League will compete in Europe next season – six of them in the Champions League – United’s players will be on their sofa watching Corrie.For only the second time in 35 years, Old Trafford will not host continental competition next term – a reduced workload which might just help United avoid relegation.If that sounds like an exaggeration, then it is not a major one.United are so bad that the three clubs promoted from the Championship must regard them as potential rivals in the top-flight drop zone next term.For a second consecutive summer, Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his crew will be backing a failing manager in the transfer market – hoping against hope that their decision to stick by Ruben Amorim does not backfire on them like last year’s gamble on Erik ten Hag.Whoever lost Wednesday night’s Europa League Final knew they would be heading into a pit of despair and after Tottenham’s ugly 1-0 victory, it is the Red Devils who face a hellish summer.This is a team which has managed to lose four times in one season to the worst Spurs side in half a century – failing to score in three of those meetings.It was clear from that shocking display in Bilbao, as well as their form throughout the club’s disastrous Premier League campaign, that United do not even have the foundations to build a successful team.Join SUN CLUB for the Man Utd Files every Thursday plusin-depth coverage and exclusives from Old TraffordTheir £72million centre-forward, Rasmus Hojlund, barely looks like a Championship-level player, their keeper Andre Onana is a liability, they are desperately lacking in creativity going forward and are frequently undone by basic defensive errors.And Amorim, despite the sky-high reputation he had forged at Sporting Lisbon, is not even getting the best out of the rag-tag squad he does have at his disposal.Ruben Amorim offers to quit Man Utd ‘without any conversation about compensation’ if board want him goneIt is just the second time in 35 years United have failed to qualify for a European competitionCredit: GettyAlejandro Garnacho expressed his discontent after the machCredit: GettyThe Portuguese is too dogmatic in his 3-4-3 system – and needs a major summer overhaul to build a squad which suits it.But, against Spurs, he also got his team selection badly wrong.Choosing Mason Mount over the pacey Alejandro Garnacho on the left of his front three was a glaring error – and the reaction of the Argentinian winger and his brother-agent Roberto to that decision lays bare the lack of collective spirit inside Amorim’s squad.United are most certainly not united.Garnacho described their season as ‘s**t’, while Amorim was accused by the player’s brother of ‘throwing him under the bus’.The manager’s selection of Bruno Fernandes in a deep midfield role saw the captain gifting possession frequently in dangerous areas – including in the build-up to Tottenham’s goal.Fernandes is United’s one obvious elite footballer but he did not show up in Bilbao. And Amorim didn’t help matters by selecting him as part of his central midfield two, rather than further forward.The Portuguese is wanted by Saudi Pro-League bosses and he admits United may have to sell him to raise funds.Ineos chief Ratcliffe has stated that United must pay a further £89m this summer in instalments on players brought before he arrived at the club.Man Utd ratings: Diallo best player in Europa League final but Hojlund out of his depthAMAD DIALLO’S fizzing first-half display was little consolation for Manchester United in a dismal 1-0 Europa League final loss to Tottenham.Rasmus Hojlund’s plight up front continued in one of the worst European showpieces for many years – as both sides showed why they will finish in the Premier League lower reaches.Spurs clinched it from virtually their first opportunity – on 42 minutes.Brennan Johnson bundled in Pape Sarr’s inswinging cross, with United left-back Luke Shaw also getting a touch on the way.The Red Devils dictated possession more and more after the break, with Leny Yoro stretching to test Guglielmo Vicario from a free-kick.But United’s chances only arrived regularly in the final quarter of a patchy contest.The Red Devils belatedly piled on the pressure in the seven minutes of stoppage time, but Spurs just held on.Here’s how SunSport’s Dave Courtnadge rated United on a miserable night individually and collectively for Ruben Amorim’s men…Now, without any income from European competition, the transfer budget will be thinner still.A deal is in place to sign Matheus Cunha from Wolves but the hot-headed Portuguese attacking midfielder will cost £62.5million and has missed six matches through suspension since January.Ipswich striker Liam Delap is now more likely to join Chelsea than United but a striker has to be a priority given that it is becoming genuinely cringeworthy to watch Hojlund play.It all means that United may have to cash in on homegrown players such as Garnacho and Kobbie Mainoo – two of the