Gary Pallister, a cornerstone of one of the most successful periods in Manchester United’s history, has identified two key reasons why the club is “in the position we’re in” at the moment as the Red Devils continue to struggle on the pitch.
United are languished in 13th place in the Premier League table, only a point closer to Champions League qualification than the relegation zone, with a goal difference of minus three. The team are also yet to register a win in the Europa League, producing three disappointing draws from their opening three games.
This dismal start proved too much for INEOS to endure with the club’s rulers quickly moving to terminate Erik ten Hag’s contract following last weekend’s defeat to West Ham at the London Stadium.
However, yesterday’s 1-1 draw with Chelsea – United’s first Premier League game since the Dutchman’s dismissal – showcased many of the same issues which plagued Ten Hag’s time at Old Trafford, despite Ruud van Nistelrooy being at the helm for the game.
And in an exclusive interview with The Peoples Person, hosted by Lucky Block, Pallister reveals United continue to look “vulnerable” at the back as injuries and absences have decimated the defensive unit over the past fifteen months.
Furthermore, the former defender states “we’re not scoring enough goals as well”, with this combination of a leaky backline and an ineffective forward line “tell[ing] you why we’re in the position we’re in.”
Pallister also believes United have made “mistakes in the transfer market”, with the pressure of playing for a “massive club” like the Red Devils having “swallowed up people” in the recent past.
But the 59-year-old focuses on the defence, referencing how the strength of the famous partnership he struck with Steve Bruce at United stemmed from how “regularly” the two played with each other when he joined from Middlesbrough in 1989.
“One thing we were lucky with was we escaped injuries for those first few years we were together, so we played really regularly. We had the ‘keeper settled, the right-back and left-back settled, so you had that defensive unit,” Pallister recalls.
He describes how the “solidity” a defence is able to develop “comes from playing week in week out with each other” – a luxury rarely afforded to defenders at Old Trafford in recent times.
Towards the end of last season, United clocked their 31st different defensive unit as injuries left the squad on its knees at times. Constant rotation in defence never allowed this “solidity”, as Pallister describes, to develop as a new partnership was fielded almost on a game-to-game basis.
United’s former centre-back says the more change in the defensive unit there is the “tougher it gets” to be defensively strong. He does, however, underscore that the club has “good players” in defence, identifying Leny Yoro as a “talent”.
Pallister believes the key to United improving is finding a “settled back four or…a back five now with [Ruben] Amorim coming in” and “getting used to playing with each other.” If the team can establish a bedrock of stability in defence, results and, almost more importantly, performances will improve with it.
Amorim, who takes charge at Old Trafford on November 11, would undoubtedly love to call upon the services of a prime ‘Daisy and Dolly‘, as Sir Alex Ferguson was able to in the 1990s, although Pallister still doesn’t know which one of the famous pairing the Scottish manager designated him with.
“We never knew which one was which. Certainly not a name we were very proud of”, the 59-year-old reveals. Three Premiership titles, three FA Cups, two Community Shields, a League Cup, a Cup Winner’s Cup and the UEFA Super Cup – the selection of trophies Pallister and Bruce accrued together at Old Trafford – is certainly something to be proud of, however.
And it was a haul predicated on a rock solid defence, with Daisy and Dolly ever present at the heart of it. United need to find their modern day version to recapture the glory of its past.
Featured image Michael Regan via Getty Images
Darragh Fox
Darragh is a writer for The Peoples Person who spent three years as a history graduate slowly realising football was by far the most interesting thing to write about.
