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Picture this: Tottenham and manager Andre Villas-Boas, coming off a 6-0 battering at the hands of Man City, have Man United next up at home.
AVB and Co., still licking their wounds, find a Manchester United team sheet that consists of Danny Welbeck, Tom Cleverley and Antonio Valencia partnering Wayne Rooney and Shinji Kagawa in attack.
Throw in a defence that leaks more than Julian Assange, and all of a sudden you have a team that can believe that can be up against the reigning Premier League Champions and think “this doesn’t look a daunting task.”
Quite frankly it isn’t, and it wasn’t. They drew 2-2.
We all know that David Moyes’ Manchester United are struggling.
Loses to the hands of Manchester City and Liverpool are not rare in United’s dominant history. Losses to West Brom and Everton at home, as well as conceding late equalisers to Southampton and Cardiff, are not.
This season United simply doesn’t have that aura of days past. The signs were there in 2012-13, a season where the team were willed into winning the league.
In essence it is the same squad, with the exception of Marouane Fellaini, who it can be argued hasn’t added anything to the side to date.
The ability of Sir Alex Ferguson to get his teams over the line, whether that be “Fergie Time” or grinding out results over the Christmas / New Year period cannot be understated.
Ferguson made great Manchester United teams, and teams that were not great, he made winners. Last season’s squad being a perfect case in point.
Nothing against David Moyes, as he has inherited a side that really should not have been good enough to win the league.
You can see that teams now genuinely see a great chance of taking on United, rather than playing defensively and trying to hold on.
Manchester City, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool (with a firing Suarez) look infinitely more frightening than United.
With the exception of Robin van Persie and Wayne Rooney, the team is simply made up of good rather than great game-changing, game-winning players.
The midfield is a perfect case in point. It lacks any firepower and any world-class talent. There is no regular goal scorers, nor goal threats coming from the middle of the park.
Cleverly, Fellaini, Valencia, Anderson and Ashley Young are simply not good enough to play for Manchester United.
Kagawa, Phil Jones and Nani have the talent, but are yet to live up to their potential. In Nani’s case, some say he will never will.
Kagawa is simply not being played in his chosen position in the hole, which will not happen as long as RVP and Rooney are both fit at the same time.
With Jones, where he will be playing long term is not yet set, and because of this it’s difficult for him to play at the high level everybody knows he is capable of.
Ryan Giggs is a legend on old legs, and Adnan Januzaj is too young to gauge, regardless of how much promise he has shown in his rare appearances.
Michael Carrick is hardly going to be a great. Although he is miles ahead of anyone else in the midfield at Old Trafford over the last season as well as the start of this campaign.
That list of midfielders is hardly going to scare opponents, especially when compared to the likes just some of the below:
Man City – Yaya Toure, Samir Nasri, and David Silva.
Chelsea – Oscar, Juan Mata, Eden Hazard, and even Frank Lampard.
Arsenal – Mesut Ozil, Santi Carzola, Jack Wilshere.. Aaron Ramsey.. yes, Ramsey!
The United midfield cannot simply be compared to any of the above.
The goal threat and scoring provided Rooney and Van Persie are world class. However, even the best strikers will need regular service to score consistently.
Javier Hernandez is a quality finisher, yet will never start in front of RVP nor Rooney.
Danny Welbeck is the most overrated footballer in England. Wilfried Zaha was signed by United, yet am unsure if he is even still at the club. Talented for sure, but it seems Moyes doesn’t have any faith in him.
At the back of the park, David de Gea has an abundance of potential for a young keeper and is making good progress.
In front of him is a lottery. The defence shows no genuine authority, and teams are looking to attack them.
Rio Ferdinand’s legs are gone. Nemanja Vidic will still fight to the death, but he seems to be making more and more ill-timed challenges.
Jonny Evans does a job, but he still doesn’t evoke authority. Chris Smalling seems to be forever filling gaps on the team sheet where required (John O’Shea anyone?).
Rafael still to fulfill his potential, yet he is also still young. Patrice Evra — written off by many — is still performing, though the writing is on the wall due to his age.
There are not many teams that play one up front against United any more, and with the defense of today, why would they?
Personally, I do not think David Moyes should be blamed for current inadequacies. All new managers need time to settle.
Replacing Ferguson is a monumental task, yet he has to build a new United team and make it his own.
Unfortunately, United fans and the team’s expectations will not allow an extended period rebuilding, nor will they allow their team to fail to compete with the likes of their noisy neighbours, Chelsea, Arsenal et al.
Fans will also not put up with United going into games against any team where their side looks vulnerable before a ball is even kicked.
A final concern for the United faithful is the question whether or not possible transfer targets want to play for the modern Manchester United, now that Sir Alex Ferguson has retired.
The last transfer window may suggest so, yet the January window will show if there is in fact an issue.
Time will tell.
As of today, the side isn’t performing, and outside of the Leverkusen Champions League win things don’t look good for their future.
Now, there’s every chance Manchester United will have two home losses in the League by the end of the first week of December (with a loss against Newcastle this weekend), and they will arguably out of contention for the league as a result.
Simply not good enough.
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