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“I’d also like to remind you that when we had bad times here, the club stood by me, all my staff stood by me, the players stood by me. Your job now is to stand by our new manager. That is important.” – Sir Alex Ferguson
Before Sir Alex left Manchester United, he claimed that he left the squad in the best shape possible. Since the arrival of David Moyes, the squad has remained, more or less, the same due to the inactivity in the transfer market. Six games into the Premier League, United are languishing in 12th place, with a total of only 7 points, making it their worst ever start to a season, since 1989.
So what’s changed? After all, this is the same squad that won the league title last season, with relative ease. Why are there signs that, this is a team in regression? Is it too early to question Moyes’ position?
Firstly, the pre-season was really poor. The transfer market was a disaster. Quality additions were not made and signs of this lack of quality, have already begun to show. After admitting that the squad was short in midfield, only Marouane Fellaini was signed on deadline day, thereby, not giving him enough time to integrate himself into the squad.
The veteran players, such as Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic, Micheal Carrick and Ryan Giggs, have struggled to keep up with the pace and power of the opposition. Teams on counter attack are able to take advantage of this slow midfield, putting great pressure on the United defense.
There have been injury problems already (although short term), losing the likes of Rafael da Silva , Robin van Persie etc, has forced Moyes’ to play many players out of position, especially at the back. Chris Smalling and Phil Jones have been struggling to fill in the full back positions. The team is full of defensive frailties, uncharacteristic of a David Moyes’ team.
Then comes the achilles heel of the side, the midfield. The Shinji Kagawa conundrum comes to the mind, first. With fans and experts urging Moyes to play the Japanese play maker, Moyes’ seems to have no confidence in him. Shinji Kagawa is a central attacking midfielder and NOT a wide left player. Playing him out of position isn’t going to bring out the best in him. His goal scoring record for Dortmund is remarkable for a midfielder and keeping him on the bench reduces the creativity in midfield.
The wingers have picked up from where they left off last season… poorly! Ashley Young has had a series of poor performances while Valencia isn’t the same player that he was, two seasons ago. There is a lack of quality and supply in this department, forcing Moyes to try out academy players, such as, 18 year old Adnan Januzaj. However, Nani has been showing positive signs after signing a new contract and that could be a huge positive for the club.
In addition to all these reasons, Moyes has also made some glaring tactical blunders. Against City, losing Van Persie before the game, prompted the need for a quality attacking player to assist Rooney, and Kagawa was the answer! Chances were barely created and the midfield had so much space. Yaya Toure had a field day and the defenders were unable to cope with the movement of City’s attacking players.
In a bid to recover from this horrible setback, United started strongly against West Brom. At the end of a scoreless first half in which United dominated, Moyes replaced Kagawa with Januzaj which seemed like an unnecessary substitution, especially when the team was playing well. After the score was 1-1, the game began to open up. Carrick and Anderson were unable to track back, which prompted the need for Fellaini to come on and settle the midfield. But he was brought on after the damage was done!
So what does David Moyes need to do to get the team back to winning ways?
Firstly, he needs to strike a right balance in his first eleven. In a club like United, where there are many different types of players, suited for various systems, it’s imperative that Moyes and his staff, try out different systems rather than sticking to one system for all the games and playing players out of position. This step is vital for any manager who makes the big step to a club like United. Since everybody loves to make comparisons between Moyes and Ferguson, it can be said that Fergie was a master in reinventing his teams to stay on top. Maybe, Moyes and his staff need to consider this. The team doesn’t seem to have the characteristic fighting spirit that Ferguson’s teams were known for and something needs to be done about this.
The team is equally responsible for the poor start and the players must make a collective effort to salvage something from this season. Give players like Kagawa more chances in their preferred positions and see what difference it could make. The team is looking very one dimensional, so involving players such as Wilfried Zaha and Adnan Januzaj will add more flair and give United, a much needed X-factor element. Money needs to be spent in January, even though players will be hard to get.
It is still early days but the fans already seem to be frustrated with Moyes and his men. They’re worried as well because the football really hasn’t been up to the required standards. However, it must be noted that United have, more often than not, been sluggish starters. Moyes is his own man and therefore, will need time to implement his way of playing. Sir Alex’s first three years were terrible but the board and the fans stuck by him and look how that turned out! The fans need to have faith in this new management. History could repeat itself if the fans continue to remain patient.
The only way to bounce back from these setbacks, is to remain positive. It’ll take a great deal of character and hard work from the squad if they are to compete for honors. Now that the difficult first 5 games are out of the way, it’s important that United make light weight of teams they are supposed to beat. David Moyes has always been a master at handling his limited resources in Everton, so one can hope that he does the same with United.
Quality additions can be made in January, but it’ll be of no use if the title is already lost by then. It would be wrong to rule out United this early into the season. United have been in these kind of situations before and they’ve come out on top, but in order to do so, the performances and results have to improve. The players in the squad are champions . Hence, there is no doubt that they’ll be able to reinvent themselves under the ‘Chosen one’, hopefully sooner, than later!
