Red Rants |
- No new signings? Is this the best 11 to fire Moyes into the top 4 then?
- United target Wembley showdown
- Are these really Moyes’ leftback targets?
- What next for Moyes and United?
| No new signings? Is this the best 11 to fire Moyes into the top 4 then? Posted: 07 Jan 2014 02:00 AM PST
The Scotsman quickly needs to navigate United into finding the consistency of performance and results he has often talked of in recent weeks, to stand any chance of successfully guiding them (and himself) into next season’s Champions League. This team, given time to develop, in my opinion, equips him with his best chance of achieving that goal if the club (be it Moyes’ fault or otherwise) fail to strengthen the squad during this month’s transfer window.
Goalkeeper: David De Gea Having been selected in the PFA Team of the Season for 2012-13, De Gea is enjoying another fine season. Vital stops in away games at Sunderland and Norwich City have facilitated narrow wins, and he cuts an increasingly composed figure in the United goal. Unnecessary risks taken by Wojciech Szczesny against Liverpool and Newcastle United, show the immaturity still prevalent in his game, while Hugo Lloris has recently edged from "Sweeper Keeper" towards impetuous liability and Joe Hart's struggle for form has been widely publicised. All of these factors have served to cement the Spaniard's status as the Premier League's best goalkeeper, as he emerges as one of the major positives from United's first 20 games.
Intermittent injuries to Rafael have caused Moyes to select Phil Jones, Chris Smalling and Antonio Valencia in the right full back role at various times this season, which has undoubtedly weakened United's right flank. The two England men are clearly centre-backs by trade, and Jones especially needs a run of games in this position, upon his return from injury. The selection of Valencia is designed to account for the loss of Rafael's energy and dangerous crossing, but his lack of defensive instincts has been exposed on his last two outings in the role; against Hull City and Tottenham. Moyes finds himself in the unique position of being able to replace Rafael with an exceptionally similar player, but has chosen not to do so. There is a perception that the Brazilian twins are impetuous but while Rafael's prolonged spell in the side has served to dispel many fears, Fabio hasn't been so fortunate. I feel this is a tad unfair, given that he played in, without being ruthlessly exposed, the 2011 Champions League final defeat to Barcelona and has experienced the grim reality of a relegation season with Queens Park Rangers in 2012-13. Fabio comes closest to providing what the injury to Rafael detracts from the United side, and deserves a run of games, in his brother’s absence. Centre-back: Nemanja Vidic The Serbian is another defender who has struggled for form and fitness in a difficult season, but Moyes would be foolish not to show faith in his captain to lead his team out of this difficult period. Still a fine penalty box defender, Vidic's greatest characteristic is his dogged determination, which United could do with as much as anything else, at the moment. Consequently, any (overdue) attempt by David Moyes to decide on a settled centre-back partnership should include his 32 year old captain.
