Manchester United

Richard.H said:

Man United's downfall coincides with the rise of RM. I always have a soft spot for them and hope they play in the CL soon.

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It's amazing how much United and Rangers downfalls mirror each other. In the 90s the both ruled supreme with counter-attacking style, then in early 2000s were still the best team in domestic arena but starting to be reined in. By the late 00s United had their best team under Ferguson, and Rangers under Walter Smith were making UEFA Cup Finals, even in the same season United won the CL.

Then in 2012 Rangers went into administration, Walter Smith left around then, and never been the same since. And United too declined just after that when Ferguson left. Ferguson and Smith were even long term friends dating back decades.

My theory is they were both typical British clubs ruled by typical British bosses with a lack of tactical knowledge. Rangers' financial issues complicate things, but my guess is Ferguson and Smith never left the club with the tactical insights to play more expansive football post Pep's Barca.

They started to get overtaken, by better tactical teams and teams that played better football like City, Liverpool and Celtic. They're both still playing basic 90s football in 2020s.

Thoughts on this theory @Don Juan Laporta Estruch

United fans like to tell themselves they're an exciting team, but even in their successful days I found them very uncouth - basic get it up the wings and spam crosses football, relying far too much on stoppage time winners. I don't think they could ever play like Barca or City - counter attack and moments football after being outplayed is built into their DNA and ethos as a club. Lots of their fans are desperate to control games as they view that as the most sustainable way to win the title, but they'll be disappointed as they're just not that club.

If they bring in Lucho and back him then they can easily become that team quickly. They're only about four starters short of being a dominant Barcaball team.