RvP - A solution to all the underlying problems?

When Sir Alex first broke the news of United’s interest in the then Arsenal talisman, Robin Van Persie, many eyebrows were raised. “Why a striker? What about Welbeck and Hernandez? Why not strengthen the midfield?” became the talk of the town as United stepped up their pursuit of the Netherlands striker after being rebuffed in the approach for Eden Hazard and Lucas Moura.

And Sir Alex did get a third time lucky as RvP made it clear that he wanted to join United. The deal was subsequently completed and RvP was officialy presented as a Man United player on the 17th – three days before the Red Devils kickstarted their campaign at Goodison Park. Fans expected a goal riot – the neat touches of the Japenese craftsman – Shinji Kagawa and the goal scoring prowess of the No 10 and No 20 of the Red Devils were expected to weave magic among a sea of Blue Toffees and send the travelling contingent from Manchester into a frenzy and send waves of fear and alarm across England.

The men who were supposed to set Goodison alight.

Reality – a million miles away from expectation. The Blues from Merseyside stamped their authority over a near-hapless United, as Fellaini stood as a colossus between United and 3 points and scoring the goal which sent the Everton crowd into a frenzy and the United contingent into despair.

The man who actually set Goodison alight.

A detailed post-mortem of the game revealed that United clearly struggled to cope with the physicality of Everton and Fellaini in particular. Sir Alex started with a 3-man midfield of Tom Cleverley, Paul Scholes and Shinji Kagawa – none of the trio being adept at holding the midfield and winning the ball back from the opposition. Scholes and Cleverley are central midfielders by trade and Kagawa an attacking midfielder. All three offer little/nothing defensively and that is what proved to be the undoing for the Red Devils.

Michael Carrick and Antonio Valencia who formed the right side of the makeshift back 4 found it impossible to cope up with the movement of Pienaar and the physicality of Fellaini. Whereas Vidic was occupied by Jelavic, the duo of Pienaar and Fellaini run riot on the left side of the Toffee’s attack. Pienaar used his experience against the uncomfortable Valencia and completely outrun him by drifting in on occasions. This increased the defensive pressure on Carrick who was brutally shrugged aside everytime he jumped to contest against his counterpart, Maruoane Fellaini.

Tom Cleverley and Paul Scholes -

Did you notice the positions taken up by the duo? Everton spent long spells without the ball as Scholes and Cleverley dictated the tempo – United had 69% possession, but there wasn’t anyone to shield the back four.

A key point to be noted here is that if United had a holding midfielder – Pienaar would hardly be effective cutting inside – thereby preventing Carrick from being over-worked, and when Pienaar did stay wide, the holding midfielder could make it easier for United’s defence by doubling up with Carrick on Fellaini.

Conclusion :

On Monday, Everton and Fellaini stole the limelight. But, another interesting development that night was Fergie’s new look setup and the new system of fitting his players into a setup.

In the final third, it was often seen that the trequartista, Shinji Kagawa planted himself behind the three forwards and dictated play, which was quite often the case with Mourinho’s Inter, who won the treble in 2009-10. (Sneijder the trequartista, and Milito, Eto’o, Pandev the three forwards.)

United’s problem here was a lack of physicality – not just at the back, but also in the midfield. Starting a trequartista (Kagawa) in tandem with three forwards (Welbeck, Rooney and Nani) requires the two central midfielders to act as double pivots – shielding the back 4 and constantly breaking up the opposition’s play. Tom Cleverley is by no means a holding player. Instead, he is the playmaker who can snap in the odd tackle . One of the very few flaws that Scholesy has in his game is his tackling. Besides, he handicapped himself with a particularly silly early booking. The return of Carrick to midfield would be a slight improvement, but not a solution. Inter had Cambiasso and Zanetti to shield the back 4 and give freedom to Sneijder. United have no one.

If this system is to continue, Fergie urgently needs to invest in a holding midfielder. If not, does he have another system in mind?

For now, surely, RvP doesn’t seem to be the answer to the age old underlying problems at Old Trafford.