Manchester United and the David Moyes conundrum

Hello,

This is an ardent Manchester United fan expressing his views on one of the most disastrous campaigns by the team which is known to be one of the most successful teams in European Football. It is known for pulling the strings together when it mattered the most but this season has never been like that.

The season has been filled with lacklustre performances and the attitude of the players is also not good enough to be admired. There have been a few positives. But the negatives easily outshine them. The goal keeping has been below par.. The defence? Horrendous and disastrous, no stability what so ever. Midfield? Need I say more? And strikers? Do we have any?

Oh wait. We do. Robin van Persie, Danny Welbeck, Chicharito and Wayne Rooney are all strikers. Van Persie got injured during the most crucial period. Welbeck has more or less been in the bench and if he came on, he played in different positions. Javier Hernandez is honestly, not United’s class. He’s not what United needs now. He’s just finished. Nothing more, nothing less.

We need someone with class, accuracy and mostly someone who doesn’t get caught on the off side trap more times than he has touched the ball. Wayne Rooney has more or less played the role of a central player. Well, it does suit him. But Rooney the striker is way more impressive than Rooney the anchor. But it was certainly good news when Rooney pledged to stay Old Trafford till 2018. We certainly need to get in youngsters or buy some players.

Then we have a look at the midfield. Except Carrick, who at times has shown his ability, no one has had a proper season. The worst among the lot, Tom Cleverly. He has clearly not shown his worth. We’ve had a dismal season and to top it off, one of the biggest buys in the club’s history, Marouane Fellaini, clearly hasn’t made any impact. He’s not even a shade of what he was when he was at Everton under Moyes.

The other buy, which is incidentally the biggest buy, hasn’t made such a big impact either. Yes, I am talking about Juan Manuel Mata. The only positive in the midfield department has been the rise of Adnan Januzaj. Darren Fletcher’s return hasn’t had an impact either. Then come the wingers, Ashley Young and Antonio Valencia. Cross after cross. No effect. The game against Fulham saw 46 crosses in the first half, that’s more than 1 per minute. But not even one saw the ball go into the net. That clearly shows the quality of the crosses made. Unless we bring in new faces, it’s going to be really tough. Players like Nick Powell and Jesse Lingard can certainly be groomed and drafted in to the main team.

Then comes the most unstable part of the current United team – the defence. The team has had over 12 different defensive pairings. That speaks volumes about the campaign. Norwich, Newcastle, Everton and Swansea have all won after a very long time at Old Trafford. The defence was a major cause for each one of them. Johnny Evans, Phil Jones, Nemanja Vidic, Rio Ferdinand, Chris Smalling and even Michael Carrick have been used to fill in the gap. Most of the senior players including Vidi?, Evra and Ferdinand are on their way out of the club. So what’s the plan for the future?

Well, certain players I guess are going to stay at the club. But who is going to leave? There are certainly a lot of players that can be offloaded.

And who is going to come in?

We certainly need to bring in Toni Kroos. He’s a highly under rated player but he can certainly prove his worth here. His ability to play any position in the mid field makes him an asset. Also, his long range efforts are not bad either. Another person who would fill United’s void is Ilkay Gundogan. His ability to control the game from the centre and marshall the troops from the centre like how Carrick used to play will be pivotal.

Other than that United need long term replacements for Patrice Evra, Nemanja Vidi? and Rio Ferdinand. Luke Shaw would be a perfect buy. But since he prefers his boyhood club, Chelsea, we need to find someone else soon. And Ferdinand and Vidi? have had very influential careers with the club. They always assured the manager at the heart of the defence. It would be difficult to replace them. But we need to buy a few defenders, and soon.

David Moyes is not to be blamed for everything. He has proved what he can do with Everton and we need to give him time. One season can not prove anything about a team or a manager. Many people argue that Sir Alex had the same team but had much better performances. The problem that Moyes faces is that the players aren’t showing the will to win. They aren’t playing like a team.

It would take a couple of years for this team to have its glory days back. Until then we should just sit back and wait.