David Moyes is embattled to say the least. He’s had a rough year. Depending on what you believe, a management coup of sorts has been planned by the Class of ’92 at Old Trafford.
The lack of on field cohesion in the United ranks shows a certain level of cluelessness exemplified through United’s dealings in the transfer market post-Fergie.
The first example of Moyes/United’s transfer folly can be found in the sole signing of last summer. Clue: He was signed from Everton. No? Ok, he’s Belgian. Still not got it? No it’s not Kevin Mirallas… Of course, coming in at 6’ 4’’, it’s Marouane Fellaini.
Sign a central midfielder they said. United need a quality box to box midfielder they said.
Although the big Belgian has shown flashes of his Everton form (on Tuesday for example, his arm to Zabaleta’s face was textbook), the position in which he excelled at Everton was behind the striker, where he could utilise his primary skill of having really, really good chest control. This worked as the team was set up to play balls into Fellaini’s velvet pillow of a chest, however it seems Moyes has realised this may not go down too well at Old Trafford, begging the question, why sign him?
Fellaini didn’t make the impact David Moyes had hoped, but undeterred, he returned to the transfer market in January armed with a bulging wallet and a panicky compulsion to spend. This time the acquisition of choice was Juan Mata, Chelsea’s Player of the Season from the previous campaign, and while Mata is a quality player who would improve any squad, he is arguably not what United needed.
Although both the players in question have undoubted quality, their signings are symptomatic of a manager desperately trying to strengthen the team, despite no clear plan of how to do so. The success of Rogers at Liverpool and Martinez at Everton (which must be particularly painful) demonstrates the rewards of cultivating a style of play and makes the United’s recent transfer business look all the more ridiculous.
This David Moyes article comes to us from Will Larter, from Sent to the Stands.com