Diminishing self-belief and winning mentality is the real problem at Manchester United

A banner at Old Trafford

“You first have to believe it to achieve it” – it is the best piece of advice that I have ever heard.

The mantra has been the cornerstone of success for every individual, organization or team thriving for any kind of glory. And why not, if you yourself can’t believe that you can do it, then you simply do not deserve to achieve it.

If you were to look at any success story around the world and try and figure out the reason behind their success, you will find only one answer – “I always believed in myself”.

Manchester United’s glory under Sir Alex Ferguson over the past two decades was no exception either. The Scotsman made them believe that they can achieve anything, irrespective of all the hurdles that tried to stop them, of all the people who didn’t believe in them and of all the luck that went against them. They just never stopped believing. They just never stopped winning.

And like all good and bad eras have their own expiry dates attached with them, Sir Alex’s glorious era came to an end in May 2013 when he decided to step down and appoint David Moyes as his successor. However, since then, the tide has completely turned for Manchester United – from being fighting on all fronts in the domestic and European scene at this time of the year, the current United team has been knocked out of both the domestic cup competition, languishing at the sixth place in the league table and are on the brink of European cup elimination as well.

The obvious reasons for such downfall that pundits, fans and other people associated with football state is the change of manager, lack of depth and quality in the squad, lack of creativity and ideas in the team play and management, tactics, formations et al.

Change of manager – Yes, certainly. If you replace one of the most successful manager ever in the history of football with anyone, irrespective of his status, you are bound to feel the effects of it. However, the extents of the effects are highly debatable. If United were still in the shout for the title or at least there or thereabouts and putting in genuine efforts week in week out, then no one would have questioned the dignity of David Moyes or United as a whole.

Because, to be honest, David Moyes may have been thrown at the deep end by being given the task to manage the biggest football club in the world, but at the end of the day he inherited a team of champions. A team that just needed to be given the necessary motivation to carry on the legacy that they have themselves built over the years. So as poor a display as United have shown till now in the current campaign is unjustifiable.

And if you still think that the lack of squad depth or creativity in the midfield or the tactics and the formations have been the reason for United’s downfall this season, then you should ask yourself a question – Were they any different in the past 3-4 years under Sir Alex as well.

United still play the traditional 4-4-2, with the emphasis on their wings, just as they did under Sir Alex. United still have same midfield since Cristiano Ronaldo left United in 2009. Infact, apart from holding on to their current star players, they have added some of the best players (RVP, Juan Mata, Fellaini) from other big clubs in England and yet United find themselves struggling in the current campaign when they had won two Premier League titles and reached the latter stages of European cup with the same squad, midfield, tactics and formation under Sir Alex in the last four years.

So if not all of the above, what is the real reason for United’s pathetic display this season?

Robin van Persie, Juan Mata and Wayne Rooney

Well, if you look at United’s play recently, the most alarming factor has been the lack of spirit, effort, attitude or in the other words – the winning mentality – that they had been imbibed with over the last two decades. They have lost the winning habit. Forget scoring late in the matches, they instead concede. They easily accept defeat. They don’t get hurt after a poor display. They have stopped believing that they can win.

Ever since David Moyes took over the reigns at Old Trafford, it has been said worldwide that Manchester United will now take at least 3-4 years to re-build and will struggle during this transition period. True, transition does take its own time and United have faced such situations even before as well, but not at the cost of what United is currently paying right now when European football looks a distant dream for the next season.

What got United through during previous transitions under Sir Alex was their mentality and belief that they can still win trophies and challenge anyone at the top even though they lacked the necessary resources to achieve the same. Yet, their belief always got them through.

However, this season they have taken it for granted and accepted that it’ll take time for them to reach to their usual levels and lost that belief in themselves and are already looking beyond the current campaign. As a result, there are flat displays week in week out on the pitch. David Moyes has to take the full responsibility for not maintaining that belief, mentality and motivation within the squad.

It’s the mentality of the leader or the manager that the team portrays on the pitch. And to make matters even worse for United, if Moyes hasn’t been able to inspire the team enough, they have also lacked the presence of a natural leader within the squad this season.

In the previous United teams, if Sir Alex was himself off someday, they still had leader on the pitch like Bryan Robson, Roy Keane, Eric Cantona, Gary Neville etc who took the entire team together with them over the tipping line.

However, this season the senior players like Vidic, Ferdinand, Evra all have uncertain futures at the club. Vidic has already stated he is off in the summer. Rooney’s future was uncertain too until he signed a new long term contract last week. Robin van Persie has already criticized his teammates in the public.

In an ideal world, players like these, especially Vidic, leader and captain,would be inspiring the dressing room. But trying to convince some of the younger players – like Tom Cleverley or Chris Smalling – that “we’re all in it together” might sound a little hollow when everyone knows he’s off in the summer.

Therefore, those of you calling for splashing the cash in the market, or applying some astute tactics, changing the formation, team line-ups or for that matter, even playing an extra man wouldn’t help United much until they solve this basic problem of re-storing their belief in themselves and regaining that winning mentality that they had once so much made their own.

And it has to start from the manager, David Moyes, himself and the team will automatically follow. If he himself doesn’t believe that he is not suitable for managing a club of the stature of Manchester United and he cannot turn the fortunes of United over the remaining fixtures, then he should be the first one to meet the United board with his resignation in his hand.

I’d rather suggest him a much better alternative – just look at the underside of the collar of the United jersey where a golden word is imprinted which has been the club mantra, mosaic and motto over the last few years. The word simply says, BELIEVE!