What exactly is Manchester United's problem

Joel Campbell celebrates his goal against Manchester United

David Moyes’ men slumped to new depths after suffering yet another defeat, this time to Olympiakos and for the first time this season in the Champions league. It has evidently become a monotonous routine hasn’t it? Week in and Week out, we hear the same headlines-”Manchester United slump to another defeat under David Moyes”. And yesterday’s loss to Greek giants Olympiakos once again highlighted the problems the fallen giants of Manchester are going through.

Even Juan Mata‘s arrival has not helped the Red Devils in their cause and thanks to an ailing midfield, the ravages of Paul Scholes‘ retirement are also being strongly felt. Everything that Sir Alex Ferguson had strived hard to conquer for 27 years is seemingly falling apart in just a matter of months. Records have gone bust and so have the hearts of fans, but as they say-Man United will never die…

The problems are not one, not two but numerous, with the lack of creativity in the heart of the park being the most appalling and significant one. And fans were left fuming at David Moyes’ decision to start the much-criticized Tom Cleverley instead of the back in form Belgian Marouane Fellaini.Moreover, Moyes’ decison to pick Ashley Young ahead of Adnan Januzaj was also not accepted by United fans.

Tom Cleverley recently deactivated his Twitter account after paying heed to abusive and agitating comments from fans, who made him as a scapegoat for United’s poor showings this season. He has failed in everything he actually does, or lets put it this way-What he never does. His passes are mostly sideways and the graphic below in United’s 2-1 loss to Stoke City weeks ago suggest something similar.

Tom Cleverley – Passing statistic against Stoke City

As some would recall, Sir Alex Ferguson had heralded this Bradford born midfield as the”best midfielder in Britain” , but now fans would advocate him to be “the worst midfielder in Britain”. His passing abilities turn into dangerous from “nothing” when he tends to move upfront but his passing lacks the cutting edge when he’s at the halfway line. And this is the reason why he’s been considered as a liability for Manchester United.

Another major muddle in United’s indisposed midfield was Marouane Fellaini’s exclusion and Wayne Rooney‘s debatable position on the pitch. Rooney is often seen trotting back and sitting deep when United need something in that area, but this thing right here accentuates the problem even more. Tom Cleverley is not good enough to function well upfront and even he as a consequence, plays beside Rooney or just a couple of steps ahead of him.

As a result , a huge amount of space is left open behind Robin van Persie and with true wingers playing, there is no one to take that place. And when, no one is available to exploit the empty space behind van Persie, United rely on long balls excessively. Quite simply, Manchester United lack the vision and presence to exert their dominance in midfield.

The wingers have also not functioned well at all this season, not taking into account Adnan Januzaj’s showings. Even if Wayne Rooney has managed to successfully spray balls towards the flanks, them deployed on the wing tend to squander chances by delivering below par crosses from their positions. Both of the wingers have to drill in accurate crosses but in reality, none of them are doing so. The onus falls on the full backs to do the same but United have not got their selections correct, especially at the right full back position.

Times have changed so swiftly this season. United were considered to be a tough side to beat last season but the spirit, the intensity,the dominance has not got up from its slumber until yet . The team looks debilitated and demonstrates a clear lack of confidence on the field and the never say die attitude United once possessed has gone missing,quite similar to the goals.The spirit to win a game is sorely lacking and whom Sir Alex Ferguson described as “the final piece in the jigsaw”, aka Robin van Persie has been left out in a solitary position up front.