Is Tom Cleverley the real weak point In Manchester United's midfield?

For the umpteenth time this season, Manchester United find themselves at the start of a revival. No more losses or draws to lower teams, this time the title charge starts. Or so the script goes. And so it went after September’s 4-2 win over Bayer Leverkusen. And after the 1-0 win over Arsenal. The words “bounce back” are quickly becoming synonymous with David Moyes’s side. So is it a longer term revival this time?

United have secured back to back league wins, scoring three goals in each, so on the surface the woes that saw them go four games without a win prior to the recent wins seem to have disappeared. However United fans shouldn’t be getting carried away with wins over two very poor teams in Aston Villa and West Ham.

In a sign of how far the fortunes of the respective sides have come, the Boxing Day clash with Hull City will provide a better litmus test of how far United have come since their slump.

United have put in two good performances against Villa and West Ham, but they should be put into context. Whilst you can only beat what is put in front of you, Villa and West Ham are both poor sides in poor form.

Villa have won one of their last six games and are currently on a three game losing streak and were missing defensive lynchpin Ron Vlaar, whilst West Ham haven’t won any of their last four games, and have only won one of their last ten fixtures.

Hull are sure to pose a sterner test. Only five teams in the league have conceded fewer than the Tigers: Liverpool, Arsenal, Everton, Chelsea and Southampton. Steve Bruce’s side don’t score many but are fairly watertight at the back. Given that a lot of United’s problems have come due to a lack of creativity in midfield, playing against a Hull side that will put bodies behind the ball and wait to be broken down is likely to be a tougher ask than it should be for a team of United’s ilk.

Newcastle and Everton both left Old Trafford with the points by being tough to break, and a couple of wins doesn’t make their lack of creativity go away. Whilst Tom Cleverley, Phil Jones and Ryan Giggs have all been solid in the centre of the pitch in the last few weeks, they aren’t the creative hub of a title challenging side.

Cleverley completed 98% of his passes against West Ham but failed to create a chance with any of them, keeping the midfield ticking over, but ultimately passing responsibility for attacking onto the wide players and the increasingly broad shoulders of Wayne Rooney.

Cleverley seems to have developed into a marmite player, provoking over the top criticism and praise with each performance. However, whilst he keeps the ball well he is reliant upon the players in front of him to create.

Since his last chance-creating key pass, Cleverley has attempted 144 passes. That’s a lot, and stretches back to the 52nd minute of the Newcastle defeat. Cleverley has created 7 chances this season, whilst his Arsenal counterpart Aaron Ramsey has created 23. Between them, Cleverley, Jones, Maroune Fellaini and Michael Carrick have only managed two more than Ramsey.

It’s easy to knock Cleverley, but at times he is a shapshot of the entire United team. Not bad, but pretty uninspiring. United have won back to back games comfortably, but Hull will be a bigger test. It pits them against the kind of opposition that United have struggled to break down this season.

United go into the game as favourites and should emerge victors, but there is the possibility for the kind of result that will leave them needing yet another revival. Lacking in the creative force that their rivals can boast, United are becoming increasingly reliant upon Rooney and cannot solve the midfield problems that have plagued their season without investment.

Boxing Day gives them the chance to take a step towards disproving this argument, but it won’t be easy. After all, Hull have previous experience in this area. Just ask Liverpool.