4 reasons why Manchester United must stand by David Moyes

The Curious Case of Moyes’ Tactics

Tactics have definitely become the most used stick to beat Moyes with, and to be fair thus far this has been an acceptable form of lamentation. I can’t argue with stone cold stats that suggest we have failed with the most crosses in the league this season while I embarrassingly scorn at the fact that we also sit 20th for the team who most often attack through the middle. What I can argue is that while these stats are glaringly negative and they aren’t too dissimilar to Ferguson’s in the sense that the idea/philosophy weren’t fundamentally different but execution has been flawed.

These are damning stats that don’t make for positive reading but in truth they don’t tell the whole story. Ferguson too was an avid fan of wide players, and much of United’s focus was on width especially in the later years. Evidence of this can be seen from the fact that Nani 2011 and Valenica 2012 were awarded players player and player of the year awards respectively. As such it wouldn’t be ridiculously wide off the mark in saying that out of form players and injuries are too indicative of the poor execution of tactics. The attacking through the centre stat is another one that is being branded about now but I’d question where we sat last year on this. In fact was this even a stat last year? With Carrick and Cleverly amassing only seven assists between them last season one must question if we didn’t fare too much better in this regard.

People who are all of a sudden insinuating that Moyes was negative at Everton are giving in to preconceived hypocrisy, as prior to his appointment I was never aware this was the case. Whilst hard to beat against the top teams no doubt, I would never have classified Everton as an all out negative outfit. I do recall them scoring four at Old Trafford to ultimately bring our title challenge to an acrimonious end in 2012.

Another misconception is Moyes’ actual choice of wide-player. While there is no doubting his propensity to favour expansive wide play and crossing, it is fair to suggest that width at Everton was usually provided by fullback’s ala Baines and Coleman, while he didn’t particularly use conventional wide players instead opting for inside midfielders such as Osman and Pienarr. At United thus far Evra has been a shadow of his former self and Rafael has been either injured or out of form. I have no doubt we will see at least one, if not two, fullbacks purchased in the summer and I am of the opinion fullbacks are key to Moyes’ philosophy.

Like any kind of mass movement people are now becoming blinded by preconceived notions. For instance social media went into meltdown when it was suggested Mata was wide right of a 442 on Saturday however, anyone who actually watched the game could see that he was given free reign and as his position heat map suggested he actually spent most of his time central. We can only really judge Moyes’ tactics when he has been afforded the luxury of bringing in players that will cater to his structure and style of play.

What is evident however is an apparent lack of plan B, this is rather worrying, but in hindsight I’d rather we didn’t get into the position whereby plan B is a necessity. While injuries aren’t a viable excuse for form or position there is no doubt they have played a major part thus far in Moyes’ maiden season. Say what you will about Fellaini but he has only made four premier league apps, and with Carrick, Rafael, and Van Persie out for extended periods you could argue that are three best performing players last year have been missing for the majority of the campaign.