David Moyes's best eleven for Manchester United

David Moyes

Manchester United’s problem this season, as Gary Neville pointed out the other day, was that they were slow in moving the ball from the midfield to the final third. On Wednesday night in the Champions league clash against Sociedad, United did go some way towards rectifying the problem. The signs were there last Saturday against Southampton and Sociedad game has provided additional proof that United is slowly but surely moving in the right direction.

Moyes’ search for his best 11 is also taking shape. Kagawa has made his presence felt with a brilliant show – his second best performance in a United shirt after his three star performance against Norwich last season. Though Kagawa is best at the number 10 role, it is unlikely he will be played consistently there as long as Rooney is in the form he’s now but we can see Kagawa in the right of midfield more often from now on. So, for now United’s best front four are Van Persie, Rooney, Januzaj and Kagawa.

The much talked about central midfield is still shallow despite Ryan Giggs playing his best game in a long while. Ryan is too old and we won’t see him week in and week out gracing the central midfield, and let me not hide the fact that he too was guilty of sloppy play until the Sociedad game. Fellaini, what can I say? Everything about him is bad at the moment. He doesn’t have the legs to run, sloppy in possession, poor passing and bad positioning. But he will still get plenty of chances at least for the money United paid Everton and for the lack of replacements. Cleverly is by far the best option available to play alongside the irreplaceable Carrick until a better one is found, hopefully, in January.

Right back and left back positions are sold out for now to Rafael and Evra respectively but don’t know for how long, before United have Evra sold. Rumor has it that Evra’s heart is set on a move back to Monaco in the summer.

Perhaps, in the whole team the only places still up for grabs are the central half positions. Jones and Evans have made their claim on Wednesday night, but Vidic would be first choice once he’s fit, and Smalling and Ferdinand are not too far behind in the pecking order.

United has a big shopping list for January and for the summer, but their ‘For Sale’ list is also as big and you can expect them to hold a yard sale in the near future. Kagawa’s rise should have sounded the death bell for Valencia and Nani as one of them may be offloaded. Valencia, despite impressing on Wednesday, is the most likely departure and Galatasaray is said to be interested. Nani also has not been convincing but he’s more dynamic than Valencia, but offers less cover for the full backs than Valancia so it’s a tough one to call who’s going to survive beyond January. I think Young and Anderson may be put up under ‘Buy One & Get One Free’ offer and I don’t think it would be a bad idea.