5 things David Moyes can do to instantly improve Manchester United's fortunes

Less rigidity, more tactical flexibility

There was a time when Sir Alex was considered tactically inept and unwilling to compromise on the team’s shape, but over time Ferguson mastered the art of rotating the team and the formation depending on the opposition’s strengths and weaknesses.

If it was a European game, a 4-5-1 with a packed midfield. A derby match? More home-grown or academy players (because of the importance that a derby holds for these players). Visiting Stoke? Pack the side with players who are good in the air and on the counter. Match-by-match, Ferguson would change his side, sometimes even giving up possession in favour of eking out a result.

With Moyes, there have been no pleasant surprises. The team is more or less setup in the same manner, for every game! It’s entirely possible that opposition managers are now able to guess Moyes’s team before the match, thereby removing the element of surprise.

Very few teams keep playing with the same formation over and over again if it brings no success. And the ones that have their formations and roles set rigidly, they have a unique way of playing fooball. See Barcelona, Dortmund or even Bayern Munich this season.

With a highly talented squad at his disposal, Moyes has the chance to design a new framework or simply rejig the team. Start with three strikers, with Kagawa behind them and outscore the opposition. Or forgo the wingers and go with a packed midfield to control the match. Heck, even Ferguson tried the diamond in his last season, albeit with moderate success.

There’s no set formula for achieving success, and sometimes players need to be set free instead of being shackled by the system. Perhaps Moyes does not have the courage to experiment, considering results have not been optimum.

But then that’s what separates good managers from the great ones – high risk, high reward.