No defiance and no plan. After defeat to Liverpool, what next for David Moyes at Manchester United?
Manchester United's 3-0 defeat at home to Liverpool represented a new low in a season full of them for David Moyes and his side. Adam Bate picks through the wreckage of the latest hammer blow and sees little cause for optimism while the Scot is at the helm.
Thursday 27 March 2014 16:41, UK
“Twenty times, twenty times Man United.” The Stretford End barely missed a beat even as Luis Suarez’s shot hit the net to put Liverpool three goals up and complete the humiliation.
There was an admirable spirit of defiance among much of the Old Trafford crowd. Tragically for them, it was not matched by the players in red on the pitch. What next for David Moyes?
He had attempted to paint a picture of optimism in his programme notes. “From what I see every day, positivity is growing,” said Moyes of the mood at Carrington. “What goes on there is completely different to what people perceive the situation to be at Manchester United. Behind the scenes there is a really upbeat mood about the place and there has been for a while.”
This belief might well have been inspired by the team he was able to field on Sunday. With no injury worries of note, this was presumably the line-up that Moyes feels is his strongest, set up in the formation he envisages as the club’s future: Wayne Rooney and Robin van Persie in attack with support from bright young hope Adnan Januzaj and his £65million men Marouane Fellaini and Juan Mata.
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On paper it is formidable. On the pitch it was a shambles. Two penalties may have separated the sides on the scoresheet prior to Nemanja Vidic’s sending off, but the gulf between United and Liverpool was vast. Put simply, 3-0 flattered the home side. As so often under Moyes, this United team was insipid throughout and utterly devoid of creativity.
Given that a manager’s job is surely to make a team better than the sum of their parts, the lack of synergy suggests Moyes is failing miserably. Can there be any sense in entrusting further funds to the Scotsman when there are no discernible signs that he’s aware of how to successfully utilise the players he possesses? More pertinently, the players he has bought.
No grand plan
Juan Mata was supposed to provide the spark. But despite the fanfare that greeted his arrival, it seems there is no grand plan regarding how to accommodate the former Chelsea hero. Shoved out on the right flank, Mata evidently has licence to roam inside but finding team-mates to interact with is proving rather tricky. His star signing failing to impact the game, the only solution offered by Moyes was to briefly switch Mata to the left.
The Spaniard is at his best with players around him – in those circumstances his lack of pace is no hindrance as clever one-twos can engineer space and carve open defences. One moment of interplay with Rooney aside, Mata too often saw team-mates running away from him when he found those little pockets of space. There was nobody in a United shirt for him to play with.
Van Persie, meanwhile, continues to exist on the fringes of the game. This was the man who was largely seen as having delivered United the title last season. Now it feels a distant memory. On Sunday, he had just 27 touches, the fewest of any starter on either side - including both goalkeepers. Urged to stay high up the pitch by his manager, the game simply passed him by. It all adds to the sense that the team’s problems are – bafflingly – emerging by design. Stylistically, this is how Moyes wants United to play.
And robbed of confidence, it all looks alarmingly one-dimensional. The signs were there right from the outset. The casual Fellaini dispossessed. Vidic and Phil Jones both responsible for poor clearances. Fellaini losing the ball again. Where was the
