FM 2018 sim: How would every other top-six manager fare with this Man Utd team?

It’s not going to plan at Manchester United.

Manager Jose Mourinho seems to be losing his grip at one of the biggest clubs in world football, given recent developments both on and off the field.

Issues with the transfers, issues with the playing staff (especially Paul Pogba), issues with the British media and, of course, issues with tactics have all conspired to result in Manchester United’s worst-ever start to a Premier League season. Their 10-point tally leaves them nine points behind city rivals Manchester City at the top of the table.

Is Mourinho’s time at Old Trafford about to run out? We’re not sure. Rio Ferdinand said at the weekend “big questions” must be asked at board level, but were it to be decided that the answers to said questions involve sacking the manager. Mourinho and his coaching staff will reportedly be owed a £12m payout and executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward, less than a week ago, stated publicly that the club will continue to back him.

What we do know, however, is that the squad is undeniably full of talent. It’s just a question of getting the best out of it. And so, with help from Football Manager 2018, we gave every other top-six manager a shot in the Old Trafford hot-seat, simulating one season in charge for each. So, without further ado, let’s see how they fared.

Pep Guardiola

Transfers

Pep Guardiola’s first order of business was to transform the side into a ball-playing, creative machine more akin to his Manchester City side.

Three players were recruited: attacking midfielder Miguel Almiron signed from Atlanta United for £12.25m while, most surprisingly, former Liverpool centre-back Sebastian Coates arrived from Sporting for £26.5 million.

We had to wait till January for the most exciting signing, however, when talented forward Dries Martins came to the club from Italian giants Napoli, also for £26.5m.

As for those who left the club, Marcos Rojo joined AS Monaco for £13.25m and Mourinho’s go-to substitute Marouane Fellaini, who signed for CSKA Moscow for £6.75 million.

Total spend: £54m

Total incoming: £15.5m

Honours/league position

Premier League position: fifth

Champions League: quarter-finals

FA Cup: winners

Carabao Cup: semi-final

Euro Super Cup: runners-up

How did Pogba fare?

Paul Pogba played a grand total of 55 games, 52 of which he started.

Clearly seen as a pivotal part of the Manchester United machine, Pogba scored 13 goals (10 in the Premier League), provided 10 assists (eight in the Premier League) and secured an average rating of 7.06 – not bad considering the number of games he played, but not amazing for the talent Pogba possesses.

His teammate Alexis Sanchez, who had the chance to join Guardiola at Manchester City in real life last January, scored 11 times over 40 appearances.

Verdict

By both United and Guardiola’s high standards, this wasn’t a particularly successful season, one which began with a Uefa Super Cup defeat. An FA Cup final win is always good (at least by most United fans’ standards), but not enough and their form elsewhere left a lot to be desired.

A fifth-place finish in the league cost them Champions League qualification. What makes this worse is that they missed out on a top-four finish due to goal difference, with arch-rivals Liverpool scoring just one more goal to pip them to the spot.

A decent Champions League showing saw United eventually knocked out by Atletico Madrid in the quarter-finals, 1-0 across two legs, but a 2-0 semi-final defeat to Liverpool in the Carabao Cup and a 3-1 defeat in the Uefa Super Cup final, at the hands of Real Madrid, condemned Guardiola to a disappointing first season in charge at Old Trafford. Which Mourinho will have no doubt enjoyed as a spectator.

Jurgen Klopp

Transfers

It would take a brave man to swap Anfield for Old Trafford.

In the Jurgen Klopp sim, just two signings were made as the German looked to transform the fortunes of Liverpool’s arch-rivals. With United’s vast resources at his disposal, Klopp brought in Danilo Pereira from Porto for a transfer fee of £34.5m. Interestingly, as was the case in the Guardiola sim, Dries Martins arrived for the same £26.5m transfer fee.

In what was the biggest departure, Matteo Darmian was granted his desired departure, returning to former club AC Milan for a fee of £13m.

Total spend: £52m

Total incoming: £10.75m

Honours/league position

Uefa Super Cup: winners

Premier League position: champions

Champions League: semi-final

FA Cup: fifth-round

Carabao Cup: quarter-final

How did Pogba fare?

Pogba’s form played a big part in United’s season. He was involved in 46 games, starting on 44 occasions. However, he only made 29 Premier League appearances due to injury.

Pogba scored 13 goals (10 in the Premier League), provided 11 assists (seven in the Premier League) and secured an average rating of 7.21.

Verdict

Klopp’s first season at Manchester United resulted in their 21st league title. In real life, he is still chasing his and Liverpool’s first Premier League title win, but he took just one campaign for him with the Red Devils on our FM 2018 sim; United finished eight points ahead of rivals Manchester City and Arsenal, ending their league campaign as the top-flight’s highest-scoring team and with the best goal difference in the division.

Elsewhere, there’s no shame in a 2-0 Champions League semi-final defeat to Barcelona, but a lack of success in both the FA Cup and Carabao Cup will have piled the pressure on early.