club’s most promising stars – in order to strengthen while complying with PSR regulations.For a club rightly proud of its record of promoting from the youth system, that is a galling prospect – and Garnacho’s obvious displeasure at being benched for the final makes his exit look even more likely.Chief executive Omar Berrada said, when announcing the last round of job cuts, that United’s financial projections were based on being in the Europa League, not the Champions League, for the next four years.But now they have no European football at all, club staff – already sapped of morale – will fear even worse is to come.Next season, the rest of the ‘Big Six’ will probably all be lording it in the Champions League along with Newcastle, while Aston Villa, Nottingham Forest and Crystal Palace are also primed for European competition.Yet the club which dominated the English game for two decades under Sir Alex Ferguson are slipping into obscurity and irrelevance.Much more of this and the unthinkable may soon be upon us – the day when supporters of other clubs start feeling sorry for Manchester United.Sir Jim Ratcliffe looked less than impressed after the match, with United now set to miss out on £100m worth of revenueCredit: Getty More

IT was a horrific game, won by a joke of a goal.But there isn’t a Spurs fan in the land who cares about any of that now.Ange Postecoglou has delivered Tottenham fans the trophy they so desiredCredit: AlamyThe club now face the question of whether to stick with the Aussie or move onCredit: GettyThe big question, though, is whether Ange Postecoglou’s reward for breaking the club’s 17-year trophy drought should be to get another go, or receive his P45.Sun Sport looks at the arguments both ways…ANGE IN – The hoodoo is brokenThe big Aussie put himself under huge pressure when he pointed out, “I usually win a trophy in my second season”.He then made it tougher when he doubled down to insist, “I ALWAYS win a trophy in my second season”.READ MORE ON FOOTBALLHaving done that and delivered on his promise, many will think it would be utterly unfair for Postecoglou’s reign to be cut short.That Postecoglou believes this can be the turning point is clear, too, after he spoke of his desire to move the club on over coming seasons.Postecoglou feels that the lack of silverware was a huge albatross hanging over the club. BEST ONLINE CASINOS – TOP SITES IN THE UKBy ending that jinx, everything can be easier.Most read in FootballIn the aftermath of victory, he said: “I’d be disappointed if I couldn’t continue on this path but I understand why it would be difficult for a club like this to buy into one person’s vision.Ange Postecoglou fumes after being labelled a ‘clown’ and refuses to answer question during press conference“But mate, I’m a winner. I’ve been a serial winner my whole career.”The Europa League trophy is the physical embodiment of his self-confidence and proof that Postcoglou has the courage of his own convictions. Now, he would argue, he deserves the time to underline all that.Loyalty countsWhen James Maddison and Sergio Reguilon raised the banner showing a picture of Postecoglou complete with THAT quote to the Spurs fans amid the Bilbao celebrations, it said a great deal about the bond between the manager and his players.Maddison is understood to have had his own fall-outs at times with the Aussie this season, while Reguilon was sent out on loan twice and barely kicked a ball for Spurs over two campaigns.But they were making a statement on behalf of the dressing room – that whatever their various issues might have been, they clearly like the manager on a personal level.Other players have also voiced their positive feelings about Postecoglou.And while football is about tactics and intelligence, it is also an emotional game – if you like a manager and want to play for him, you are more likely to perform better.Tottenham ratings: Bissouma dominates Europa League final as occasion gets to UdogieBRENNAN JOHNSON was Tottenham’s hero as they finally ended their 17-year trophy drought in the Europa League final.Despite being without James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski for the clash in Bilbao, Spurs came up with a massive win against Manchester United.Johnson scored the goal as he helped bundle in from a corner in a tussle with Luke Shaw to send fans into dreamland.But Spurs also owe a huge thanks to Yves Bissouma who was totally dominant in midfield.At the other end, Destiny Udogie struggled to get up to the pace of the match as he was up against Manchester United’s Amad Diallo.Spurs had just three shots, only 27 per cent of the ball, and completed a mere 115 passes over 90 minutes.But it didn’t matter, as United never really looked like finding a leveller to take it to extra time.SunSport’s Henry Tomlinson gave his ratings for the Tottenham players…Continuity countsNow Spurs have won a trophy, it will ease so much tension – both on and off the pitch.Change for the sake of change