Manchester United End of Season Review - What does the future hold?
It is finally over. Season 2013/14 will certainly
be one to forget. We never got going and, in fact, I don't think I can recall three PL
wins on the trot. The very few good games we had were followed by one or two
disastrous ones. It was a start-stop season. We were out of the title race by December, got eliminated by Sunderland in the league cup semi-final (perhaps our only realistic chance of silverware this season), were defeated by Swansea, at OT, in the third round of the FA Cup and got eliminated by Bayern Munich, who were later trounced by Real Madrid, in the Quarter Finals of the Champions League. If there's something positive to take out of this season, it was Januzaj's emergence and David De Gea's brilliance in goal. Also, Mata's arrival could be very important in the future. We finished seventh in the Premier League but the season could have been much worse had Liverpool not slipped (excuse the pun) against Chelsea and handed City the title. The fact that we're relieved and happy that Liverpool finished second to City shows how dismal our season has been.
It was also a season which taught us that Manchester United is not infallible. After years of constant success, we had to bear the image of our players going down to mediocre teams and getting whipped by the big guns. That was tough to take and, in fact, most supporters crumbled under the pressure and started doing things that, I used to think, were only done by Chelsea, City and Arsenal supporters. I've heard some fans boo our own players and that MOYES-OUT plane message was totally embarrassing. However, our away fans were absolutely brilliant. You just have to look at the final game of the season vs Southampton to see the brilliance of our Red Army. They were all behind our players, even if they didn't like some of them, and gave them the necessary boost our players needed during such tough times throughout the season. No wonder our away form has been so good this year.
MOYES
Only a handful of things went
right and a lot of parties at the club should shoulder some of the blame. Ultimately, most
of the blame had to be assumed by David Moyes and, as a result, he lost his job.
Although I was totally against the way David was sacked, sometimes I did think
that our club under his stewardship was going nowhere. There were so many signs
on the pitch that things weren't working out. I did hope, however, that Moyes
would turn things round in the upcoming season but deep down I’m not sure
whether I believed that would happen. There’s a big difference between hope and belief. At
the end of the day things were getting ridiculous. Moyes had become a figure of
ridicule and that sparked a high degree of pity from my end towards him.
Perhaps that pity made me really really wish he could turn thing round and win some trophies
in the future and then shove them up his critics’ arse. Sometimes he looked
lost and his post match interviews sparked rage amongst the legions of United
fans. To have the cheek to say that United played well right after some
horrible performances was something that bemused me.
THE DEFENCE
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| Some Years Ago These Three Were in Their Prime. Age Has Caught Up With Them |
However, as those who’ve read my post re. the
Moyes sacking might well know, I think David was put in a very difficult
position. He had to manage a team consisting of a bunch of over-the-hill
players and a few youngsters who lacked motivation. Although absolutely
brilliant in their prime, Rio and Vida aren’t anywhere near their former
selves. Evra’s love towards the club is a joy to see but he didn’t have five
decent defensive performances all year long. Add that to the occasional
clumsiness of Jones and Rafael and the lack of consistency from Smalling and
you’ll have SEVEN out of eight regular first team defenders not performing to
the level required in the Premier League. Evans is perhaps the only defender
who maintained some consistency in the games he’s played.
THE MIDFIELD
Moyes also had to field a team with no real
midfield enforcer. Why Anderson is still on United’s book is a huge mystery, a
mystery not even the Scotland Yard would come close to solve. Cleverley’s fall,
after a pretty impressive first season, is puzzling. Fletcher will never be the
battling Fletcher we had before his sickness, as harsh as it may sound. To make
matters worse, Carrick was unusually poor this season which is why he’s not
going with the England team to Brazil which, in turn, is very very very good
news for Manchester United fans! Anyway, that’s four underperforming
midfielders in our squad this year. How on earth can you challenge City’s
central midfield with that quartet? (EDIT. Can you believe I forgot Fellaini?!
That pretty much sums up his contribution this year. He was ineffective. I
still believe he’ll come good someday. Let’s hope he has a good World Cup so
maybe he could get a much needed confidence booster. At the time of his
arrival, I thought we made a really good buy. We needed someone strong in
midfield and I thought Fellaini would, partially, solve our midfield problems.
