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As referee Mark Clattenburg blew his whistle for the final time on Sunday, there was a sense of shock and disbelief among both the sets of fans. Manchester United’s fans couldn’t believe what they had seen; the talks of a new dawn were completely squashed at least temporarily. It was humiliating. As for Leicester fans, who had seen their team drop to the lowly League One not so long ago, it was a moment of euphoria. Simply because their team had annihilated the 20 time Premier League champions, 3 time European cup winners, arguably the most dominant side in the history of English football. It was the perfect advert for the English Premier League where indeed ‘Anyone can beat anyone.’
Analyzing the defence
As a United fan, it was tough for me to digest the fact that how easily a team like Leicester (without being disrespectful) had ripped apart the defence on numerous occasions. And that is where the problem lies for Van Gaal & co. Manchester United’s defence, to be honest is Championship quality. Many may find this statement preposterous, but I do really think it is. You look at the defenders they have: Rafael, although he is a decent defender and is impressive while attacking, there’s always this temper issue with him plus he’s got a mistake in him.
You really don’t want to talk about how bad Smalling and Evans have been this season; both of them just seem to get worse as each match passes by. They look bereft of confidence and are not even close to being good enough to play for a club like United. Jones is a very bright prospect and the best centre back they currently have but it seems like he’s always injured. Blackett and Shaw are excellent prospects too but they are still relatively inexperienced and you cannot really count on them.
As for Marcos Rojo, he seems like a good defender but he’s still new and he’ll take time to get used to the Premier League. And that’s that as far as the first team is concerned. Some people may say that Daley Blind is a defender too, but as seen from the games as QPR and Leicester, it is clear that LVG wants to use him as a holding midfielder. United aspire to be in the Champions League next season and barring a miracle it is tough to envisage that with such a defensive unit. The left side of the defence maybe average but the right side is completely bereft of quality.
Square pegs in round holes?
United spent an astonishing £151 m in the summer in what was termed as ‘One of football’s most expensive makeover’, but they really failed to address the weakest link of their squad; their defence. United lacks a leader, a commander, a no-nonsense defender, a type of player each of their rivals possess. Gary Neville rightly pointed out that the team has a softe-centre. Chelsea have Terry, City have Kompany, Arsenal have Mertesacker, and Liverpool have Lovren.
As fantastic as your attacking players maybe, you always build from your defence a fact that Manchester United so blatantly neglected during the transfer window. ‘Attack is the best defence’ is just another excuse some fans may use but the fact is you just cannot win a match without a stable defence. I found some of the buys by Manchester United very puzzling, firstly Rojo; why sign him when you have already signed Luke Shaw, you don’t spend £27 m on a player just for him to warm the bench. And I don’t really think Marcos Rojo can play as the left sided centre half.
From what I’ve seen, he’s a natural full back. I found the signing of Radamel Falcao, the ‘El Tigre’ absolutely bizarre, when you’ve 2 absolutely world class strikers at your disposal why buy a third one? That’s like buying a LED TV for your home when you already have another one just for the cause of making a ‘Statement of Intent’ and then realizing you hardly have money to pay for the electricity bill. That analogy may be a bit far-fetched but you can understand what I’m trying to say here. His arrival resulted in the departure of Danny Welbeck, for a paltry £16m and he has all the qualities to become a top top striker. It was a very Un-Manchester United like transfer, selling your academy product who had a bright future and bringing in a player who will shortly be nearing 30.
For the first time, Ed Woodward delivered in the transfer market but by bringing in the wrong players. That’s like £35-40m wasted if you consider fees, wages and bonuses. For that amount of money they could have had brought in 1-2 top class centre backs. United may point to the fact that they tried to sign Mats Hummels but his love for Dortmund made him reject them. But he isn’t the only top class centre back in this world; there are others like Dante, Subotic, Benatia, Varane, Godin, Garay, etc. who could have had been persuaded.
And although some of them moved to other clubs, United could have had moved earlier and secured their services. But United are helpless now, they have to wait till January and hope that they are still in contention for Top 4 by then forget competing for the title. At the moment the best option for United is playing Rafael at RB, Jones at RCB, Evans at LCB (only because he is the most experienced) and Shaw at LB.
A very poor start
When Van Gaal arrived at Man United there was a sense of excitement among the fans and after he announced his intent to make history they were assured that he was the man to build the squad again and lead them towards success. The pre-season was excellent with his team defeating European heavyweights like Real Madrid, Liverpool, Roma, etc. plus United got a relatively easy starting fixture list to the absolute delight of LVG; fans were confident about 18/18 points from their 6 starting fixtures in the EPL. They were sure it was going to be a smooth start and that they were past the struggles of the last season, but it has been anything but a smooth start.
A shocking opening day loss at home to Swansea, dour performances at Burnley and Sunderland, humiliation at the hands of MK Dons, capitulation at the King Power stadium followed and now few are starting to question the Dutch Master. No one can deny that LVG is a tactical genius, that he has won trophies almost everywhere, and that he was one who gave chances to youngsters who are stars today. But the question is: Is the English Premier League too much for Louis? He has been to the Spanish Premier league, The Dutch League, Bundesliga where arguably there are 2-3 teams who are absolutely world class and others who are fairly mediocre but that isn’t the story of EPL where each team is to be taken very seriously.
To be fair, under him United are playing much better football than last season, but still the results are missing and they matter the most. If your team is 3-1 ahead with 30 minutes to go you should win the game fairly comfortably but what followed was shocking, I’m not blaming the manager completely but it is partly his fault. Sometimes you’ve got to protect your lead rather than score 5-6.
He should have had put in 1 or 2 defensive players like Fletcher for the attacking ones and secure the victory, he didn’t and United suffered. Everyone knows how well his student, Jose Mourinho does that: Securing the victory and that is something Van Gaal may have to learn. His attacking philosophy is impressive but sometimes you’ve got to adjust, sometimes sitting back and defending the lead is more effective in getting the points in the bag. If you are a manager of an EPL club, you have to be versatile and flexible; you’ve got to change the system according to opposition you’re facing. He can’t simply put on so many attacking players on the pitch and leave the team short in the back when facing the top clubs; if he does then United will be hammered.In fact United have only collected a meagre 4 points from the possible 9 points that were available against the newly promoted sides. The positive is that we are still very much at the start of the season and he’ll only learn and get better.
What does the future hold ?
I still fear for him, with the defence he’s got and with his ‘All-out attack’ philosophy, United will be very susceptible on the counter and may get caught while playing even the mid-table clubs like Villa, Southampton, etc. It may be another long and hard season for United fans and the players unless their manager adjusts with the English game and changes the system according to the opposition, sometimes it’s OK to play “20th century football”. United and Louis Van Gaal are very confident about at least 3rd place finish, but with this team it is extremely hard to see that with teams like Liverpool, City, Chelsea and Arsenal around them who are arguably better well-equipped than them.
Another season without UCL football would be disastrous; top class players may leave, huge financial losses will be incurred and they may step into a dark age of anonymity as every United fan fears. My heart says they may just pinch a 4th place finish, but if they don’t then don’t be surprised if there is a new manager at the helm at the start of the next season at United. The manager’s job they say is the most dangerous job in the whole world. United were an exception until last season as far as managers are concerned. A a model of longevity and patience, but after the sacking of David Moyes (“The Chosen one”), that myth too was shattered and now they are just another European heavyweight with owners who are ready to spend fortunes but want instant success in return. Today no one in the whole world is immune to the sack maybe except Arsene Wenger and if
Van Gaal fails to deliver at least a 4th place finish, for all his success he may be jobless too.
