Home » Teams » Manchester United » What Is Going Wrong At Manchester United? – Mid Season Review

What Is Going Wrong At Manchester United? – Mid Season Review

As everybody knows, Manchester United’s domestic season is not going to plan. Struggling in the league, disastrous home form, and knocked out of the FA cup with yet another weak home performance, this time against Sawnsea, epitomised by Fabio’s cameo ending in a red card. Heading into a crucial time of year, lost to Sunderland in the first leg of the League cup, vital Premier League games and the knockout rounds of the Champions League approaching, January is seen by many as make or break for David Moyes’ season at Manchester United. So here I will take a look at what is going wrong at Old Trafford, and what can and should be done to turn it around.

What is going wrong?

1. Injuries to key players.

Rooney to leave United?

When Robin Van Persie, Wayne Rooney, Nemanja Vidic and Michael Carrick have been on the pitch together this season, United have looked like champions. Carrick protects the back four, which is organised and led by a dominant Vidic, and looks after the ball, Rooney and Van Persie tear the opposition to pieces, and at times, it feels like we are back to the good old days of Fergie. The problem for Manchester United fans this season, and for Moyes, has been that the four of them havn’t been together enough. Vidic and RVP have been the worst affected, with both having multiple injuries this year and being regulars on the treatment table rather than the pitch, and Michael Carrick is only just returning from a 6 week lay-off at the worst possible time, over the congested Christmas period.

Michael Carrick may well be the most underrated and undervalued player in English football. The Englishman acts as a screen in front of the back four, making vital interceptions and blocks, and denying the creative no 10s the space they need to flourish. Never was this particular aspect of his play so noticeable as when he was missing against Southampton, and Saints captain Adam Lallana took up that position time after time with acres of space. Then, once United have the ball, Carrick is central to everything that the team does. In my opinion, he is the best natural passer of the ball that we have had in the country since Paul Scholes, and his absence from the National team is just as infuriating as Scholes’ was.

Carrick has the ability to keep the ball incredibly well, very rarely giving it away, and yet at the same time he can also take the ball from a centre back, turn, and fire a 60 yard pinpoint pass to one of the wide men, immediately putting the team on the front foot. To have the leader of the midfield, and undoubtedly one of the few world class players at the club missing for such a period of time, and missing so many games, was catastrophic in a United midfield which looks thin at the best of times.

RVP was the main man in Fergie’s storm to the title last year and was critical in the club gaining their 20th League crown. Without his goals and his impact, it is well recognised that the title would almost certainly have not gone to the red devils. This season however, his form has not looked the same as it was in 2012/13, and injuries have kept him out for large portions of the season so far. This has left United’s attack over-reliant on Rooney, with Welbeck not looking the finished article just yet, and Hernandez struggling for any sort of form or confidence. Just as it looked as though RVP was getting back to fitness, Rooney was unavailable, causing Moyes to bring back a clearly not match fit Van Persie and shockingly he ends up not performing and getting injured again. Such is the importance of the man to the Champions, that Moyes felt forced into the rushed return of his star striker, which has in turn only led to more problems.

There is nothing I can say about Vidic that hasn’t been said. United look a completely different team with the Club Captain on the pitch, and he inspires confidence and performances from the rest of the team in a similar way to Kompany at City, and his injury woes this season have gone a long way towards contributing to the clubs issues.

It is a factor that hasn’t been talked about this year, with people commenting more on Moyes, but I don’t think you can underestimate the effect that these injuries have had on the squad and the results. Imagine City without Kompany, Yaya Toure and Aguero for long periods. When you add to these injuries the fact that Rafael, Jones, Evans, Ferdinand, Fellaini, Rooney, Valencia, Nani, and Kagawa have all had injuries this season as well, you can see that Moyes has had a lot to deal with in his first season in charge of the Manchester Club. A lot of talent has missed a lot of games, something which didn’t happen as much last season.