Well, it hasn’t worked out.....yet.) (Another edit: I also forgot to mention Kagawa! Don't really know what to say about him. I know he's quality but he doesn't seem to fit in our system)
The wings weren’t that bad. Januzaj had an
excellent season. At 18 years of age, the guy is likely to improve and reach
new heights next season, so that’s something to look forward to. Valencia had a
decent season but sometimes I think he could be more effective if played at
right back with license to bomb forward.
His speed and physical power make him ideal for that position although, if I’m
honest, his defending leaves a lot to be desired. Giggs played a handful of
games this season but he hasn’t been as effective as he would’ve liked while
Young had a couple of decent games but he’s not United quality. Nani was always
injured.
THE STRIKEFORCE
Nothing Wrong with our Strikers
At the front we had toooo many injuries. If it
wasn’t Rooney on the treatment table, it was RVP. They still managed a total of
37 goals this year but that tally would have been much bigger had they stayed
injury-free all season. Welbeck scored 10 goals and Chicharito managed one
less, which is quite a good number given that the latter didn’t play a lot this
season. I wouldn’t mind if our strikers next season are the ones we had this
year. I rate them highly.
So that’s the team Moyes had to work with. I
think even the highly rated Mourinho would have struggled with this team. Giggs
took over but all the team weaknesses that resonated throughout the year were
still evident. Our team is well below the standard to compete in the PL and, as
hard as it will be, we should wave goodbye to a few of these underperformers.
The likes of Vidic(confirmed), Rio(confirmed), Evra, Nani, Giggs, Cleverley,
Fletcher, Anderson and Young have to go. It’s as simple as that.
SUMMER TRANSFER WINDOW
We’ll probably have a very busy summer coming up.
Rumours have already started circulating that we’ve made a bid for Luke Shaw.
The guy’s absolutely brilliant and he’s English. Call me old fashioned but I
love our team to have some English blood. I think English players appreciate
more than their foreign counterparts the massiveness of this football club. If
we get Shaw, we’d have our left back position sorted for a good number of
years. I just hope Woodward doesn’t fuck it up this time. Let’s hope our directors
won’t keep back from throwing 30 odd million at this great talent because I
truly believe that, in the long run, every penny spent will be worth it, such
is the guy’s potential. A host of other players are also being linked with us
but the Shaw bid was confirmed by Sky Sports and BBC so there’s probably some
truth in the rumours. We’ll need to buy, at least, 6 excellent players before
the start of next season; a left back, two central defenders, two central midfielders
and a winger. Mata will have a summer to get used to his team-mates and I think
he’ll have a great season next year.
RESERVES AND LOANEES
I’d like to see some real effort and improvement
from Zaha. Moyes didn’t look particularly interested in this winger and, at
Cardiff, Solskjaer didn’t really play him as much as Zaha would’ve liked so
there’s definitely something wrong. Last year he was absolutely excellent for
Palace so I hope he rediscovers that form and offers us some exciting times on
the right flank. A player who has impressed on his loan is Nick Powell. I’d
love to see him stay at OT next season and get a few games. There we’ve got two
players with bags of potential. As for the reserves that could make it to the
first team next year, there seems to be some interesting talents. Lawrence and
Wilson have already had a pop at first team football and did very well.
However, they’ll probably be loaned out next year. Perreira is also an exciting
prospect. Vermijl and Varela can both be adequate covers at right back. The
former has had a very good season in Holland while I’ve heard some good things
about Varela. Much has been made of Will Keane in the past but I don’t think he’ll
make it at United. On the other hand, I think Michael Keane has a very good
chance of progressing to the first team, especially if we fail to get another
central defender. Lingard scored 9 goals in the Championship but, despite his
excellent form in pre-season, I don’t really rate him highly. Macheda (yes, he’s
still on our books) had a decent loan spell with Birmingham City. 10 goals in
10 starts is quite good. Not United quality though.
NEW MANAGER
RIO FERDINAND & NEMANJA VIDIC
So that's it for this year. I'll update this blog as soon as there's some transfer activity at Old Trafford.
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