Having recently turned 26, Evans is approaching the prime of his career, and is United's form defender. He bailed out Rio Ferdinand to block Stefan Kießling's shot at 0-0, before going on to score in United's stand-out result of the season; the 5-0 away defeat of Sami Hyypia's Bayer Leverkusen side, which provided the catalyst for a decent run of form, even more impressive in a constantly changing back-line. His one blip occurred when his indecision meant he diverted David Meyler's tame shot past David De Gea at the KC Stadium in December, but he shows the most confidence of United's centre-backs when in possession of the ball. Given time to build a partnership with the more experienced Vidic, the pair should go from strength to strength, and provide the security necessary if United are to string an unbeaten run together. Left-back: Alexander Büttner Given Moyes' hardly subtle attempts to replace Patrice Evra with both Leighton Baines and Fabio Coentrao, in the summer, it is somehwat surprising that neither Fabio nor Dutchman Büttner has been given an extended run in the side. Evra's form has been deteriorating over the past two seasons, and the decline has continued into 2013-14. He was exposed by Aaron Lennon and Jesus Navas in humbling defeats this season, was at fault for Kim Bo-Kyung's last-gasp equaliser at Cardiff, his crossing has been persistently inaccurate and he appears to jog into his defensive position upon the breakdown of a United attack. In an unimpressive season for United, he has been the worst performer, and deserves to lose his place in the side. Büttner gets the nod for now, while Fabio needs to play on the other side, but, given the Brazilian's aptitude on the left flank, the period before Rafael's return is effectively an audition for the left-back slot. Centre Midfield: Michael Carrick Carrick is undoubtedly the Red's best central midfielder, and his return to form cannot come soon enough for Moyes. There are still doubts over the former West Ham man's ability to dictate the toughest of matches, doubtless intensified by Yaya Toure and Fernandinho's commanding performances at the Ethiad Stadium in September, but he has to make any first choice United side. His composure, experience and accurate passing will be crucial if United are to build a route to either silverware or the top four and with the World Cup on the horizon, Carrick will look to impress. Centre Midfield: Anderson Yes, Anderson. Let's get the negatives out of the way first. His record when it comes to complete the whole ninety minutes is atrocious. He is erratic, unpredictable, injury prone and has at times appeared to be overweight. He has just nine goals in 179 apperances for Manchester United, and it appears that Moyes shares his predecessor's mistrust in the 25 year old. However, it is my view that Anderson is the only current member of the Manchester United midfield ranks who possesses the drive and energy that this side so obviously needs. Mousa Dembele, Yaya Toure and Jack Wilshere are just three midfielders who demonstrate the rise in popularity of deep-lying central midfielders who can dribble the ball, and I believe Anderson can fulfil a similar role for Moyes. In a way, the Brazilian is a microcosm of my vision for this United side. He will need games to develop, he is raw and liable to make a mistake or two, but ultimately will perform with intensity, quality and speed.
At first glance, it appears that I have put the Japanese's shirt where Adnan Januzaj's should be, but I do want to play Kagawa from the right. The selection represents a large diversion from the traditional right-sided players whom have graced Old Trafford; David Beckham, Cristiano Ronaldo, and more recently Valencia. However, the theory behind it is to aid United in an area in which they desparately struggle; the transition between defence and attack. Where Valencia, Nani or Young's instinct would be to run towards the touchline, giving Carrick or Anderson a player to bypass when playing their pass out from a defensive area, Kagawa's instinct to move inside creates a simpler option. While the Japan star does not possess the pace of United's four traditional wingers, he is the most adept at retaining the ball in tight areas. Thus, he provides a perfect contrast to the brave, dribbling-orientated approach to Janujaz, on the left and his narrow runs should create plenty of space for Fabio to gallop into. Left Wing: Adnan Januzaj There is a reason that the Belgian's shirt is positioned wider on the diagram than Kagawa's, and that his role is described as a winger, by contrast to "attacking midfield". The 18-year old also has a role at the transition; to dribble the ball away from United's goal to relieve the pressure. Januzaj's fearlessness provides this side with an unpredictable and dangerous streak, and he is the Red Devil's form winger, at this moment in time. He has already provided more goals than his more experienced fellow wingers have in recent seasons, and has shown, in home matches against Southampton and Tottenham, an ability to thread an intelligent through pass to the strikers. Moyes' team has so far shown a surprising loyalty to crossing from wide areas, given the poor form of many of their wide-players (and Evra), but Januzaj's inclusion facilitates a diversion from this approach. Number 10: Wayne Rooney The former Everton man has been Manchester United's best player this season, with nine goals and nine assists from seventeen Premier League matches, so this is an obvious selection. While a new contract remains unsigned, reports about his future will intensify, but his commitment to United has remained undiminished. Despite his brilliant form, there has been a worrying displays of petulance against Newcastle United, Cardiff City, Hull City and Tottenham Hotspur, which Moyes must move to swiftly eradicate. A groin injury kept him out of the recent home match with West Ham, and poor performances against Hull City and Spurs suggest he may have been rushed back too soon. He needs to be managed more carefully than Robin van Persie has been, only returning to the side when 100% fit, but there is no doubting his importance to this United side.
