The 2014 year could not have started any worse for Manchester United as they lost the opening game against Spurs at Old Trafford. The bad start became worst as they went on to lose three more games in the same month.
It resulted in David Moyes being sacked after being in charge of the club for just 10 months. Giggs was then assigned the temporary role as the interim manager. Following him, Louis Van Gaal was appointed as the clubs long term manager.
After a slow start to his campaign, United finally looked to have gained momentum after winning seven of their last nine games. Despite the poor start to the year, United are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. So let us look at the main talking points of the year:
Miserable start to the New Year
Goals from Emmanuel Adebayor and Christian Eriksen saw Tottenham Hotspur inflict a New Years day defeat to the Reds at Old Trafford. The loss was the first of three consecutive 2-1 defeats for United in a month that saw the Reds get bounced from the FA Cup by Swansea and knocked out of the Capital One Cup by Sunderland.
There was good news in the transfer market though, as David Moyes was able to announce then Manchester United record signing of Juan Mata from Chelsea. But, Mata was not able to help the clubs cause much, as United continued in the same trend.
United lost the match at Stoke on 1st February despite starting with the record signing. The low-light of the month may well have been the home draw against bottom-of-the-table Fulham when Darren Bent put in an injury-time equaliser to earn the visitors a point. United put in a league record 81 crosses in that game.
The poor run did not end there as United endured a miserable night in Athens which saw Olympiakos soundly beat the Reds 2-0 in the last-16 first leg of the Champions League.
Moyes misery finally came to an end
A 3-1 loss to Bayern Munich in the second-leg of the Champions League semi-final ensured that United will not be in Europe the next season for the first time in the premier league era. The 2-0 defeat in the following week at the feet of the Moyes former club Everton was the final nail in the coffin as Scot was sacked.
The fans belief in the manager was long lost after the club faced humiliating 3-0 defeats at home to rivals Liverpool and Manchester City. Some section of the fans arranged a helicopter to fly over the Old Trafford stadium carrying a banner ‘Wrong one – Moyes out’ during the game against Aston Villa.
After spending eleven years at Everton, Moyes reign at United came to an end in just 10 months. Despite having some good moments such as beating Bayer Leverkusen 5-0 in Germany or completing an impressive comeback against Olympiakos at Old Trafford following a 3-0 victory, Moyes left the club after achieving many infamous feat. Let us look at some of those records:
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Stoke earn first win over Man Utd since 1984
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Swansea win first ever game at Old Trafford
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Newcastle win at Man Utd for first time since 1972
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Everton achieve same feat for first time since 1992
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West Brom win at Old Trafford for first time since 1978
From Giggs being an interim manager, Van Gaal was appointed as the permanent manager
Ryan Giggs was appointed as the player coach to take over the reigns from David Moyes. The interim manager started his reign at Old Trafford brilliantly as United put four goals past Norwich.
However, defeat to Sunderland and a draw in the last game at Southampton saw Giggs finish with 2 wins, 1 defeat and a draw during his four game period.
As expected Louis Van Gaal was appointed as the full time manager of the struggling Reds. Due to his involvement with Netherlands at Brazil 2014, Van Gaal took charge of the Reds only in July with Giggs being his assistant manager.
After his Dutch team exceeded everyone’s expectation to reach the third place in the World Cup, many united supporters expected the same from Dutchman.
To his credit, United started the pre-season friendlies really well as they won all their matches, however, the real test started only when the league campaign kick started in August.
Millions splashed in summer
A 2-1 home loss to Swansea opened the campaign, which was United’s first opening-day loss at home since 1972 and the first time the visitors had ever won a league match at Old Trafford. It was followed by a humiliating 4-0 defeat over League One side MK Dons in the Capital One cup.
United finished August with two defeats, two draws and no victories in an official game. Hence, Van Gaal splashed the cash like water to become the first British club to spend over 150 million in the summer window.
United brought in the likes of Shaw and Herrera for a fee near 30 million. And added that up with Rojo, Blind and a lucrative loan deal for Radamel Falcao. The highlight of the window was the arrival of Angel Di Maria from Real Madrid for a British record fee of £59.7m.
The summer exodus also saw as many as 15 players either leave the club permanently or on loan. The list includes the release of free agents such as Ferdinand, Vidic, loan moves for Cleverly and Zaha and the sale of the life long Mancunian Danny Welbeck to Arsenal.
Light at the end of the tunnel
Reds endured a slow start to Van Gaal’s reign as they managed to win just three of their opening 11 matches in all competition. During which, United lost four times including a defeat against their derby rivals Manchester City.
Surrendering a two goal lead to lose 5-3 at Leicester City being the low point of that time. Lately though United have started to put on a good run of results which saw them finish the year on third position.
After losing to City by the odd goal on the second of November, United put forth a run of six consecutive victories in the league for the first time in over a year.
The highlight being the impressive 2-1 victory at Emirates to beat United’s direct top four rivals Arsenal. It was also the clubs first away victory of the season under Van Gaal.
After managing to beat Southampton at st Mary’s, United enacted revenge on Liverpool by beating them by the same score line (3-0) by which they beat United last season at Old Trafford.
United ended the year with an impressive run which sees them get seven victories and two draws out of their last nine games.
After witnessing a poor start to the year, Manchester United supporters will be pleased to see where the club is currently lying in the table. If United can keep this form going, the minimum expectation of a Champions League qualification will be achieved without facing too much difficulty.
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