A very good season for Klopp, but the stuff of nightmares for Liverpool.

Maurizio Sarri

Transfers

In what would have been pretty controversial in real life, United here plucked Maurizio Sarri from Chelsea before the former Napoli coach had even presided over a single fixture. As with the managers previously mentioned, Sarri decided to bring in some new faces to reignite Manchester United’s title hopes.

Daniel Wass from Celta Vigo was signed for £22.5m, tough tackling midfielder Daniele De Rossi left AS Roma to join up with Sarri for £5.5m and Jonas signed from Portuguese side Benfica for £6m.

There were no major outgoings this time, with Sarri wanting to keep the squad together.

Total spend: £31m

Total incoming: £69k

Honours/league position

Premier League position: first

Champions League: final

FA Cup: winners

Carabao Cup: fourth-round

Euro Super Cup: winners

How did Pogba fare?

Condemned by Mourinho but worshipped by Sarri, Pogba played 57 times across the campaign, starting 55 matches. He managed 18 goals in total, eight of which came in the Premier League, in addition to 13 assists (eight in the Premier League) and an average rating of 7.31 across all competitions.

Verdict

Sarri’s sim looks like the best of the lot so far, resulting in three trophies (almost four) and one very happy manager. A commanding Premier League campaign saw Manchester United top the table, winning on the last day to finish three points ahead of, you guessed it, Chelsea.

A 1-0 victory against Arsenal (thanks to a Mr. Sanchez) secured the FA Cup, alongside a 1-0 win (thanks to Pogba’s converted penalty) in the League Cup meant Sarri finished his first season with three titles. That’ll do.

It could have been four, but for a penalty shootout defeat to Barcelona in the Champions League.

Mauricio Pochettino

Transfers

Mauricio Pochettino swaps Spurs for the Red Devils here and, upon doing so, decided to sign two players to join United’s ranks. Full-back Sergio Escudero signed from Sevilla for £13.25 million and Fagner, who you might remember as Brazil’s weak link at last summer’s World Cup, joined from COR, costing £20m.

Once again, the only real outgoing was Matteo Darmian, who this time joined RB Leipzig for £11m.

Total spend: £28m

Total incoming: £8.25m

Honours/league position

Premier League position: fourth

Champions League: quarter-final

FA Cup: winners

Carabao Cup: fourth round

Euro Super Cup: runners-up

How did Pogba fare?

As with every manager in this set of FM 2018 sims, Pochettino valued Pogba’s input across the season and reaped the rewards.

In 54 appearances across all competitions, Pogba scored 12 goals, of which five came in the Premier League. He also assisted 13 times (eight in the Premier League) in a season that saw him deliver five MOTM performances.

Verdict

It was just the one trophy for Pochettino – which, of course, is better than nothing. The Spurs boss’ first trophy in management came in the FA Cup, where they defeated Chelsea on penalties at Wembley Stadium. Bet you can guess which French World Cup winner scored the match-winning spot-kick right?

United under-delivered in the Premier League but still did enough to finish in the top-four (just) behind Pochettino’s former club, Tottenham, who had a slightly better goal difference but did have to watch their north London rivals claim their first league title in 14 years.

Their Champions League run was ended in the quarters, where they lost out to Bayern Munich 3-0 across two legs. The less said about the Carabao Cup, the better.

Unai Emery

Transfers

Bringing in Mikel San Jose from Athletico Bilbao for £31m was a quick way to show Unai Emery’s title-winning intent, while the real-life Arsenal manager also added Jonas from Benfica for £8.75m.

Three main exits included, once again, both Matteo Darmian and Marouane Fellaini, who joined Villarreal and Lyon respectively for £11.75m and £5.75m.

The other man shown the door was English centre-back Chris Smalling, who left to join Premier League side Southampton for £13.25m.

Total spend: £38.5m

Total incoming: £24m

Honours/league position

Premier League position: third

Champions League: group stages

FA Cup: fifth round

Carabao Cup: third round

Euro Super Cup: runners-up

Euro Cup: final

How did Pogba fare?

In Pogba’s final out of this selection of FM 2018 sims, he was given 54 outings, scoring 12 goals – nine times in the Premier League – and recording six assists (three in the Premier League). Not his best campaign, even if he did average a match rating of 7.17.

Verdict

The main indicator of success at United is trophies. In which sense, Emery failed miserably.

With the Premier League title in their hands going into the last game of the season, they lost 3-2 at home to West Brom, allowing both Arsenal and Spurs to jump above them to claim the top two spaces.

A bitterly disappointing Champions League campaign did not get past the group stages but led them to the Europa League final where they met arch-rivals, Liverpool. A defeat here for Emery must have been gutting for the Manchester fanbase and hierarchy.

Poor form in both the FA Cup and Carabao Cup means Emery provided the worst showing in this thought experiment. Anyone still got Mourinho’s number?

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