The Carrington graduate spent most of last season playing in wide areas, for both club and country, so it is easy to forget that Welbeck actually led the line for England at Euro 2012, following a season in which he scored 15 goals in 32 games. His link-up play defies his inexperience, and the 24 year old looks a very threatening prospect now that his composure in front of goal has improved. Welbeck has shown maturity to step into the breach left by Robin van Persie's injury and a prolonged spell in a central role should plunder more goals. Further to resolving United's issues with turning defence into attack, Moyes may want to consider deploying Welbeck as the deeper forward when United are out of possession, as he did at Carrow Road, given that he possesses greater speed than Rooney. |
| United target Wembley showdown Posted: 07 Jan 2014 12:37 AM PST
Sunday’s showing in the FA Cup was nothing short of embarrassing – something we’ve become somewhat accustomed to in the first six months of the campaign – and United must improve, if they’re to secure a positive result against a side that might be bottom of the table, but will undoubtedly be fired up for the occasion.
Much like their incapacity to string two passes together, United’s injury crisis seems to know no end, with Rio Ferdinand joining Wayne Rooney, Robin Van Persie, Ashley Young, Nani, Rafael, Phil Jones and Marouane Fellaini on the sidelines, while Fabio is suspended after his red card against Swansea. Injuries and the all-too-familiar lack of option will force David Moyes’ hand yet again in terms of team selection, with Danny Welbeck and Javier Hernandez likely to retain their place up-front, while Patrice Evra, Ryan Giggs, Michael Carrick and David De Gea could return in place of Alexander Buttner, Tom Cleverley, Darren Fletcher and Anders Lindegaard. United’s last trip to Sunderland saw the arrival on the scene of Adnan Januzaj, who netted twice in his first start for the club to rescue a 2-1 win, after United had fallen behind to some calamitous defending, and the youngster could be involved from the start tonight, given Moyes is desperate for a positive result. While at the start of the season the Capital One Cup might have been last by a long distance in United’s list of priorities, with the league and the FA Cup having already vanished five months into the season, English football’s second cup could prove to be a lot more important for the club than it’s ever been. Securing a place at Wembley would give David Moyes the chance of finally break his silverware duck and picking up a trophy in his first season at United would go some way in buying him time and boost his confidence, not to mention that lifting a cup could give the whole team a much-needed lift. Furthermore, should United get past Sunderland – hardly a formality on current form, given that the Black Cats have knocked out Chelsea and won at Everton on Boxing Day – a final against City looms large, given that they’re likely to obliterate West Ham over two legs. Two games away from a possible derby at Wembley. If that doesn’t get us going, God knows what will. |
| Are these really Moyes’ leftback targets? Posted: 06 Jan 2014 09:06 AM PST
This is the first of my three part series on who David Moyes needs to sign if his Manchester United side want to even stand a chance in reaching the top four this season.
Yet again, we saw Aaron Lennon destroying Patrice Evra on New Years Day, which reinforced everyone’s opinion that a new left back is desperately needed. Furthermore, he was at fault for both goals, and this was not the first time his mistakes have cost us games in the Premier League, and more importantly; valuable points.
According to reports, Real Madrid are willing to listen to offers for Fabio Coentrao, with 12.5m the asking price. In my opinion, that’s a bargain. He’s only 25, so there is still time for improvement, and he will be around for at least another five-six years at his best. He’s been second best to Marcelo at Real Madrid for years now, so if he wants first team football, a move to Man United should be on his mind. Coentrao would be my first choice replacement, without a doubt. Another player linked is Leighton Baines. In my mind, paying over 16m for a player who is approaching their thirties is not the best deal. I can see about three seasons left in Baines, at the most, which means you will pay over five million a season for an ageing left back. Good deal? No, very poor. You can’t doubt Baines and his talent, but his age is my only worry. His set pieces are sensational, and his fitness and energy to get up and down the left wing is extraordinary. He is probably a better cross than all of Man United’s wingers, so he would really help the side going forward.
