Pace, Pace, Pace:
There is a serious lack of pace still in the team as evidenced in today’s match. Too many players cut back inside, instead of taking a player on. On numerous occasions, United players received the ball in wide positions and did not even attempt to take their man on. Long gone are the days of Giggs and Ronaldo when it was not only commonplace but also demanded. United has a rich history of playing with exciting wide players – the list was endless – but the list ended in 2009 with the departure of Ronaldo. Di Maria needs to step up or being subbed at half time will become a regular feature of his Old Trafford career. Januzaj more than impressed when he came on.
Skill, Skill, Skill:
Skill is a very illusive quality in this United side. Who is out most skillful player? Di Maria? What ‘skill’ does he possess? Close control, yes, but his final ball has been dreadful. Rooney is a workhouse, Falcao is not the Falcao of old and Valencia…he has even lost the feint and run that was so useful in the 2009-2010 season. Although Falcao did well in creating the penalty, he was next to invisible during the rest of the match and was rightly subbed. The player he was subbed for is the embodiment of United under Van Gaal – sorely lacking in ability and skill, but making up for it in effort.
Attack, Attack, Attack:
The lack of a final ball, the lack of movement up front, the lack of skill, patience and tactical nous all meant we were going to struggle today. Football at its core is a very basic game, you need certain attributes to become successful, as listed above, and United are sorely lacking in them all. Clearly something is wrong at United as we never used to struggle at home, something has changed – Fergie left, yes, but so too did our belief and fluidity.
Louis, Van, Gaal:
We won today but so many questions remain unanswered. Is he the man to fix the above? Can anyone address the problems listed above? It is going to take time, patience and hell of a lot of faith. On today’s performance, up until the sending off, the fans may be running out of them all. He has had some successes, Ashley Young being chief among them, but it is hard to find many more. You have to conclude that time is running out for Falcao after another inept performance.
The next run of fixtures in the next 2 months are the most important in the clubs recent history.
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