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Bryan Robson, Nicky Butt, Paul Ince, Roy Keane and Paul Scholes – players who have graced Old Trafford under Sir Alex’s tutelage, all midfield greats, part of different generations of title winning teams of the past. These are the players that drove our attacks, aided our marauding forwards, provided the solidity and support to our defence, and played pivotal roles in helping the club win 12 Premier League titles, 5 FA Cups, 4 League Cups and 2 Champions League trophies.
Be it the treble winning side of 98/99 or the team that won the Premier League and Champions League in 2008, or all the teams that won the numerous Premier League titles in the intervening years, the presence of a strong and talented midfield has been the hallmark of our success. But to say that this case is true in the present would be very magnanimous of one, because other than Michael Carrick, our options are currently limited to either inexperienced, young prospects like Cleverley and Powell or inconsistent enigmas who have failed to live up to their potential, like Anderson.
The team selection against Manchester City, where Sir Alex chose Ryan Giggs to partner Michael Carrick to face a midfield featuring Yaya Toure, Gareth Barry and David Silva for 90 minutes, was nothing but a damning indictment of how poor our options are at the moment. And as the game showed, for all his experience, creativity and talent, Giggs is just not cut out to play as a central midfielder for 90 minutes at his age.
This is not only because he doesn’t have the stamina and legs any more, but also because of his knack of giving the ball away often. Also, whoever partners Michael Carrick in midfield must not only be capable of running around for 90 minutes, closing opponents down and getting in tackles, but also should be breaking forward for attacks when possible, while allowing Carrick to sit deep, intercept passes and pull the strings. Like the conductor in an orchestra, for all his brilliance in passing and controlling the tempo, he still needs a principal or concert master, alongside him, to not only aid him, but do the dirty work.
In Tom Cleverley, Sir Alex has a budding talent with immense potential. But he lacks the first team experience needed to step up, and that is probably why Sir Alex decided to not go with him. Anderson is plain and simply a puzzle; capable of great things which he shows in brief glimpses that leaves one wanting more, but more often than not, you’re left disappointed.
The void that presents itself to United was one that was created the day Roy Keane packed his bags and left for Scotland. While Owen Hargreaves teased us with the prospect of having someone capable of replacing Keane, his knees gave up and called time on his career. Darren Fletcher is another one who showed the potential of being capable of fulfilling the role of the tireless and an all-action midfielder, but as luck would have it, he too fell victim to a long term injury that has seen him spend more time resting than training. Since then, it has been a story of adjusting, tinkering and getting by, eventually leading us down a path that has seen us change our style of play and tactics to adjust to the lack of a defensive midfielder.
United went from a team that opponents feared, and one that forced opponents to adjust their tactics to counter us, to the exact opposite. We no longer control possession and run games; instead, the team now sits deep and invites teams to attack and commit players forward as we play on the counter, trying to exploit mistakes that opponents make. Though playing on the counter is nothing new for the club, in the past it was always used as a way to finish games, not win them. It was like predators stalking their injured prey, waiting for it commit an error, however small it was, to pounce and strike the finishing blow!
The problem with sitting deep from the start and playing on the counter against big teams is that even a small lapse of concentration, a bad pass or even a miskick can prove to be fatal. Because, when you’re up against the plethora of talent that the big teams possess, it doesn’t take them long to turn the tables on us in a matter of seconds.
And with the season drawing to a close, tiredness and fatigue start to set in and the same zest and energy that saw us make amazing comebacks and steal wins from the jaws of defeat at the start of the season is slowly starting to peter away. So, expecting the players to run around for 90 minutes, trying to ensure that players like Ozil, Di Maria, Ronaldo, Silva, Mata, Hazard, etc are kept quiet becomes a much tougher task. And that’s what happened against Real Madrid, Chelsea and now Manchester City. We may defeat the smaller teams, but when we come up against the bigger teams, we will need to be perfect.
Until January, we hadn’t dropped even a single point against Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City. But ever since the Champions League knockout round began, we have failed to defeat Real Madrid and Chelsea, who we’ve played twice each and also Manchester City.
It took a wonder strike from Luka Modric to open the scoring against us, before some brilliant play from Ozil helped setup Ronaldo’s winner. Similarly, against Chelsea, we were undone by some brilliant play from the likes of Mata, Oscar and Hazard. City had Silva and Toure pulling the strings, with a brilliant solo effort from Aguero winning the game. All these games United lost not because the team wasn’t good enough; just that they ran out of steam by the 2nd half and the opposition smelled blood and went in for the kill. We were not able to stop their creative midfielders, and it took moments of brilliance or mistakes from our players to defeat us.
While we were scoring freely in the first half of the season, Van Persie, who won us so many games single handedly, now looks jaded and out of sorts while Rooney’s small injuries are disrupting his run of scoring and as everyone knows by now, it takes him at least 2-3 games before he gets back up to speed after an injury. With our wingers having a dismal season so far, and Kagawa still trying to settle into life in England, we are struggling creatively at the moment and the 12-point lead comes as a saviour to us because it allows us to limp to the finish without having to look over backs.
Like every season, this will be another one where almost every fan will be praying that Sir Alex brings in a central midfielder in the summer – not one who can create something out of nothing, but rather one who is ready to fight it out in the midfield and hassle the life out of opponents game after game. Improvising and expecting players to change their style to fit into such a role takes time, and that is also something the likes of Cleverley or Anderson will never be good enough to do either.
We have a brilliant squad, with an unmatched depth in attack and defence, but unfortunately we are sorely light in midfield. If we are to defend the title as emphatically as we won it this season, then it’s time we fill in the blanks and complete this team because trying to fit in round pegs into square holes just won’t cut it anymore, as both the Premier League and Champions League get more and more competitive.
