Manchester United midfielder Nemanja Matic has stated that the Old Trafford club ‘cannot allow’ the likes of Liverpool, Manchester City or another other club romp to the Premier League title like the Merseyside club did this season. It would seem that seeing Liverpool win their first league title in 30 years has started a fire within in order to aim to stop that happening again next season. Liverpool earned 99 points in the league this season, unable to break the 100 point barrier.
The Merseyside club ended up being named as the Premier League champions when Chelsea beat Manchester City with the club having seven matches of the season remaining. Of course, to the Liverpool aligned media, it made the club the best ever to play in and win the Premier League because they won the title at the earliest it had ever been won. Overreaction and Liverpool tends to come together, no matter the circumstance.
United had a strong end to the Premier League season, unbeaten in 14 league matches, earning a third-placed finish after chasing down Leicester City, who at one stage of the season were 14 points ahead of United with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side finishing four points ahead of Brendan Rodgers’ side. Matic has stated that finishing 33 points behind the eventual winners of the league will not be good enough next season, which is 100% correct. United should be doing much better.
Solskjaer will need to get things started this summer with the club needing to add a minimum of three top players to the squad in order to have the strength and depth in the squad to be able to rotate players next season, which will be required with the club competing in the Premier League, Carabao Cup, UEFA Champions League and the Emirates FA Cup. Speaking to Inside United and reported by the official Manchester United website, Matic said:
“Me, personally, I would like to win the Premier League with Manchester United. I think that our club always needs to fight for the title.
“We always need to try to do the best for this club, which we are doing at the moment, and I think we cannot allow any club to win the league seven or 10 games before the season finishes. So we have to fight until the end.
“Of course, we have a young team, but this cannot be an excuse. I think these young players already have a few seasons behind them playing. So, from the next season, we have to fight for the title.
“I don’t know if we’re going to win [it] but I’m sure that we can fight until the end. That’s my personal target and I think the rest of my team-mates think the same.”
It is good to hear that at least one United player wants to hit back and make the Old Trafford faithful proud of the club once again. United should have been motivated that Liverpool have been getting better in the past few years and should have been aiming to stop them from winning the league. Now that they have done that, Matic and his teammates will be seeking to stop their party from spreading into multiple summers, aiming to wrestle the Premier League title from them, returning it to Manchester in May 2021.
Written by John Walker
