Manchester United: A transition or a downfall?

It’s been a very indifferent summer and start to the season for one of the biggest clubs on the planet. The win against the Black Cats saved David Moyes from the wrath of comments that can disturb the rhythm of any manager. A certain 18-year-old Adnan Janujaz took the game by its collar and turned around its outcome. But the question that’s eating the head of many Manchester United fans is: is this really a so-called transition phase that will pass, or is it the downfall of the Red Devils?

A time comes when every great team or individual goes through a lean patch. While some of them are as hard as nuts and overcome this phase, others just get added to the list of “What if”. As the present generation has seen, there haven’t been many such situations in the recent past of Manchester United that would make a fan concerned about the future of the club. The whole and sole credit for that goes to only one man - Sir Alex Ferguson.

The name of that man alone does wonders to a team. How many times have the team just ridden down the season on the belief of their gaffer? 26, to be precise. Unfortunately, that man is no more at the helm and the future of the club is in the hands of a certainly capable but inexperienced David Moyes. There is no doubting the ability of the new manager but with all due respect managing the likes of Everton and Preston North End is a different race altogether. When you are managing a club as big as Manchester United, you are going to be under the strongest microscope in the world with lots of scrutiny heaped upon you.

But does all the blame go to the manager, or is the squad really not capable of fighting on all the fronts? I guess, it’s a bit of both. Being the manager of Manchester United you have to be fearless, which I am afraid David Moyes hasn’t been. He has made a cautious start and has made too many changes to the backroom staff. Manchester United, as we know, plays a really attacking style of football and that style has certainly brought the team many trophies in the past. One reason for this cautious start by David Moyes might be that he hasn’t inherited a very strong squad from Sir Alex.

To be brutally honest, Manchester United currently don’t have enough players of Manchester United quality. It’s true that they do have some brilliant individuals like Robin van Persie, Wayne Rooney, David De Gea, Nemanja Vidic, Shinji Kagawa and to a certain extent Michael Carrick. But these are only a handful people from the squad; as pointed out by Moyes himself, there are not enough world class players in the squad, and he is absolutely right.

Long gone are the days when fear used to drive through the hearts of the opposing teams seeing just the names on the team sheet. The likes of Giggs, Scholes, Beckham, Ronaldo, Tevez, Cantona, Keane, Neville, etc. were worthy winners of that famous red jersey. Presently, Manchester United have a pool of mediocre players who are riding their luck.

Every great club has great players and those players do retire after a certain time, but the clubs bring in young new talent to whom they pass the baton on. To me, Manchester United have failed to do so. They still haven’t been able to replace many of their great players like Keane and Cristiano Ronaldo. It seems like ages have gone by when Manchester United were in complete control of the game, with the attacking swagger that goes with them.

We will have to wait a bit longer to actually find out whether this is really just the transition or if the tables have turned. But if history is any indication, then this club will rise back and conquer every team that comes in their way. We shall wait and watch.