EAMON DUNPHY HAS launched yet another damning appraisal of Manchester United under Louis van Gaal’s stewardship, labelling them a ‘hopeless’ team as their season reaches its defining moment.
If the Red Devils win their two remaining league outings, starting this evening at West Ham, they will snatch the final Champions League berth from Man City and potentially rescue another forgettable season.
United also have a first FA Cup final since 2007 to look forward to but Dunphy insists silverware and a top-four finish cannot conceal the club’s major problems.
“If they qualify for the Champions League you have to acknowledge the achievement, but they’re a hopeless team,” Dunphy told RTÉ’s Game On.
“They don’t play with any panache. They don’t play with any conviction, which is the big thing you’d associate with Manchester United teams – style – they pass the ball, that’s the way Manchester United have always been in their tradition.
“But they did have a period where they dropped to what is now the Championship – the Second Division as it was then – and the club went to a low ebb. I think they’re heading in that direction, but it’s been a very confusing season if you want to draw conclusions from where teams are finishing.
“Manchester United spent more on agents’ fees last summer – £10m – than Leicester spent on players. They’re going nowhere.”
Dunphy has previously criticised van Gaal, brandishing the former Dutch manager as a ‘total spoofer’ among other things.
However, the fact remains that the 64-year-old is still at the helm at Old Trafford and on the cusp of delivering the club’s first piece of silverware since Sir Alex Ferguson retired at the end of the 2013 season.
“He said last week that he was a great coach and that there was no doubt about that. I think he’s slightly bonkers,” the outspoken pundit continued.
“He is deluded. He has won things in the past, but if that was the way you kept the score, all the has-beens would be out in their glory.”
