Capital One Cup: Sunderland 2-1 Manchester United - Five Talking Points

Moyes must dip his hand in the January transfer pool

If there was one thing that was evident even before the game and was reinforced after it, was the fact that the current United squad is in dire need of some rejuvenation. For the second time in just three days, United looked a shadow of their former selves. One of their biggest qualities has always been their powers of resilience, but that is almost non-existent at the moment. Having already been dumped out of the FA Cup and with the League out of reach, if United are to salvage their season, they are going to have sign a couple of players, irrespective of whether the right kind of player is available or not.

United look toothless without RvP or Rooney

If there was one thing that was very noticeable about United’s romp to the title last season, it was that they were heavily reliant on two players to carry the team through. But, for the second successive game, both of them were absent and for the second successive game, United lost, without ever creating enough chances to claim that they were worthy of a draw.

Apart from the prolific Dutchman and the versatile Englishman, the current United squad is just extremely light on star dust, and for all the things that Chicharito and Welbeck did, they aren’t quite the aforementioned duo. Moyes must be hoping that either of them return quickly, because if they don’t it might just be a long hard season for United.