Mid-Season Report: Can Manchester United turn it around?

This season was always going to be difficult for Manchester United after David Moyes replaced Sir Alex Ferguson, who was in charge for 27 years. Some fans wouldn’t have known what it was like having another manager at Old Trafford, so it was always going to be interesting to see how everyone at the club dealt with the managerial change.

Ferguson stated the importance of supporting the new manager, even if things don’t go to plan, but it’s proving hard for a small section of the Manchester United supporters who have already turned on Moyes. The majority of supporters are still behind the former Everton boss, but their loyalty may be tested if the champions fail to qualify for the Champions League this season.

They lie in 7th at the turn of the year, but despite their poor start, they are only 5 points off the top four and their experience will be key in the fight for Champions League football. Their competitors Tottenham, Everton and Liverpool haven’t been Champions League regulars in recent years, so they may falter at the final hurdle.

Moreover the champions are known to be stronger in the second half of the season, and fans will hope that is still true under Moyes as they’ll need to be almost faultless to get into the top four. After losing four times already at Old Trafford, clubs will go to the iconic stadium no longer fearing a battering, but hopeful of adding to their misery. Moyes needs to turn their home form around as any more defeats at Old Trafford would be extremely damaging.

The new manager was criticised for spending £27.5m on Marouane Fellaini who has made very little impact after his move from Everton. Many consider him as a panic buy after Manchester United failed to land their main targets Luka Modric and Cesc Fabregas. The Belgian is certainly not a Manchester United player and has looked out of his depth in central midfield.

Everton fans will know he is best playing off the striker, but with Shinji Kagawa and Wayne Rooney, United are already strong in this area. Moyes will need to strengthen his squad this month, with Koke and Leighton Baines being linked. He can’t afford another failure in the transfer market as both the board and fans will start to doubt his ability to buy the right players.

Wayne Rooney has been one of the rare bright spots in Manchester United’s disappointing campaign as he looks to be hitting form before the World Cup. Moyes has to be praised for holding onto the Englishman after Chelsea made several bids in the summer. It was accepted that Rooney would have left if Ferguson hadn’t retired after a breakdown in their relationship, so Moyes did well to salvage that situation.

Rooney has 9 goals and 9 assists so far which is really impressive as he has predominantly been used in the number ten role. It’s been unfortunate for Moyes that Robin van Persie has been missing with injury for large chunks of the season but the Dutchman will be pivotal in the coming months. He has 7 goals to his name so far.

Danny Welbeck has also added more goals to his game so his development will be a huge boost to United, he has also scored 7 to date.

Moyes has played a huge part in the development of Adnan Januzaj who has been a revelation in the first half of the season. He has 2 goals and 3 assists so far. Manchester United fans will be pleased that Moyes is trying to develop some of the young talent at the club as it was always something Ferguson did.

In this transitional phase, Moyes will be trying to create a base of a squad that can dominate like sides at Old Trafford have done in the past so some of the younger players will be critical to his plans.

Manchester United are going through a difficult phase as Moyes tries to put his stamp on the squad, with some of the players coming to the end of their careers, the squad will change massively over the next 18 months. It’s crucial that they don’t drop out of the Champions League in this period, if they do, they could struggle to attract the big names in world football which would be a blow to Manchester United’s hopes of getting back to the top of the game.

In the second half of the season, they need to be more consistent in the league. They also remain in the three cup competitions so a trophy would constitute a good start to the Moyes’ reign.