Note: If you're expecting an article to defend the club, Moyes and his reign etc please don't read further.
When David Moyes stepped into the (extremely large) shoes of Sir Alex Ferguson, even he wouldn't have been able to rightly guess the huge challenge that awaited him. The challenge to replace the best manager the Premier League has seen, was one that was seen as an enormous task.
What Moyes may not have foreseen was the big task he had in terms of overhauling the United squad, a squad that had only last season won the League. Many people can be seen complaining about how could a side that were crowned Champions in May, be so woeful in December.
The answer lies in the fact that the signs were there in March itself, and if you look behind, even before that. Robin Van Persie, Michael Carrick and Ferguson were able to mask over our the obvious failings in our squad last season.
It is indicative of how much United depended on both of them that, both were playing with knocks for a quite some time before, Moyes had to reluctantly rest them. The results since then, apart from the Bayer Leverkusen game have been disappointing.
There are various reasons for the current predicament of United, and Moyes is at fault for some but not all of those reasons.
- Lack of Quality Midfielders
This is a problem in other parts of the squad as well, but nowhere is it more deeply felt than in midfield, where when Carrick doesn't start, it almost seems like United are playing a false midfield. It is almost shocking how the United management have seemed to allow this to happen. There really is no excuse. Some of the sides in the bottom half of the league could challenge us for quality in midfield. Southampton are into their second season in the Premier League and their first choice midfield trumps our own. We have only one quality midfielder and he is on the wrong side of 30. The blame for this majorly lies on the management that preceded Moyes. Yes, Ferguson and his staff can be blamed for allowing our midfield quality to degrade with every passing season. When Moyes signed Marouanne Fellaini, he was the first midfield signing since 2007 at the club. That in itself shows how the management completely neglected the midfield.
This isn't to say though that David Moyes is faultless. He had two months to sign players who could not only refresh the squad but also bring quality to midfield. There were so many players that were bought in by different clubs that could really have improved our midfield. Just looking around off the top of my head; Kevin Strootman, Wanyama, Thiago to name a few, all of whom could've improved our midfield, but Moyes and his team did not make a move. Who they now try to sign in January, is up for debate but it will be hard for the manager to sign quality players.
- Lacking World Class Quality, Glazers need to release the funds for spending now
A look at the current Manchester United squad shows how badly the club needs to sign some World Class players. Robin Van Persie and Wayne Rooney are the only two truly world class players the club can currently boast of. Rafael, David De Gea, Phil Jones, Adnan Januzaj all these might one day turn out to be World Class if they keep on growing, but they aren't World Class yet.
There are question marks over whether Moyes can attract World Class players, but the management will need to look at splashing the cash, and splashing it big to attract some of the world's best players to the club. Expecting Moyes to get more than 100% out of a squad a la Ferguson style would be unrealistic. The management needs to back the manager and buy the players. The squad is an ageing one and it needs to be refreshed with new signings. We need either a Luis Suarez type signing in January or a Ozil type signing in the summer to really get this squad going. Last season neighbours Manchester City failed to build on their EPL success and saw themselves brushed aside from the top spot. The Red Devils have suffered a similar fate this season.The Glazers have been all talk till now. They need to act now and spend big. The cold hard truth.
- Moyes needs to bring stability to his line-ups
David Moyes has been chopping and changing his line-ups way more than required at times. Injuries and Suspensions have surely forced his hand at times but chopping and changing his line-ups clearly shows that even after more than 20 games, he still doesn't know his best line-up. There were seven changes yesterday to the starting line-up. Defenders have been constantly swapped around, something which affects the performances of all involved. A good team always builds from a solid backline and Manchester United currently lack that. Patrice Evra, due to lack of competition and being majorly injury free has been the only constant in the backline for majority of the season. Sadly though, again this is not entirely Moyes' fault, which brings me to my next point.
- Players need to start performing!
The players have been absolutely shambolic at times this season and have let Moyes down. The senior players especially need to stand up now and get the team back up. The team at times seem to be hiding on the pitch. They need to start demanding the ball more and be more positive when going forward rather than looking at the simple options. Apart from David De Gea, Rafael,Evans, Carrick, Rooney and RVP no one in the squad has really looked to cement their place in the squad. If you include Evra, who has no competition, there are 4 places in the squad up for grabs. Wings is one area which has caused Moyes most trouble considering none of the three "seniors" in the squad have performed well consistently. Moyes will certainly hoping now that the above 7 can remain fit and play together for large parts of the remainder of the season so as to get United back on track.
- David Moyes needs to improve!
The Chosen One was rightly criticized by many United fans in the beginning of the season for mistakes that he had made and Moyes did correct some of those mistakes. For the past two games, he has made attacking substitutions, something that he was criticized for not doing previously.
What has been lacking though is signs of improvement in performance. You could expect fans to be more sympathetic towards Moyes' if they could see a philosophy that Moyes was trying to implement on the squad, but all I've seen is a team's over dependence on a LB's attacking capabilities to put balls into the box, something that the team's wingers have found impossible to do. Last season, when Brendan Rodgers joined Liverpool he had a clear philosophy in his mind that he wanted to implement at the club and he set about his task in the same manner. He is now reaping the results this season and that is something Moyes also needs to do. Now Liverpool may not win the league or even finish in the top 4 this season, but no neutral can really say that they haven't improved moving on from last season. Considering where the Merseyside club were when Rodgers was brought in, I believe he has done a commendable job in the past two season.
David Moyes will be given time by the board and fans, but for that he will need his squad to show improvements on the field. Moyes needs to stamp his authority on the squad as quickly possible and get Manchester United back on track. Everyone at the club needs to get together and really start performing. The players need to start providing support to the manager by actually performing. You do really wonder, for all the preaching the club does with regards to patience, how much of it will they provide Moyes with, if things don't change till the summer?
In the end I'd just like to mention one more thing, I was having a chat with a friend of the clubs current predicament and he said the following which I though I should share because he was absolutely right.
"Its really sad to see that we have no distinct style of playing. We actually are the club version of England right now. Big reputation, a few big name players but no output."
