5 things we learnt from Manchester United vs. Fulham

4. United can’t afford a prized asset to misfire. Rooney can

At present, Wayne Rooney holds all of the cards in regards to his contract situation. He might have been told that he won’t be sold under any circumstance; nevermind. He’ll run out his contract and move on next year. United, of course, want to make him the highest paid player in the club’s history in order to retain his services, regardless of how many games it takes for him to get back up to a decent level of form. Rooney has, of course, only just returned from a lay-off and typically takes some time to get his performances back up to scratch.

This isn’t a damning indictment of a player that has frequently shown more passion and desire to keep United ticking over than those deemed loyal to the club, more a point at the club’s desperation to placate a player who now has all of the power in a rather unconventional relationship. He doesn’t need to worry about playing close to his peak, or rushing back to form; he can simply do as he wants because he knows the club wants to keep him. That, at a time when United needs its players to be pulling together should be noted.

Rooney ineffective?

5. Moyes is currently incapable of leading this club

Forget every single one of the club’s issues and allow the club’s current plight to be boiled down to one simple question;

Is David Moyes capable of turning things around at Manchester United?

At present, the answer has to be no, and that’s not a conclusion that followers of the club should reach with glee. But given an adherence to repetitive and ineffective tactics, watching a side visibly drained of spark and spirit lumber through poor result after poor result and watching post-match interviews filled with comments ranging from deceptively complimentary to downright wild, it’s difficult to come up with a counter argument.

Most United fans accepted that this would be a season riddled with the word ‘transition’, and were prepared to watch another side lifting the league trophy in May, but to be now so far off the pace of Champions League qualification without any signs of improvement and results failing to improve since the New Year is unacceptable. There has been too much talk of bad luck or players hurting but there has been no response to back up any claim that Moyes can turn things around.

Yes, he will be forever hampered in the sense that he is not Sir Alex Ferguson, as anyone in his position would be, but the sense that he is continually shooting himself in the foot with his tactics, misuse of key players and ill-advised statements is inescapable.

Moyes the right man?

Moyes had a mammoth task to get to grips last summer, no doubt. Taking over a club so vast in scope was never going to be simple, and the board’s patience where others would surely have given him his marching orders by now is laudable. But continuing along this path with the team in such poor spirits, with support waning and Moyes appearing so incapable of inspiring his charges simply runs the risk of doing far more damage in the long term. How many of United’s leading lights will stick with the club into next season if this is all they can foresee?

No decent Manchester United fan will have wanted David Moyes to fail from the outset, but we have seen nothing to suggest that he has what it takes to turn this season around, let alone the club’s fortunes. It’s more than making a few key signings, and it’s more than a bit of luck; it’s that inescapable sense that Moyes is fighting a battle that he is ill-equipped to win. That feeling, that fear should keep a few key men at the club brooding well into the night.