Why Manchester United should indulge in winter shopping for some flair

Manchester United‘s performances so far this season have a strange sense of deja vu in comparison to Chelsea FC’s performances last season. In the season gone by, the London Blues were banging in the goals left, right and centre at the start with some serious flair and ability that had fans and pundits ooh-ing and aah-ing, then the performances started to dwindle, most of the assumed flair fizzled out, occasional defeats were there and at one point they were on a run of drawing games in the end losing out the title to their Manchester rivals. Somehow if you look at it that way, United are having a similar predicament.

Putting on a brave face and going about doing business as usual after a setback are two entirely different things. In seasons gone by, most of us would associate the latter with Sir Alex’s men, but this time the nerves have truly being rattled and more. The 6-1 did expose massive holes in the Manchester United setup. The 1-0 against Everton and again a 1-0 against Sunderland in the two league games since have shown what the Red Devils are truly lacking if they are to really show that they are back instead of putting up a brave face.

Players like Cleverley, Hernandez and Welbeck are exceptional talents but nowhere near finished products. The latter two cannot operate successfully as a lone target men like a Van Persie or Drogba and play off defenders as of yet. Hernandez is a brilliant goal poacher but in the last couple of games has failed to hit the back of the net or get as many opportunities to do so, same is the case with Danny Welbeck who has been forced to deploy his talents on the left side of the park where he has to do a lot more tracking back than be an effective attacking threat. And both of these strikers have got meager clear cut chances to score or open spaces to run into because Sir Alex has had to deploy Wayne Rooney in midfield. The reason for that being to plug the defensive lapses as well as use Wayne’s capability as a passer to a great extent. But Rooney’s effectiveness lies in drawing away defenders when playing in the hole, he acts as the foil for his strike partners. Essentially the defenders would generally try to go after the United talisman leaving spaces for both Hernandez and Welbeck to exploit. Now, none of the players can be faulted for doing a job for the team. Injuries to midfielders like Carrick and Cleverley as well as winger Ashley Young have left United stripped to the bare bones.

A young team with a talismanic Wayne and Sir Alex at its helm, add a bit of flair and the Devil's are back in the game.

With a change in position, Wayne’s attributes of looking for the simple pass or the one touch and go ball aren’t being used to unlock defenses. He’s going more for the long Scholesy like diagonals or long passes for forwards to run onto which are being picked up easily by the defenders. Ashley Young’s absence has reduced effectiveness in one of the wings as neither Welbeck nor Park have that little flair that Young has. Nani on the other hand has always being bit of an on and off kind of player. On a good day, his potential cuts defenses like a hot knife through butter and he definitely has flair, but sadly no consistency that most pundits, fans or even Sir Alex would love to see.

Now, everything may seem in shambles for Manchester United but knowing Sir Alex Ferguson, United are not going to capitulate. But come the January transfer window, the manager needs to bring in some flair into his young side. ‘Flair’ not unlike Nani’s or Young’s but a bit more consistent to give something week in week out. It is that characteristic that can turn a game on its head when it’s not going the right way. The red half of Manchester have seen their fair share of flair and the ability to turn the last gasp opportunity into a goal grace the Old Trafford pitches. Cristiano Ronaldo, David Beckham, Eric Cantona, Ryan Giggs in his heydays or Georgie Best for that matter and more. That one piece of element ‘Flair’ is what makes a good team into a great team, a championship winning team. Manchester United is lacking that at the moment, all of us must have looked around the pitch during the 1-0′s or the 2-0 against Galati to see where that spark will come from to light up the night but it never really came.

Let’s play with a few examples, say Real Madrid last season. A 5-0 capitulation to Barca and many more, but people will say they had Oezil, they had Ronaldo, they had Di Maria, what more can a team ask for? Right. Well Ronaldo is a potent goal scoring machine but not a playmaker, Oezil was gaining his feet in a different league and Di Maria is a winger. This season they are once more banging in the goals, but if we do look past the goals into the performances in the few matches where they ground out results, you can see a playmaker with flair on the park, still not consistent after his long standing injuries but he just adds that touch of class to the Madrid squad, you just feel that something might happen if he’s there…Kaka it is.

A touch of Kaka and it might just be a Real answer to the Barca problem.

Number two comes from the blue half of Manchester. In a few games they haven’t been so great as to bang in 4, 5 and 6 goals but they still managed 2 and 3. Most recently if you analyze the game at Loftus Road, you would be amazed to know that QPR were by far the better team, but still the end result was a 2-3 victory for City. This ability to grind out results even when you are second best is what makes you champion or potential champion if City can be allowed to toy with that idea. But the catalyst for those hard fought results are…David Silva, the diminutive Spaniard with silky skills and a lovely left foot and an eye for the brilliant does the job for City on both good and bad days.

David Silva – Brings that touch of class even when it's not a full moon night.

So looking at it that way, I could have listed out a number of names for my transfer to United fantasy, but let’s just keep that to our imaginations and the decision to the great Scotsman. But what I can conclude is that United certainly don’t need to go for a 50 million pound transfer just because there’s a sense of similarity with Chelsea, but they certainly need a playmaker and not just any central midfielder who can hit long and short passes, but one with ‘Flair’ and an eye for the unique. Someone who could light up the Old Trafford nights like George Best or Cristiano Ronaldo did. Okay I will give a couple of names for you guys to toy with…Kroos, Marchisio, Goetze and whoever you may think might be that catalyst.

Kroos, Goetze, Marchisio – Young players with flair, could one be a future Red Devil?