Transitional Problems

So it has been a bit more than two months into the current Premiership season, teams have had time to get over season opening issues, they had some time to gel, and get their games plans going, and for teams whose strategies have come unstuck they are now trying new things (or have fired their managers, which I guess amounts to the same thing). 

So it feel weird for me that I feel as though, Manchester United seem to kind of be in the none of the above territory. The Red Devils started strongly enough with (admittedly unconvincing) wins against Spurs and Villa, and staying unheated till they lost to Swansea at the Liberty Stadium, a team which throughout the years seem to always give us trouble. They followed on with 4 wins in 5 games (and 3 goals in each of those wins); at which point it looked like a very promising season. Despite a horror performance against Arsenal at the Emirates, and an attack line that still looked not quite up to the mark, they were still scoring goals and the defence (Arsenal aside) and midfield looked absolutely solid. Young Anthony Martial looked unstoppable and one would almost think this was the season where the Reds might challenge for the title again. 

Cruel Hope for United Fans.

Since then other teams look like they have figured out what we are trying to do in the final third of the field and despite coming away with heaps of possession the team are struggling to score goals. Sure they just got two against West Brom, but it was hardly convincing. So strangely enough the team look like, from an attacking point of view at least, that they haven’t quite got to first gear (Martial aside) since the preseason. Despite this Louis Van Gaal does not seem to think they need to look for a plan B. A coach like Van Gaal did not get to where he is by panicking and making quick changes. While he has started to play Martial right upfront where he should have been all along, and swapped around people here and there in the final third to find that goal he has not changed the overall blue print. The men in red have executed 85% of the plan, and Van Gaal is convinced they will find the final 15%. He feels when they get to that final 15%, even maybe 10% they will be nearly unstoppable, and while are getting to that stage, the team will be very hard to beat. The frustrating thing about this for fans like me is that while Van Gaal may be proven right eventually, the team now as they are, are nearly unwatchable, he has been far too generous to Wayne  Rooney, who looks desperately out of form, and he still plays players in positions which are not their strongest (case and point Mata on the right wing).

Remember I taught Jose everything he knows. 

I think to be fair there is much Van Gaal has done right. He has fixed the defense which basically needed to be rebuilt from scratch, and despite injuries to key players has still been performing well. Having Bastian Schweinsteiger or Michael Carrick combining with Morgan Schniderlin has given the team it strongest central core in maybe half a decade. These were long term problems with the United team going back to the Ferguson era. To top this off, he has also consistently picked young players such as Martial, Lindegard, and McNair and so he is also laying the foundation for the next manager (probably Ryan Giggs) to build on his good work. This is very similar to his time at Bayern.   I personally feel if Van Gaal were to drop Rooney all together and play Mata (who is in great touch) or Herrera behind Martial, we would definitely see some more goals, and more all round attacking threat. Mata’s wide right attacking position should be taken up by Ashley Young, who I feel is wasted at right back, and the left side could have either Memphis or Lindgaard.
The thing is though there is something in Rooney that I can’t see but Van Gaal does. And he believes Rooney will come good. I think playing behind the front man he is more likely to come good than as an out and out striker. Throughout the years Rooney has had struggles and always proven the doubters wrong. I would love to be proven wrong in this instance and for a player who has given so much to the club through the year, I would be absolutely delighted for him, if he could break Sir Bobby Charlton’s scoring record at United. (Hopefully this season)

The
Future

Looking ahead into the silly season, United have some very winnable games against Watford, Leicester, West Ham, Bournemouth, Norwich and Stoke, before meeting up against Chelsea and Swansea. 

While there are no easy games against mid table sides (as Chelsea have learnt to their peril) I think the fans would be very disappointed if we were not able to get at least 14 points out of 18 in that period. This would give them the right amount of moral to take on Chelsea and start the new year with a bang. 

On the other hand, if we do not manage to cash in on these fixtures, our transitional problems may well end up making us spend another year in transition, away from the Premiership trophy.