Sunderland vs Manchester United: Five lessons we learned

2. The formation needs a serious overhaul.

David Moyes during the match against Sunderland

David Moyes has so far tried the traditional 4-4-2, 4-3-3 and the more attack minded 4-2-3-1 formations already this season. None of them has actually worked on the attack, with the build up falling apart in the final third.

United had as high as 63% of the possession in the first half, but there was hardly a shot of substance in the entire first period. Moyes’s ploy of letting the full backs overlap with the wingers during attack has also left the defence vulnerable to quick counters.

It hasn’t helped that the wingers have hardly delivered this season, and that has forced United’s attack to try and go forward through the heart of the opposition defence, but with no attacking playmaker to drive forward through the centre, United have suffered to even get a decent ball forward to Van Persie.

Though this may seem a far fetched theory, one formation that could be looked at is the 4-1-2-1-2. The back four being the same, Carrick could be positioned as a sweeper in front of the defence, while Cleverley and Fellaini adapt a more double attacking pivot role just in front of Carrick.

This will give Kagawa a chance to play at his preferred no.10 position just behind Rooney and Robin Van Persie. One might argue here that United’s game has been traditionally wing play based, but the fact remains that they don’t have an in form winger at the moment to deliver assists on a regular basis.