At Manchester United you are expected to win and win big; you must also do it with style and panache. By winning, it is meant that you must win league titles and advance deep in Europe. Since Sir Alex Ferguson retired the team has just one trophy, two if you count the 2016 Community Shield.
David Moyes obviously didn’t win anything as he was a disaster hire that lasted not even a full season. Louis van Gaal went two full seasons, but didn’t win anything until the FA Cup last May. United were triumphant today, as they renewed their quest to defend their FA Cup title against Wigan Athletic.
Red Devils won 4-0 at home, in a laugher.
United Defender Phil Jones said before the match that winning this FA Cup tournament is not enough.
“We are under no illusions that we have no given right to win things, but winning the FA Cup is not enough,” he told the British press.
“It’s not enough just to win a cup. We set our standards high and this club has a history of winning things. That result in midweek was not what we wanted. We are delighted to be through to the final and to go to Wembley, but we weren’t happy with ourselves.
“That took the gloss off it a bit and it was a disappointed dressing room — but maybe when we look forward to the final it will be better.”
“We know it wasn’t good enough, especially in the first half. We had to dig deep, but we conceded another sloppy goal. We set our standards high and we were proud of the unbeaten record we’d been on. It takes some character from players to go on an unbeaten run as long as that and to throw it away was disappointing. Personally, I was devastated by it.”
United have now moved on to the FA Cup fifth round with the victory today, and United are in position to win the EFL Cup later next month.
They have advanced to the EFL final where they’ll be heavy favorites against Southampton. Winning those two cups is one thing but Phil Jones is absolutely right- there are much bigger fish to fry out there.
Sixth place United are in striking distance of the Premier League top four and that’s where they need to finish. That has got to be the number one priority.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, Bold and the Chicago Tribune’s RedEye publication, appears regularly as a guest on CGTN America, WGN CLTV News and KOZN 1620 The Zone.
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