Both Swansea City and Manchester United are going through some tough times of late, and their issues are going to be on center stage as they meet in the Liberty Stadium to try to get things moving in the right direction again. While there’s a wide gulf in the two teams’ standings in the table, that doesn’t mean that this is going to be an easy match for United to win — not by any means.
Manchester United vs. Swansea 2016: Game time, live stream, TV schedule, and 3 things to know
It’s not often that Swansea and Manchester United meet both desperately needing a win, but that’s definitely the case in this match.
Photo by Ben Hoskins/Getty Images
Swansea are coming into this match with more than a hint of desperation driving them. They haven’t won a Premier League match since the opening weekend of the season, and are already on their second manager of the campaign. Manchester United, of course, have been struggling of late after a good start under Jose Mourinho, slipping down the table and even struggling in European competition. Both of these teams are in a place where they have to go all-out to get a much-needed win, and that’s going to make for a must-watch match.
TV: CNBC (U.S. - English), Telemundo (U.S. - Spanish)
Online: NBC Sports Live (U.S.)
Match Date/Time: Sunday, 10 a.m. ET, 3 p.m. local
Venue: Liberty Stadium, Swansea, Wales
Three big things to know
- Bob Bradley needs a win in a bad way. He’s only been in charge of three matches so far for Swansea City since replacing Francesco Guidolin, but has yet to win. Pressure is already starting to mount — he was an unpopular choice to begin with as an American manager, but that pressure is only going to grow the longer time passes without getting wins. The best way to relieve that pressure would be to beat Jose Mourinho and Manchester United -- but that’s a big task to handle.
- Of course, Mourinho isn’t without pressure right now either. Manchester United haven’t won in the Premier League in six weeks, and any positive feelings from their League Cup triumph over rival Manchester City was undone by a scoreless draw with Burnley at Old Trafford last weekend plus a loss to Fenerbahce in the Europa League on Thursday. Everyone was full of hope and praise when Mourinho was hired by United, but that hope and praise is starting to turn into doubt and questions. More dropped points, this time to a team in the relegation zone, will make those doubts and questions a lot louder.
- Then there’s the question of Wayne Rooney. The once-dominant Manchester United attacker is decidedly not so dominant these days, and the more time passes, the more it seems obvious that he’s never going to get back to that form. But the squad that Jose Mourinho has right now still needs Rooney to be good in order to reach its potential, and figuring out how to make him good again is a huge challenge — one that, so far, Mourinho has failed to solve.
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