MANCHESTER, England — There will be no FA Cup triumph to paper over the cracks for Manchester United this season. Unless they win the Champions League — and that seems as likely right now as Ralf Rangnick’s team taking a midseason break on the moon — the club’s trophy drought will stretch to five years after Middlesbrough’s 8-7 penalty shootout win at Old Trafford ended United’s only realistic hopes of silverware this season.
Not since the 1980s have United gone so long without winning a trophy, but the club and team are in such a state of flux that only the most optimistic supporter would claim they could see an end in sight to the dismal run of failure. This is a team built of deadwood and driftwood — players past their best and others who are performing so far below their ability that they risk wasting the talent that initially made them worthy of wearing the United shirt.
United are already out of the title race and their Carabao Cup involvement lasted just one game, with West Ham United eliminating them with a 1-0 win at Old Trafford in round three last September. This defeat against Championship side Middlesbrough ended their FA Cup involvement at the fourth-round stage and ensured a first home defeat against lower-league opposition in this competition since losing to League One Leeds United in 2010.
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So a season that started with such optimism — following the signings of Cristiano Ronaldo, Raphael Varane and Jadon Sancho — is only heading for the rocks, and you wouldn’t back many of Rangnick’s squad to turn the ship around between now and the end of the season.
Against Middlesbrough, United will argue that they suffered from a misinterpretation of the handball rule when Chris Wilder’s team cancelled out Sancho’s first-half goal to equalise when Duncan Watmore’s left hand controlled the ball before it fell to…
Source : espn
