Paul Scholes’ frank remarks about being genuinely scared for
Manchester United’s long held tradition of success were once again highlighted
yesterday with another poor footballing display in the 1-1 draw with
Sunderland. I am going to attempt to highlight a number of my personal
frustrations with not only this game, but the last few seasons at Old Trafford
that have led us here. Despite our impressive preseason that I was equally
guilty in celebrating, I truly believe that Man Utd are on the edge of a knife
and if we do not arrest this decline urgently, then we will face a number of
years in the wilderness.
I want to quickly highlight a few of my own hang ups that
date back to Sir Alex Ferguson’s final season in charge in 2012/13. This team
won the league by a comfortable 11 points and according to many, even myself,
were handed in pristine condition to David Moyes the following season. How was
it that this same team went from 1st to 7th in a single
year?
2012/13 saw the end of Roberto Mancini’s Manchester City
reign, a season in which they truly self-imploded, notably the 3-1 defeat to
Southampton which effectively ended their serious effort to reclaim the title.
Mancini was replaced by Manuel Pellegrini at the end of season amid reports he
had lost the dressing room, a fact that all Manchester United fans doing their
best to hide their glee, unaware what we would later face under David Moyes’
tenure. Chelsea, meanwhile were facing their own managerial problems with Andre
Villas-Boas, Roberto di Matteo and Rafa Benitez all attempting to put their own
mark on the team that was a disorganised mess until Jose Mourinho’s return in
2013/14.
With this in mind, despite Sir Alex’s sterling management of
what we now know is a very poor team, I truly believe that the failings of our
rivals was the main reason for our runaway success in 2012/13. However, in
Pellegrini and Mourinho, as well as the re-emergence of Liverpool under
Rodgers, our rivals have not only strengthened on the pitch, but the boardroom
scraps that held them back in the past look firmly put to rest. Coupled with
our own managerial upheaval this has been, in my mind, the most obvious reason
for our recent demise.
Robin van Persie. After losing the title on goal difference
in 2011/12, we did what proved to be the decisive factor in winning the
following season. We bought the league’s top scorer. Robin van Persie’s 26
league goals, and notably his hat-trick against Aston Villa, the game in which
we secured the title, were clearly crucial. However, last season under Moyes,
and even yesterday against Sunderland, admittedly lacking match sharpness, van
Persie looked uninterested and was in the physio room for large periods of last
season.
Before joining Man Utd, we had already signed Shinji Kagawa,
with the idea to play him at football’s most glamorous position, the Number 10
(more on this later). I’ve only really seen Kagawa play an effective role in
this position once, during which he scored a hat-trick in a 4-0 win over
Norwich and seemingly pulled the strings, as one wants from your Number 10.
However, it is interesting to note that he scored 2 of those goals, before
Rooney added the fourth, after van Persie had been substituted by Welbeck.
The reason I bring this up is twofold.
First, van Persie’s arrival was at the expense of Kagawa. It
was only well after Kagawa had joined us that we learned of van Persie’s
availability with the frontrunners for his signature being us, Juventus and
City. If City had van Persie in 2012/13 I’m certain they would have run away
with the league that season. While signing van Persie looked a shrewd decision
then, it has caused an imbalance in the team, not only to Kagawa but also to
Welbeck, who’s lack of goals that season (1 in the league) continue to be held
against him, despite his more impressive return when in his favoured central
position, not buffeted out onto the left. His goal return in other seasons,
while not prolific, is acceptable for a third choice striker.
The second reason is that I don’t feel playing Rooney
(seemingly undroppable under Moyes and now as captain under van Gaal) and van
Persie mean that to play a Number 10, whether Kagawa or Mata, is next to
impossible. We are simply not mobile enough with those players as an option.
Number 10’s need fast players to stretch the play, giving them more time on the
ball and options. Welbeck answers these problems and allows a Number 10 more
creativity with his movement but with both Rooney and van Persie lacking in
pace, the Number 10 is irrelevant, forced to knock sideways passes, as we have
seen in the games already this season.
So, while van Persie’s signing helped win us the league in
11/12, it has come at the expense of Welbeck and Kagawa and if we continue to
pair him and Rooney up front with Mata at 10, we will have the same lack of
movement in the final third, especially as we lack quality wingers.