now threatens to blow all that up and bring in a new level of uncertainty.A new manager means a new coaching team, and probably a new set of players as well – any boss worth his salt will want to have a level of autonomy.While this has been a roller-coaster of a season – admittedly one with more plunges than ascents – Postacoglou has managed to cope with the intensive gaze of scrutiny and come out the other side reinforced and stronger.The Australian has admitted the domestic season has been “unacceptable” but success does tend to breed success and he will now be emboldened to be the manager who can lead a bold new Spurs era.Sergio Reguilon and James Maddison paraded a banner of Ange in BilbaoCredit: GettyANGE OUT – Months of miseryOne night of glory – albeit glory earned through cussed defiance and one-dimensional anti-football – cannot wipe away everything that has gone before.Postecoglou won 26 points in his first 10 games at the Spurs helm.The subsequent 65 have garnered just 77 points.That is relegation form, by any standards. By far the club’s worst campaign of the Premier League era, arguably worse than the relegation season of 1976-77 given the resources at his disposal.And simply not good enough for Tottenham Hotspur.Yes, Postecoglou’s squad has been plagued by injuries for much of the past 18 months.But plenty feel a major contributor to those absences has been Postecoglou’s playing style – if your defenders are permanently playing on the margins, rather than being able to relax a little during games, they are more likely to be injured.And while his personnel was in a constant state of flux, Postecoglou was wedded, for far too long, to a style of play that failed to take the actual manpower into consideration.It’s all well and good playing a high line, with inverted full-backs, and playing out from the back, if you have Micky van der Ven and Cristian Romero available.But not if your central defenders are Radu Dragusin and Archie Gray, with Ben Davies at left-back, in front of a stand-in keeper who cannot kick.Postecoglou’s Spurs have endured a disastrous Premier League campaignCredit: PAFan unrestDaniel Levy has long been the Aunt Sally for the Spurs supporters.But the relationship between the fans and the manager has suffered as well – perhaps irretrievably.In those early months it was all Robbie Williams and “Oh, oh-oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-oh, Ange Postecoglou”.Those have not been heard too much in recent months.Postecoglou lost a lot of the fans at the end last season, when he simply did not understand how any of them – let alone many – were willing to lose at home to Manchester City to help ensure Arsenal did not win the title.His arguments were sound – he is a football manager, whose job is to win games and get the best possible finish for his club.But football is not just about “football”. It is about so much else – and tribal rivalries run deeper than blood.This season, as Spurs lost game after game – 21 and counting in the league – the simmering discontent has boiled over.Not in chants, perhaps. But in the bars and the stands, on the podcasts, in the social media chat rooms.Does one night of joy transcend that?Tottenham fans continue to protest against the club’s ownershipCredit: AlamyOne swallow does not make a summerNo fan who was in Bilbao, or watching at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, in a pub or at home, will ever forget that feeling of sheer, unbridled ecstasy at the final whistle.All those seasons of frustrations, the near-misses, the agony, gone, in one blast of the referee’s whistle.Yet Tottenham SHOULD be winning things.They are the ninth-richest club in the world. With the best stadium in England. And one of the best training grounds anywhere,For all the koans about the club being reluctant to dig deep, Spurs HAVE spent money, too.Last season, finishing fifth having lost Harry Kane – if he had not been sold, that would surely have been third or fourth – felt like a decent return.Even then, plenty of fans looked at the Europa League as a competition Tottenham genuinely could win.But when Juande Ramos won the League Cup in 2008, it was not the start of anything. He was gone before the end of the year.Manchester United stuck with Erik ten Hag last summer basically because he beat City to win the FA Cup. It was an epic mistake and keeping Postecoglou on the basis of an emotional response would represent Spurs doing pretty much the same thing.VERDICTI am beyond thrilled that Spurs won in Bilbao.And I believe Ange Postecoglou is a decent bloke and a decent manager, who deserves his day in the sun. He had faith in himself when plenty did not.But I do not feel that he is the right man for the next stage.Read More on The SunIt is for Daniel Levy and the board to make the final call.And if Postecoglou is sacked, and the next appointment does not work out, I will not blame Levy and Co for the decision. It would be the right one. More