Manchester United: Skeletons in the closet exposed

Rio Ferdinand: Time up for the big man?

How does a forward line comprising the likes of Rooney, Van Persie, Kagawa, Nani and Chicharito fail to create enough chances of note for six games running is a mystery which must surely lie at the doorstep of the new manager. It has partly to do with preferring out of form players like Young and Valencia in the wide positions, but also the conservative flat structure in which the team is playing.

David Moyes has to address the rigidity in his system whereby vertical link-ups are not happening between the midfield and attack. He might point to the failed transfer window where he could not find the all-action midfielder to fill the void, but that is not an excuse for such a substantial lack of threat.

There have been times this season when the Manchester United setup has resembled Roy Hodgson’s England; such has been the fluidity in movement or the lack of it. To rectify this, David Moyes need look no further than last week’s drubbing at the hands of City, who were an example for how to make a 4-4-2 work spectacularly as Sergio Aguero dropped deep repeatedly to initiate attacks and Samir Nasri cut inside to add numbers centrally.

Interestingly, the game against Tottenham, where this discussion started, may contain the answer Manchester United are looking for. Wayne Rooney’s introduction for Ryan Giggs at half-time changed the complexion of the game as the attacking triangle of Van Persie, Rooney and Kagawa aided by the width of Nani and scheming of Scholes behind them pummelled Tottenham deep into their own half.

The interchanges in position between the attacking quartet could easily have led to more than the two goals they scored and the 35 minutes for which the system was in place before Kagawa was substituted for Welbeck may have pointers on how to effectively use these players together in attack.

The deficiencies, which the team had been grappling with for the last couple of years have been public knowledge but now that the glue which bound together the disparate weaknesses has finally retired, United’s mentality which allowed them to win games without particularly impressing seems to have disappeared leaving them with nowhere to hide.

Maybe Ferguson’s plea to the Old Trafford support after his last home game to stay behind the new manager through thick and thin contained much more foreboding than the normal passing of the mantle speech. David Moyes may have ended up with more problems on his plate than he had bargained for but most of them are not of his making and he will have to be backed by the supporters and the board till he is able to turn it around.