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| Manchester United transformation winning Carabao Cup 2023 |
In the span of only one year, Manchester United has transformed from being jeered to being cheered and praised.
The jubilation that took place at Wembley on Sunday for the League Cup final came exactly one year to the day that a crescendo of whistles echoed across Old Trafford after a scoreless draw with struggling Watford.
The 20-time English champions then had their worst Premier League season ever, finishing 35 points behind the winners, Manchester City. This was the lowest result in the club's history.
When Erik ten Hag was chosen as the new manager last summer, not many people had high hopes for how quickly things would turn around.
But the man who led Ajax to three Dutch titles in just four seasons has put United on the path to glory. He has ended a six-year championship drought and kept the club in the fight on three more fronts as the year comes to a close.
United is still in the running for all of their local tournaments and has moved on to the round of 16 in the Europa League following a historic victory over Barcelona last week. A quadruple may be unlikely, but United is still in the running for all of their domestic championships.
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| Manchester United transformation winning Carabao Cup |
Ten Hag's job was to bring further silverware, and he discovered more champagne lying about on the turf at Wembley as he started off on his journey.
"That is just one cup in the month of February, but it demonstrates that we are moving in the right direction." He said that this must have been the motivating factor.
"If everyone invests a lot of time and energy and communicates well with one another, then everything is possible."
In the fifth round of the FA Cup, which will take place on Wednesday, United will play host to West Ham, and at stake is a spot in the quarterfinals.
Several Premier League teams, including league leader Arsenal, cup holder Liverpool, and big-spending Chelsea, were knocked out early in the tournament. This means that the field of competitors has begun to grow.
As a result of Fulham's match against Leeds, another top-flight club, in addition to the side that comes out on the losing end of United's match against West Ham, will qualify for the following round.
In the event that United triumphs, City will continue to pose the greatest threat, with Tottenham coming in fourth.
Both of these clubs will be competing against teams from the second tier when City travels to Bristol City on Tuesday and Spurs play away at Sheffield United on Wednesday. Both of these games will take place on the road.
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| Manchester United transformation winning Carabao Cup |
In the Europa League.
As a result of their victory over Barcelona, who are now seven points ahead of Real Madrid in the standings for the Champions League in Spain, Manchester United have been positioned as the frontrunners to claim the championship.
Yet, the tournament still has a lot of notable teams, such as Arsenal, Juventus, and Roma, among others.
After defeating Barcelona in the playoffs, United will face another Spanish club in the round of 16, and they should feel good about their chances against Real Betis.
Even though the Europa League is usually thought of as the second-best league in European soccer, Ten Hag's team will have to deal with a lot of problems if they want to move on.
Due to the fact that the contests are scheduled on Thursday evenings, the schedule of the tournament has also been a concern for competitors in the past. This could make it harder for the teams to get ready for their home games on the weekends.
In the Premier League.
Even though it's possible that a team still in the early stages of its development might not be able to keep up a championship run for a long time, third-place United is now in the mix at the top, eight points behind Arsenal.
And while both Arsenal and City have been on their schedule twice thus far this season, there is also the opportunity to reduce the margin when the top two teams play each other once more in the month of April.
Even though Arsenal has been struggling in recent weeks and City still hasn't won everyone over, Ten Hag will be happy to see that his team is probably getting better as the season goes on.
Because Christian Eriksen hurt his ankle, he will miss most of the rest of the season, and Anthony Martial is having trouble staying fit, so Manchester United's biggest challenge might be keeping their team strong.
Wout Weghorst and Marcel Sabitzer were both brought in on contract in January, and already Ten Hag is depending more heavily on them than he might have wanted to.
Both of them have helped, but Eriksen and Martial are so much better that they can't be compared to them.
Marcus Rashford scores most of the team's goals, even though Casemiro was recently suspended and it was hard for the team to work without him.
If something were to happen to the England striker, it could throw the campaign for United completely off track.
Another aspect is that Manchester United does not have a lot of championship aspirations, which is why players like Casemiro and Raphael Varane, who have already won several titles, might be very important in the latter phases of the competition.
At Ajax, other players who have won league championships under Ten Hag's tutelage include Lisandro Martinez and Antony.
United were the inaugural and sole English soccer club to win the league championship, Champions League, and FA Cup all in the same season in 1999, when legendary former manager Alex Ferguson was in charge of the squad.
City won three domestic titles in 2019, including the league championship, the FA Cup, and the League Cup.
The previous year, Liverpool seemed to be on track to win a historic quadruple, but they ended up winning just the FA Cup and the League Cup instead of the league title and the Champions League after succumbing to Real Madrid in the final of that competition.
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