Sunderland 1 - 2 United

Late post, I know, but I was quite busy yesterday evening and today. Sorry, I forgot what was the starting line up and I cannot be arsed to find it online.

So, what about the game? Again we were poor. Our midfield is a shambles. It is crying for a decent midfielder who could dictate a game. Dictating is an alien word for Cleverley. His talent is limited and he cannot really proceed matters at the centre of the park. We were playing the team anchored at the bottom of the PL table and we still managed to struggle. Ok, this same team have beaten Man City a couple of months ago but that's not the point. Our players have to go out on the pitch and believe they are better than the opposition. Currently, no member of our squad believes they can win the game and that's exactly what's the problem. Confidence. Or lack of it to be precise. 

The current bunch of players are obviously more than capable of beating sides like Sunderland. Are they confident enough to do so? No. Are they motivated enough to do so? No. Motivation should be the first stepping stone towards building some sort of confidence that could help us see off teams. Unfortunately, the look of Moyes during the game suggested that he has also lost the confidence he was brimming with at the start of the season. A manager who starts doubting his own abilities would probably reflect in his team. 

As fans, we cannot really do anything except for supporting our boys. Our players' morale will hit rock bottom once the fans don't believe in them anymore. The constant moans and groans at Old Trafford aren't helping the team. The dire atmosphere inside the stadium certainly doesn't help either. What we really need is 70K people like those who go to the away games. The away support yesterday was top notch, once again. The red army was promising that it'll keep supporting Moyes and that's exactly what I'll do. 

Let Moyes build a team he can trust before judging his abilities.

As I said on Twitter, we will be back. It will be sooner than our opponents think. They should enjoy this period but Manchester United is too big a club to fail. We'll experience more lows, no doubt about that but that's only part and parcel of a transitional period. Even Ferguson experienced a couple of trophyless seasons before he assembled a team led by Ronaldo, Rio, Vida and Rooney. 

We need to buy a player or two during this window though. That's the only way we can get into the top 4 because some of our players are either over the hill or simply not interested anymore. 

This was just the first leg of a two legged semi final. We'll have to do better if we are to reach the final of this cup and get a shot at beating City (probably) at Wembley. This cup is a perfect opportunity for our players to get that dreaded confidence which is visibly lacking. So come on United, I know you can do much better!