Following the midweek victory against Cambridge United in the FA Cup, Manchester United faces a potentially tricky away game to West Ham United in the Premier League. I have earmarked five things to look out for in the game.
Our prayers for Louis van Gaal to play four at the back have been answered (for now), but will we see a more expansive and fluid midfield and attack?
Having returned to playing with a back four for the games against Leicester City and Cambridge United, the players looked much more comfortable with the system they were instructed to play. However, especially against Cambridge United, for large parts of the game there was no cohesion, no fluidity and no obvious structure to the midfield and attack irrespective of whether we won and scored three goals in each game respectively.
This is down to van Gaal frustratingly persisting with playing players in the wrong position. Wayne Rooney is playing in midfield because of his industry and his ability to ‘pick out a pass like Paul Scholes’ but Wayne Rooney is not the man to replace Scholes as he does not have the positional sense in midfield that was arguably Scholes’ greatest attribute, and in my opinion, the attribute which differentiates excellent players from the world’s best as Scholes once was in his position.
Having touched on it in a previous article, Di Maria must return to midfield in order to get the best out of him. He is looking out of sorts as a striker or even as a number ten and must return to midfield to see the player that was tormenting teams at the early stage of the season.
In hindsight, I can see why van Gaal isn’t playing a more expansive brand of football as he does not want to take any risks in his quest to secure a Champions League spot at the end of the season. Looking back at earlier stages of the season, whilst we were playing a more expansive style of football, the team looked very fragile at the back and dropping points against teams in games we would have punished in previous seasons.
Perhaps he does not believe he has the right balance and even quality in his squad to play a more attacking style and will continue to grind out victories which I think, however annoying it is to watch, is fair. We must remember that Louis van Gaals priority is first and foremost to secure a top four finish and this is paramount for footballing and business purposes.
Despite their injuries, West Ham United can cause Man United problems.
It has been well documented that West Ham have been decimated by injuries for the upcoming game vs Man United on Sunday but the Boleyn Ground (Upton Park) is a tough place for a visiting team. Sam Allardyce still has the likes of Alex Song, Mark Nobel and Stuart Downing to select in his starting line-up and the battle between Alex Song and Daley Blind will be particularly interesting. It would not surprise me if we see Louis van Gaal deploy Marouane Fellaini alongside Daley Blind to combat the physicality of Alex Song and Kevin Nolan, especially as Blind has not looked very comfortable when opponents press him.
With Andy Carroll ruled out through injury, Sam Allardyce may elect to play Diafra Sakho and Enner Valencia in attack and for large parts of the season, they formed a dangerous partnership with their pace, power and guile. If they are presented with the opportunity, they can exploit the weaknesses we have defensively in our side.
Defensively, West Ham United are having a nightmare with injuries to James Collins, Winston Reid and Guy Demel and on the back of their defeat to Liverpool at Anfield in their last Premier League game, Allardyce will do everything to ensure that his West Ham side are not left exposed at the back.
Sam Allardyce said, “Our aim is to limit that (United’s goal scoring ability) as much as possible. We need to be tactically astute and try to cause them a few problems.”
It’s time we accept that Ander Herrera probably won’t feature much at this stage of the season…
Despite Herrera being our most effective midfielder, he is still being left out of the starting eleven by Louis van Gaal. Irrespective of Herrera being a mobile, deceptively strong midfielder who possesses a great attacking threat, van Gaal will not play him. It has now become clear however that van Gaal does not view Herrera as a centre midfielder, but as a number 10 and must compete with Juan Mata and Wayne Rooney.
Speaking at his press conference on Friday afternoon, van Gaal set the record straight to the media and fans alike regarding Ander Herrera’s place in the team. He said: “I have to compare him with people like Wayne Rooney and Juan Mata for example so that is difficult. They have a high level, so he has to improve.”
Louis van Gaal does not favour players in the mould of Ander Herrera playing deeper in midfield and this perhaps goes a long way in answering as to why he turned down the opportunity to bid for Cesc Fabregas and Tony Kroos who of course moved to Chelsea and Real Madrid. Fabregas and Kroos are arguably two of the finest ball playing midfielders in the game and whilst Kroos is having a fine season in Madrid as is Fabregas in London, had either come to Old Trafford in the summer, we would still be seeing an unbalanced midfield simply because of the way van Gaal sets out his teams.
Robin van Persie’s goal record against West Ham United
Robin van Persie has not performed at the standard expected of him this season, especially after the expectation in the summer that Louis van Gaal will be able to get the best out of van Persie because of the close relationship they share with each other. Despite his inconsistent form this season, van Persie has scored important goals this season, but in past few games, we have seen an improvement in all round performances from van Persie.
He scored against Leicester City with a fantastic finish which had all the hallmarks of van Persie at his best, and whilst he did not score against Cambridge United, he performed very well. Against West Ham United though, Robin van Persie has a terrific goal scoring record. He has scored in his last five performances against The Hammers and with the problems West Ham United face in defence with injuries, you can expect van Persie to find himself on the score sheet on Sunday afternoon.
What a difference a year can make…
This time last year, Manchester United was languishing in seventh position, out of the FA Cup and squad morale at an all-time low. We were suffering an identity crisis. This was a team only a season before who had won the Premier League and were playing like chumps. However, despite the deficiencies we still have in our squad and style of play, as a whole I am confident that van Gaal is on his way to building a team that will compete for the Premier League and Champions League honours next season.
This season there looks to be a real togetherness in the team and it is showing in our standings; we are currently third in the league and having progressed into the next round of the FA Cup, we are now favourites to go all the way in the competition. Louis van Gaal would be delighted to win the FA Cup and secure a Champions League position at the end of the season as it would provide him with the platform to recruit new players and give the current squad players the winning feeling again that they are so used to experiencing.
A victory against West Ham United on Sunday is important in our quest to secure a Champions League finish, and with our upcoming fixtures against Burnley, Swansea, Sunderland and Newcastle United there is a chance that van Gaal can lead the team on a winning streak before we face tricky games against Tottenham and Liverpool.
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