Look, David Moyes was clearly overwhelmed with top level
management and it’s sad that his stock will have fallen so drastically after
his sacking (which was handled appallingly) but from our performances under van
Gaal so far, I see very little difference. While we have lost 3 of our core
defenders, and defence is an issue I will come to, I’m seeing the exact same
boring, turgid style of football that left me resenting David Moyes and joining
the mob, calling for his sacking. It’s funny to note that during our dark
periods last season, fans were begging Moyes to bring Kagawa, Hernandez, Nani
and Zaha into the team to change our approach yet there are few fans who would
want to see those players start for us this season.
Yes, Moyes was out of his depth but I think the myriad of
issues I’ve raised above go a lot further in explaining why we dropped from 1st
to 7th in one season thant Moyes ineptitude as a manager. He wasn’t
the right choice, he made bad substitutions but so far nothing I’ve seen from
van Gaal seems to have changed our style. I don’t even care about the result so
long as we look like we’re trying to play football. Lumping long balls up to
Fellaini against Swansea was embarrassing, and I can only hope it was van Gaal’s
way of letting the Glazers and Ed Woodward know that we need major
reinforcements to this team.
I do feel van Gaal is the right man for the job, unlike
Moyes. His adventure with the Dutch national team at the world cup, despite
their relatively limited squad, took apart Spain and Brazil and played
entertaining football against Australia and Mexico and I think with a few more
players he can deliver a brand of entertaining attacking football.
I read a lot of noticeboards and forums, listen to a few
podcasts. Even the most optimistic fans have conceded that we will not win the
league this season but many talk about our rivals, “while City and Chelsea have reinforced, there’s no reason we can’t be
up there with Arsenal, Liverpool and Spurs this season.” I find this laughable.
All of those teams possess better squads than we currently do in all but a few
areas. The most depressing thing about our performance against Sunderland wasn’t
Sunderland held on to a point, but that we came out of the game with anything
at all. Sunderland didn’t even play well, but our midfield play was abysmal and
I genuinely thought at times we would be caught out, and if it wasn’t for Connor
Wickham’s poor finishing (after a very skillful touch to bring it back over
Michael Keane) it would have meant another loss for us. We were hassled by Will
Buckley, contained by Lee Cattermole and easily kept out by Wes Brown and John
O’Shea (two players we could do with considering our injury crisis at the
moment!).
Scholes believes we need 5 players. Xabi Alonso, Sami
Khedira, Raphael Varane, Angel di Maria and Mats Hummels. Well, Varane and
Hummels are simply not available, neither team needs to sell and Hummels has
explicitly stated he will remain at Dortmund. With the arrival of Marcos Rojo,
who I know very little about, we may be able to strike one defender off the
list, if the rest of our defenders can stay injury free and one of Tyler
Blackett and Michael Keane can establish themselves as squad players. Of the
two, I originally thought Michael Keane was the better player but Blackett’s
ability to fit into van Gaal’s 352 system has surprised many of us. However, it’s
all well and good having solid games against Swansea and Sunderland but up
against top quality, pacey attackers I think both may struggle.
Many have questioned if Jonny Evans, Phil Jones and Chris
Smalling can produce the goods in defence. I’m still not completely convinced
in the case of Smalling but if the defence is protected by a strong midfield,
you don’t need defenders like Vidic making last ditch tackles, especially if
you can hold onto the ball, something which Carrick and Herrera are both
capable of. If you look at Barcelona’s defensive pairing of Pique and
Mascherano, neither are good tackling centre backs but are good on the ball and
anticipate danger. Bayern Munich also played large periods last season with
Jerome Boateng (who was a liability at times at City) and Javi Martinez at
centre backs but with a strong midfield their defensive frailties were limited.
The main problem is not whether they are good enough, but if they can stay fit
for an entire season?
Maybe we do need 5 as Scholes says, but realistically I
think 3 would be a push and that includes Rojo as one of the defensive options.
Marcos Rojo, Arturo Vidal, Angel di Maria. However, if Evans/Smalling/Jones can’t
stay fit through the season then another centre back simply must be looked at.
Both Benatia and Daley Blind have been sounded out as additional cover.
While Herrera looked a cut above the rest of our midfield in
preseason, the only game I really saw him look a world beater was against LA
Galaxy, hardly the toughest opposition. I think Herrera will be a great player
for us but I think a few fans are going overboard in their estimations of him
but this may be fair considering he cost more than Fabregas and Toni Kroos (two
players who both rejected us this season). Rojo too, just because he has an
exciting foreign sounding name doesn’t mean we should expect great things from
him. Considering our choices were either him or Vermaelen I’m not expecting him
to become our domineering new centre half.