I have no doubt that a new left back is definitely needed, so I feel Coentrao and Shaw should be the players David Moyes goes for in this January transfer window. Either of the players could make a huge impact on the side, and both are well known for their assists. They both can cross the ball, unlike Valencia and Young, who struggle to get it further than near post. Man United fans should just hope that Moyes can get the players, or else they could be in real trouble this season, and many seasons to come. Look out for Part 2 in this series of articles. Next up, I will be discussing the central midfielders who should be ticking over in David Moyes’ mind. Written by Ross- @RossFootball_. |
| What next for Moyes and United? Posted: 06 Jan 2014 07:14 AM PST
The numbers alone are ominous – a fourth defeat in the last six games at Old Trafford, another competition that disappears with the season barely five months old and a first third round elimination since 2010, when Jermaine Beckford gave Leeds fans their only reason to cheer in about a decade.
Forget about the fact that United haven’t lifted the FA Cup for 10 years and that it would have been good to reach the fourth round, particularly considering that the possible opponents in the fourth round were Crawley, Bristol City or Birmingham and that with the league all but gone the FA Cup represented a concrete chance of silverware. The manner of the defeat was as humbling as the result, with United showing every single one of their limits, deficiencies with which we’ve become so accustomed to throughout this season that one wonders whether we knew our team at all. Injuries limited the options at David Moyes’ disposal, but there can’t be any excuses for the catastrophic lack of rhythm and paucity of ideas in the middle of the park, where Tom Cleverley produced yet another typically insipid performance, while Antonio Valencia confirmed himself as one of the most mono-dimensional players in history and Shinji Kagawa can now be classified alongside Juan Sebastian Veron in the “great player, but unfortunately not with us” category. A season that had started as one of transition has quickly turned into one of decline – at least the fall from grace has been swift, rather than long and tortuous – leaving United into a territory that has been extremely unfamiliar to them from the moment Sir Alex Ferguson lifted the FA Cup in 1990. The main scapegoat is, rather predictably, David Moyes. The United manager was never welcome by some fans, who considered him too inexperienced for coping with a club of United’s expectations and tradition, while his lack of silverware and reputation for boring football only compounded his lack of appeal. Granted, Moyes has struggled to make the leap from Everton to United and his tactics have seldom got the juices of those on the terraces going but, while he could do with some media training, to lay the blame solely at his doorstep would be a ludicrous and incredibly short-sighted exercise. Moyes has undoubtedly made some mistakes – namely wasting £27m on Marouane Fellaini and repeatedly ignoring Wilfried Zaha, when the other wingers have been appalling – but he has been dramatically let down by the board, who thought well of replacing David Gill with a man capable of selling sand in the Sahara, but about as adequate in the murky waters of the transfer window as a stripper at a funeral, and by some of his senior players, who seem unwilling to take responsibility for the shambles unfolding around them. Those who still believe Moyes is the right man for the job, on the other hand, struggle to see that while consistency is still of paramount importance in modern football, the sport is not what it was when Fergie arrived from Aberdeen in 1986 and the United manager’s six-year contract could soon become an even heavier burden on his shoulders. Until David Moyes wins a trophy at United, he’ll always be considered Fergie’s man. Unfortunately for him, while that tag might not necessarily be true, he has been left with Fergie squad which, despite what many continue to believe, is far from vintage, even if these same men won the title last season. Considering the investments that City, Chelsea and even Arsenal and Liverpool made in the summer, even Fergie himself would have struggled to finish higher than third this season, which makes last summer’s lack of business in the transfer window even more catastrophic. United have been in desperate need of reinforcements in midfield from the moment they were obliterated by Barcelona in 2009 – some would, rightly, argue that we should have brought players in after Roy Keane’s acrimonious departure in 2005 – but Fergie’s brilliance and the quality