How Big a Priority Should the Europa League Be for Manchester United?
If Manchester United had not conceded a late equaliser at Stamford Bridge on 7 February, and if they had won at the Stadium of Light on Saturday, then the answer to this question may have been different.
As it is, though, there can only be one reasonable response, which is that United should take the Europa League very seriously given it offers their best chance of qualification for next season's Champions League.
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Manchester City's current indifferent form may offer a glimmer of hope of a top-four finish for United, but the two games Manuel Pellegrini's side have lost in succession have been against Leicester City and Tottenham Hotspur—the division's top two. Their ship seems likely to right itself when they face off against less high-flying teams.
And even if it doesn't, United have proved themselves incapable of taking advantage of City's slip in recent weeks.
The Red Devils have been horribly inconsistent this season. After the first seven games of the campaign, they were top of the league—a fine start. Their form since has been so erratic that if the table were calculated only on games played since then, United would be 11th.
The trajectory of the season is pretty clear, and to believe that Louis van Gaal can turn things around and establish the consistency needed to claw back the gap on those above them in the table is to rely on hope over experience.
The Dutchman even took a defeatist tack in his post-match interview following the Sunderland game.
Asked about the possibility of finishing in a Champions League place he said, per Sky Sports:
"It will be very difficult. It is still possible, but it is very difficult. The way with the Europa League is easier, I think, but also not so easy because there also you have a fantastic European level in that cup, so you have to fight for it.
You can easily say "okay, the other way"—but also you have to show your capacity, in every match, you have to show it and we didn't do that today.
"
If the "today" Van Gaal mentioned had been a one-off, then things might be different, but it has become practically the norm for United not to show their capacity.
Wayne Rooney has insisted the players must take their share of responsibility for that and said, per Jeremy Cross of the Daily Star:
"...the manager has taken a lot of stick for some performances. It's down to us, we're players and we have to perform.
At times this season we haven't done that. In terms of that we've probably been (treated) quite lightly and the manager has taken a lot of it. But we're going on the pitch.
We have to create chances and win games and we haven't done that enough this season.
"
The United captain also stressed the importance of United getting back to winning ways as a club:
"The important thing now, I feel, is to win trophies again this season. It's been a few years since we won a trophy. This is more or less a new team so for ourselves, as a team, we need to win something. The fans want to see us win something again.
Obviously the Champions League is massive for this club and it was disappointing to go out of it. We'll keep going in the league, keep trying. But our main aim has to be to make sure we can get in that top four.
And then the Europa League, it would be great if we can win that. It's not where we wanted to be at the start of the season. But it's where we've found ourselves so why not go and try to win it.
"
Winning the Europa League is a huge ask. The draw for the round of 32 has been favourable—FC Midtjylland had only won one of their previous nine games before going into their winter break, per Sky Sports.
But tougher tests are certainly to come.
The Europa League knockout stages are a gruelling affair. There are four two-legged ties between now and the final, meaning an additional eight games added to an already injury-hit squad's schedule.
The level of competition is fierce. Serie A's second- and third-placed teams—Napoli and Fiorentina—remain in the draw. The Bundesliga's second- and third-placed teams, Borussia Dortmund and Bayer Leverkusen, are also still involved.
Villareal and Sevilla—the fourth- and fifth-placed teams in La Liga, a league where the top three are among the best teams in Europe—are still in the draw.
Tottenham Hotspur, the Premier League's second-placed team remain, as do United's archrivals Liverpool—though they represent one of the lesser threats on current form.
The quality of potential opposition means that United will have to take the competition seriously to have any chance of progressing. The likelihood of facing an opponent against whom Van Gaal could heavily rotate and still have a chance to beat seems minimal.
So, given the fact that Champions League qualification through the league seems a long shot and that the Europa League is full of good teams, United will have to take the competition seriously.
After all, Champions League qualification remains vital for the club.
First off, United still need to attract top-level talent to Old Trafford to help arrest the collapse of the post-Sir Alex Ferguson years.
While they managed to attract Angel Di Maria during their previous season out of the Champions League, it will be a harder sell this time around given everything that has transpired since.
The David Moyes season has proved anything but a blip. Missing out on two out of three seasons in Europe's top competition looks like a pattern, and not a pretty one.
The arrival of a manager with the profile of Jose Mourinho might mitigate against this, but that is not yet certain to happen.
Then there is the financial impact. One season out of the Champions League will not affect their deal with Adidas, but it would add huge pressure to the following season, given missing out two years in a row would see their annual payment cut from £75 million to £52.5 million, per Mark Ogden of the Telegraph in 2014.
Executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward and the commercial team have sold United to partners all around the world on the strength of their brand's values of success and glamour—as well as their reach.
The reach may have a long tail even if success on the pitch is hard to come by, as Liverpool have shown over the past couple of decades. Success and glamour, though, will fade a good deal more quickly.
Winning the Europa League would prove United are still some sort of force to be reckoned with in European football. It would get them back into the Champions League and re-establish winning ways.
Under Ferguson, winning trophies became habitual, and that has to start somewhere if this new team are to get anywhere close to their illustrious predecessors.
In truth, even if United do prioritise the Europa League, it offers nothing like a guarantee of success. They have presumably been taking the league seriously this season and that hasn't gone particularly well.
Perhaps the challenge will bring the best out of the squad, but for now the chance of any success this season remains a long shot.
Custom table data per Statto.com.
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