The Manchester United mid-season review. Off the Long Run
0People thought Manchester United would find the transition from the SAF era tricky, but not many really picked this. Ferg Campbell says what he is really thinking
Firstly, a huge ‘Up yours’ to Sportsfreak for forcing me to revisit what can only be described as the worst few months a United fan has had to endure in living memory. Generally friends are supportive, they are the ones we can turn to in time of need, but apparently, when it comes to supporting your football team, this isn’t the case! I just looked up friendship in the Oxford English Dictionary and see no mention of kicking a guy while he’s down.
At the start of the season I wrote “It’s going to be a season of transition for both the club and the fans. It’s the first season for over 20 years that we really have no idea just what Manchester United are going to produce and impossible to make a prediction. The last two weeks of the transfer window will be sure to form a plan for the months ahead.”
Not often I’m right but the last sentence has come back to haunt the club. We were linked to, and if you believe the gossip columns put bids in for, every player that has ever even imagined playing in the centre of midfield. The Fabregas saga was nuts, he was never a chance of leaving Barcelona never mind ending up at any EPL club other than Arsenal. So what happens, Moyes panics and grabs Fellaini, well over his value, from his old club then precedes to play him deep where he looks like the big gorky kid in the playground that doesn’t know what he’s meant to do but is to scared to walk off and go to the library for fear of being beaten up! Ever since Roy Keane left, this area of the field has been an issue but Fergie was able to cover up the faults, this seems beyond Moyes currently.
Mistakes have been made, many many of them. The wholesale clean out of the back room staff of the previous manager is now coming back to haunt the new boss, it would have been wise had he made the team his own by bringing talent in that fits the way he wants to play the game but all we are seeing each week is another version of Fergies squad trotting out.
Selection has become interesting and very inconsistent. The fact that Moyes seems intent on playing Ryan Giggs in a regular key role in the workroom of the midfield at the age of 40 is fascinating, don’t get me wrong Giggsy is a true United legend but age is proving to be working against him.
Wilfred Zaha excited me before the start of the season, a great talent and an England international but for a reason only known to himself Moyes is yet to give him any sort of chance and could he really be any worse than Ashley Young?
There have been some positives, the retention of Wayne Rooney and the emergence of Adnan Januzaj have been a joy to watch. Rooney, for me, is playing better than I’ve seen him but he can’t do it all by himself. Januzaj looks exciting and hopefully we will see him develop into a genuine world class player in the coming years, he seems to have the right attitude to succeed.
The season is far from over and the boss is still saying that we can retain the Premier League trophy but, I’m sorry, he’s delusional. A place in the top four is our best hope and even that looks distant currently.
The upcoming transfer window must see the cheque book opened and the midfield strengthened with some true talent. Otherwise I can’t see things improving much for the rest of the season.
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