of the rest of the squad masqueraded United’s limits in the middle of the park. To satisfy the Glazers’ greed – for those looking for a culprit for our current predicament, here’s a clue: they speak with an American accent and have been at Old Trafford since 2005 – United opted to paper over the cracks rather than address their obvious deficiencies, to the point where now the squad that once would have benefited from some minor tweaking requires a major overhaul. Having bottled the summer transfer window in tragic fashion, United now find themselves looking at the January transfer window like a castaway looking for something to cling on in the hope it will steer him to safety but, rather predictably, we are already being treated to the familiar excuses regarding how difficult it is to sign players in January and how expensive they can be. Well, who would have thought? Manchester United don’t get players served on a plate to them and, to add to insult, other clubs dare to demand financial retribution. The situation is quite simple. Either United have money available – a lie the Glazers have successfully perpetrated for years – and should therefore spend it, or it’s time to accept that the bar has been lowered and we can forget about finishing in the top four, let alone winning trophies. The arrogance that still leads the board and some of the fans to think that players and managers would jump at the prospect of playing for United is nothing short of staggering either. For the majority of European and South American players, United are simply one of the big Premier League clubs, one that seems in decline and, crucially, one incapable to compete financially with the likes of Manchester City and Chelsea, not to mention with other European heavyweights. That certainly isn’t Moyes’ fault, and while Jose Mourinho or Jurgen Klopp could have done better than him, neither would have turned Tom Cleverley into a commanding midfielder or Ashley Young into a winger regularly capable of beating his man and deliver a cross. A squad in desperate need to reinforcements, a GM incapable of securing the required players and owners who couldn’t care less about their club and the fans. If anything, this season is finally lifting the curtain on all that’s rotten at United. 20 times, 20 times Man United. At this rate we could be singing that for a long, long while. |
Having watched any realistic chance of overseeing a defence of his new charges' Premier League crown evaporate following New Year's Day’s home defeat to Tottenham Hotspur, David Moyes must ensure his team achieve the more modest objective of attaining a place in the top four.
Right-back: Fabio da Silva
Centre-back: Jonny Evans
Right Attacking Midfield Shinji Kagawa
Striker: Danny Welbeck
After an awful start to the season, Man United added more misery to their 2013/14 campaign this week with two mores losses, this time to Spurs and Swansea City in the Premier League and FA Cup respectively – BOTH at Old Trafford. 
Man United made approaches to Fabio Coentrao and Leighton Baines in the Summer, which were both turned down respectively. Now at 32, Evra is not the player he once was, and his fitness and stamina is becoming an issue. If United attack, he will always provide an overlap option for the left winger, however when we lose the ball, he’s the last one back to stop the counter attack, due to a lack of pace and energy. An example of this was against Spurs, where both their goals were on the break, with crosses coming from the hole Evra had left. I’m not saying he shouldn’t have the freedom to help the attack and provide crosses for the forwards, but if he does not have the legs on him to get back, then he should not go forward in the first place. As a defender, your job is to defend, and attacking is just a bonus. 
Luke Shaw, 18, is also another possible target for Moyes, who I believe is the best young left back around. He is a great attacker, as well as a great defender, and is showing real potential. Shaw has cemented his place in the Southampton starting eleven and since the start of last season, he has been one of the top performers at the club. Shaw has represented England U16′s, U17′s and U21′s as well, picking up some brilliant international experience. Chelsea have also been linked with the player, and Southampton have a 25m price tag on the young full back. Although this may seem a crazy amount for such a young defender, he will soon become the best left back in the league and England’s No.3. With approximately 15 more seasons ahead of him, he still has time to improve, and he will be around for a very long time, at the highest level.
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