Vidal and Di Maria would be exceptional purchases. The
financial climate in Italian football means teams can’t hold onto their prize
assets like other clubs can so the likelihood of Vidal leaving is possible. He
is a beast, quite simply and would add some force into our midfield we have not
had since Roy Keane left. I’ve wanted Vidal at United for last two years and
see him as the player we desperately need.
Di Maria would also be a fantastic player, comfortable on
the ball, good passer and adds pace. He enjoyed his finest season in Madrid
last year but with the arrival their shiny new toy, James Rodriguez, he has been
pushed further down the pecking order, despite his work rate and teamwork while
Ronaldo and Bale bomb forward.
It came into even sharper focus (as if it needed to be)
against Sunderland that our midfield was woeful. Fletcher’s control was
dreadful, Cleverley looked frightened when he had the ball and other players
would often elect a more difficult option over passing to him. I thought van
Gaal may be able to turn Cleverley into a decent squad player but he is simply
not cut out for this level of football and it was frightening how out of place
he looked. As vice-captain, Fletcher’s influence in the dressing room should
remain for now especially with the loss of senior players.
While it’s been talked about all summer, I’ll quickly echo
who should be joining Cleverley in the exit queue. Anderson is obvious, despite
training with the first team since his return from Fiorentina, he’s deadwood
and hopefully we can find a buyer. Talk of a £5.5 million move to join Nani at
Sporting Lisbon sounds incredibly optimistic but if true we should be biting
their hands off. As with Nani, we would most probably have to cover a large
part of his wages for the next year of his contract. The Nani deal seems frustrating
as despite his large wage (which we will be picking up for the duration of the
loan), he was one of the few players who may have any potential sell on fee, a
factor that has been sharply highlighted with Man Utd’s high net spend over the
past five seasons.
Marouane Fellaini is another player who needs to be moved on
quickly, hopefully his wage and current injury status won’t put potential
buyers off, as he clearly doesn’t fit the system. While a personal favourite of
mine, Javier Hernandez, should move on (especially if it’s a choice between him
and Welbeck) for the sake of his career and international future. He’s a
supremely talented goal scorer but is a very one dimensional player. He’s
entering the supposed peak of his career and would command a decent transfer
fee considering his goal return. He currently looks bereft of confidence and a
move would suit all parties. While I would personally keep both Antonio
Valencia and Ashley Young as squad players, on the condition that they are
expected to maintain a certain degree of form and are both on their very last
chances, I would move Wilfried Zaha on, either on loan or a permanent deal.
While there is some talent in him, his attitude is poor and he will struggle as
a wingback. Anders Lindegaard is seemingly set to join Celtic in a bid to find
first team football, he’s been a solid back up to De Gea and I for one wish him
the best.
I would even consider shipping out Rafael. Unlike many, I
have no issues with his defensive discipline but his form last season was poor
if we can take the chance to sell him for a considerable sum to a team like PSG
who seem set on completing a Brazilian back four (Thiago Silva, Luiz,
Marquinhos). I’d hate to see us stuck with a player like Nani, just hoping he
can rediscover his form. We’ve hung onto players for far too long when they
have underperformed. If we did sell Rafael, then we would have to add another
signing as we have no other right back options.
Some final points about yesterday’s game with Sunderland
concerning our front three. As mentioned previously with Kagawa, Mata’s role as
a Number 10 is completely ineffectual with the combination of a midfield unable
to retain possession and forwards who lack mobility. Our lack of decent wingers
also highlights his deficiencies to this team. A great player though he is,
Mata is a serious case of a square peg in a round hole when we already have
Rooney, Kagawa and Januzaj. There is simply no point in having a luxury player
like Mata if all he is able to do is knock the ball sideways. As I have
mentioned already, Welbeck replacing van Persie and Januzaj’s addition against
Swansea helped Mata as they spread out the game, otherwise he looks like an
ordinary player at best who offered little. His goal hides the fact he has been
anonymous in both games. Van Persie was lacking match fitness but I still
thought he had little to know impact on the game, meanwhile Rooney seems to
have lost the ability to shoot from outside the area, where so many of his
goals have come from in the past.
In short, I feel the next two weeks will be make or break
for both van Gaal and Man Utd. Without a doubt, van Gaal is a better manager
than Moyes but if we do not mount a serious challenge for Europe this season, it
will be a long time before we make it back. It is public knowledge that next
seasons Adidas sponsor will be considerably less without European football,
making it harder and harder to attract top quality names while Chelsea,
Manchester City and the rest get stronger and stronger. Rojos is a decent start
but we definitely need more players to arrive in the next two weeks, Swansea
and Sunderland make a strong case for that.
