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Could a mid-table finish benefit Manchester United?

By on April 5, 2014

You have to go way back to the 2001-02 season to find the last time that Manchester United have lost six games at home in a single league season.  Even further back, during the 1973-1974 season in which the club was relegated from the First Division, was the last time that United lost seven matches at Old Trafford in league football.  However, David Moyes’ Manchester United side have thrown away history, losing six home matches in the Premier League so far this season, and still have nearly a sixth of the season left to play.  Adding in their four away losses, the Red Devils’ have already lost ten league matches this season, a tally which they haven’t even come close to matching in a decade.  This is double that of their losses last season, and on par with all their league losses in the past two seasons combined.

In short, Manchester United have been in one heck of a bad season.  Currently fourteen points off the top of the table, they sit in sixth place in the league, and could drop back down to seventh – a position they haven’t seen at this stage of the season in over a quarter-century – if Tottenham Hotspur beat Sunderland. So why is the club still pushing for a Champions League position? It would take a miracle for them to close the seven point gap, that would widen to 10 points provided that Arsenal beat Everton, with just five matches remaining in the season, especially as the side that they are most likely to catch are only facing one team in the top half of the table in their last five matches.  But United are still going at it.

Moyes’ side has won five of their previous seven league matches, while the two losses came against the yesterday’s leaders and second place team in the league, Liverpool and Manchester City.  That is more than double the two matches they won in their seven matches before that, and has left them in the last of the two Europa League positions.  Sure, if they could hold onto that place in a European competition next season it would boost fan morale, but as a Europa League spot is all they are really fighting for, why want it?  United will obviously be rebuilding and focusing on solely getting back in the Champions League next season, so why fight for pesky Thursday night far flung Europa League matches that just build the side’s fatigue come the weekend?

If United just realized that a Europa League spot was useless, even damaging to their rebuilding process, and that a Champions League position was of utmost improbability, than they would rest their first-team lineups in the league, accept a mid-table position, and then focus on their only other way to qualify for the Champions League next season: win it this season.  Moyes is just one defeat, or scoreless draw, away from his first ever European exit, and there are sure to be much closer calls to elimination from the competition if they even proceed to the semifinals in the first place.  And with their last European hope this season resting on a win, or draw with four or more combined goals, over the reigning world champions Bayern Munich, United will need every player fit and rested for that hope of European glory alive.  So, of course, extra rest and more focus on the Champions League this season will be beneficial for United.

Not only would a mid-table finish help this season, but without Europa League matches to deal with next season it could be beneficial in the long run for United.  After all, look at Liverpool.  The Reds had failed to qualify for the the Champions League in the 2009/2010 and 2010/2011 seasons, but after making the Europa League in 2010/11 they dipped even lower the following season.  However, after hanging out just below the Europa League positions for the past two seasons, look at what it has done for them now, as they sit at the top of the table with Champions League qualification already all but sealed.  Meanwhile, Tottenham Hotspur have been flirting in and out of Champions League positions, but can never really make the big jump up to a top four team, in small part due to the fact that they have the Thursday Europa League ties.

So then the question remains, why in the world are United pushing for most likely the same fate?

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.