Club Focus: Manchester United, ‘An Analysis On The New Signings’

Since the premier league kicked off in 1992, Manchester United have been recognized as the most successful club in England. The Red Devils have won 20 league titles, more than any other team in Britain. Sir Alex Ferguson takes the credits for Manchester United undergoing such an applaudable transformation in early 1990s.

Ferguson resigned his job in the last summer in order to take care of his lonely wife, paving the way for former Everton manager, David Moyes to take the hot seat at Old Trafford. This decision by the management seemed to be strange as Moyes had never won a trophy with his previous teams while the honour of the longest serving manager in the premier league might have played the role in this move.

United’s pre-season tour was highly unsuccessful. But Moyes made a sound start to his Manchester United’s comprehensive career by winning the FA Community Shield against Wigan. The Scott made the United debut with a commendable 4-2 victory at Swansea in the opening day of the premier league season, but the draw to Chelsea and lose to Liverpool in the successive games shrinked off the momentum. United are currently positioned at the 7^th place in the table, behind Everton and Tottenham Hotspurs.

Transfers:

Moyes, since taking the head coach duty at Manchester United, has involved in two big transfers so far- Fellaini was signed from Everton for £27.5 million in the summer and Mata from Chelsea for £37.1 million in the winter. But were these signings really needed? Or, was Money just spent for the sake of it?

Fellaini was provided the attacking role in Everton. But, as Rooney remains the centre of attraction for no. 10 position, it was very clear that Fellaini wouldn’t be guaranteed the same playing spot. As expected, Fellaini has been operated in the very deeper role and his liberty to be involved in the attack is limited. So, as the Belgian was forced to play away from his preferred role, he has turned out to be a flop in United.

Under Moyes, the chances provided to Shinji Kagawa have been limited. Although Kagawa hasn’t got that exquisite pace with him, he is a kind of player who thrives well when surrounded by pacey players, which at United, looks a far cry as of now. United do not rely on fast counter attacks or the need to play through the opposition defence alike Dortmund. They have a rather old school method of depending on their wingers to whip in crosses more than anything – a style play that Kagawa is never used to.

The case of Mata doesn’t seem to be different, despite the Spaniard already leading the Manchester United’s assist chart for the current season, the two-time successive Chelsea’s player of the year, was thrown out of favour at Stamford Bridge by Mourinho for the reason of lacking pace and the need to track back. If Kagawa has been thrown out of favour for lacking pace, paying hefty sum for a player who falls under the same category was utter piece of foolism.

The decisions to offer a 5-year contract extension to out of favourite Luis Nani and to loan out Zaha will have to go through the similar critics as of the above. Manchester United, have never finished below third in the premier league, but this season will turn out to be the exception.

Moyes should take the blame.