re: Why is Man U so bad this year?

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but he's had two transfer windows to begin to address the issue of an aging backline

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meh, it might not have been AS apparent before the season started. And big business is rarely done in the winter, maybe there was no one worth taking that another club was willing to part with mid-season.

is that the guy from simply red, next to SAF???

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meh, it might not have been AS apparent before the season started.

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Wait, seriously?

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Well they did just win the EPL title, and are arguably the best CB pairing in EPL history.

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Last year they had 13 clean sheets in the league, a whopping 1 in the FA Cup, and 1 in Europe. That's 15/52 games. Add to that the points Beast made and it was clearly their most glaring weakness going into this season.

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It's pretty clear at this point Moyes has no clue what to do with technical players.

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I don't disagree with this assertion, but I want to elaborate on why I think this is the case.

Despite all thinking otherwise, Moyes is an excellent manager. He's meticulous, thoughtful, reactive, and organized, as his history at Everton has shown. One could argue that he was the Arsene Wenger of Everton, getting more out of a team on a shoestring budget than anyone thought he could. Hell, you could argue that Martinez's success at Everton is built on Moyes's foundation, and Martinez's squad has been buttressed by three excellent loan signings, which he can't count on yearly, and the emergence of Barkley, who has a very good chance of being the best English AM since Paul Gascoigne. He led Everton to 9 top ten finishes in 11 seasons, an amazing feat considering Everton's struggles before his arrival.

It's been mentioned before that Moyes's problems have a lot to do with not understanding how to be a proactive manager, as he was unaccustomed to playing from a superior technical position throughout his career. In my view, he is afraid to let creative players express themselves for the sake of defensive solidity, which isn't a bad position to take. Mourhinho has done it to great effect, because his back six or back five, depending on whether he uses the 4-3-3 or not, has excellent positional sense, as they are coached up to that degree. This allows extreme freedom for the front four or five, though it doesn't negate their defensive responsibilities.

Moyes is the same way, but he wants to defend as a team. He's concerned about spacing, so any movement away from pre-ordained positions he seems to discourage, which makes it easy for opposition teams to defend. He is primarily concerned with the space between the midfield pairing and the front players. While Mourinho is comfortable letting letting that space grow to great lengths, Moyes is not, and thus limits the attacking capabilities of his team. This team is missing a player like Aaron Ramsey, an all everything B2B midfielder. Basically they need a Roy Keane or Brian Robson in the middle of the park, and that's something they don't have.

There has to be some variation in Man U's attacking play, obviously. I don't think it will change, because it seems that free-flowing attacking football, the type that would benefit RvP, Mata, Kagawa, and Rooney in particular, is antithetical to Moyes's philosophy.

That said, Moyes has shown some variation throughout his career. When it was beneficial to play a long ball game, he played a long ball game. When it was better for his team to play it from wide positions, that's what he did. But he never has embraced the middle of the park, because in terms of percentages, most attacks probably break down at the mouth of the 18, which is where counter-attacks usually start.

Ultimately, I think Moyes will fail at Man U not because he isn't prone to change, but because the system he needs to employ which would allow him to get the most out of his players is absolutely opposed to how Moyes's sees the game. Can you imagine the difficulty of that situation, a man who has gotten the best job in the world of football, suddenly realizing that what worked to get him into that position, the thing that buttressed all his success, is ultimately not suited to the elite level? The scale of the shock that has to be the most extreme ego killer, to the point that I don't think he can change. He'll stick to what he believes, because when things were bad before, that's what he did, and it got him to where he is now.

What he requires is a revolution of philosophy, and at this level, with the size of the egos involved, that just isn't likely. That would amount to Arsene Wenger dropping all his beliefs about the sport, and deciding Jose Mourinho was right. Or vice versa.

His philosophy might change, or the league could eventually conform to how he sees the game, but with the way the league is going, with fluidity and movement which exposes horizontal, in addition to vertical, spaces, the in-vogue method of chance creation, that seems utterly unlikely.

Of course, I could be wrong about this, and Moyes decides to change his tactical approach tomorrow, but indications are that he will stick to it, until it works or he's fired.

Lots of great stuff in there, crazy, but this one jumped out to me:

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This team is missing a player like Aaron Ramsey, an all everything B2B midfielder. Basically they need a Roy Keane or Brian Robson in the middle of the park, and that's something they don't have.

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This. All of this. Fellaini could've been that, but his play has suffered due to injuries and whatnot.

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Man U could do to having the same starting 11 2 matches in a row. I think they have had a different starting 11 in every match? Some continuity would go a long way to helping that team.

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I got crucified for making this exact same statement. I realize SAF constantly changed his 11, but Moyes is foundering, and is certainly no SAF. Some consistency could stop the bleeding and stabilize the ship.

Another thing I've been thinking about is how commentators say that teams aren't afraid of Man U anymore. If that were the case, then this would play into Moyes's hands, since they would be more likely to attack. Teams still respect Man U because they have players that are top four caliber. Fulham went to Old Trafford to defend, and had four chances all game, 3 of which they should have converted, and 2 they did. Maybe Man U is closer to turning the corner than we realize.

(no message)

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LSUSOBEAST1

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Well said