Mourinho was Right!!! Manchester United are not yet ready to challenge.

Sometimes prayers of fans are answered by the club management when they sign a certain player or any credible player for a desired position, but the players needs time to adapt and play their natural game grow into a fans worth associating with from mere prayers. Fred and Andreas Pereira fall into this category of prayers. Fans wished for management to sign a central midfielder [Fred] and to retain a home grown (developed in this case) [Pereira] to be signed this term, management granted both the wishes. Did it turn out as the fans hoped for? One needs to watch today’s match to find out. Chaotic and all over the place is a best and simplistic way to define their performance. Their raw energy was clearly visible but an output worthy of Manchester United player was clearly lacking. They will be made scapegoats for this loss. But were they the only ones? Did management answer prayers of all the ones involved with the club?

Mourinho clearly wanted an experienced defender, he would be happy that his need would be vindicated when Woodward watches the highlights of today’s match. Unfortunately for fans and Mourinho, today’s wishes and vindication came in at a great cost; A spineless performance from the team.

Defending by Lindelof and Bailey today was amateurish by Premier League Standards; Mourinho needs to be patient with the pair since the continuous chopping and changing last year hasn’t helped them in developing a meaningful performance.  Each of the goals conceded were due to poor defending by the central pair and there was no hiding from that. If their game dropped due to the mistakes, then they need to strengthen up mentally and show the class which made Mourinho sign them up. Ashley Young and Luke Shaw had not much do in the game where the game was primarily played through the middle. Defensively they were ok; however they left lot to be desired in attacking sense with Shaw in particular trying too hard. Fitness of Shaw is encouraging and he needs to more of the same every week and show the consistency in order to fulfill his talents.

Midfield players are supposed to support central defenders by shielding them and stopping the attacks to begin with. However, Fred and Pereira who played the game badly as though it was a street fight. They were all over the park and with no positioning in their entire game time. If one watches the highlights of only United’s plays; number of times Fred missed kicking the ball in simplest of situations shows that he was nervous and too eager at times to make an impact and missing it by miles. Pereira having matured into a better player by playing in La Liga; showed with this performance that he is not yet ready for a starting role in a Premier league match and for a team where expectations are high. Their performances affected other players around them badly and no one else had a good day to cover up the mistakes of these four players.

Paul Pogba named captain for the second straight game had a horrible game where none of forward passes made any semblance of difference. He lost his cool too often to vindicate Mourinho’s stand of not naming him permanent captain. His penalty at the end was well taken but he couldn’t inspire his players around him earlier in the game when they needed the most ; one of the critical characteristic of a captain and a leader. Not that his players were willing to take inspiration; Anthony Martial handed a rare start in the absence of injured Alexis Sanchez, did little to convince the manager and the fans of his value. Marital should have made better use of the chances he got before the game drifted away from United but his failure to make use of this opportunity will come back to haunt him. Martial will have to put in more focussed effort both in the training ground and in the matches to become a better player and fulfilling his talents. Juan Mata was in no man’s land throughout the match and is not suited for the role of floater in which he was employed today. Its worrisome that there is no role defined to get the best out of player like Mata who is used to unlock defences in the premier league. At the least he could’ve taken the corner kick chances but that responsibility was curiously handed over to Young who just kept sending the floaters which served no purpose to anyone. Romelu Lukaku opened his season account with a well taken goal but before missing an easy chance for a player of his stature, which could’ve changed the tone of the remaining match.

Jesse Lingard, Marcus Rashford and Felliani did their best after coming on however couldn’t change the outcome of the match in the chaotic second half where every United player scrambled for the ball. Brighton were shrewd enough to know that entire United team were having a bad and kept the game simple enough to frustrate United without giving them any chance on the counter or allowing them to build any sort of a cohesive play. David De Gea on his part did his best to parry the shots away but he could do nothing about the three goals which were conceded. He might have start worrying about carrying United’s defence again through the season.

Mourinho was a class act today. He set up his team well, on paper, to dominate Brighton but was let down by very big individual mistakes by his players. He refused to point out anyone or throw them to the public and credited the opposition for making use of mistakes by his players. He made attacking changes on the interval having realised going all out was the only way to win this game. He should be worried that his players couldn’t muster a single shot on target in the second half which clearly looks like a training ground issue. With the departure of Rui Faria; no one is clear yet on who is running the training and how much of an influence Michael Carrick is on the training ground. This is clearly a season of transition for Mourinho without the staff he is more accustomed to. Mourinho will be hoping for Nemanja Matic to return to fitness at the earliest so that he can expect his team control the match. He has proven right now with his demands of an experience defender and United achieving second spot last season as his biggest achievement. If he is a man for a challenge, this United team will be biggest challenge in this era of Premier League. However, it was a welcome change to see him taking an attacking approach to the game; but these are early days and one shouldn’t be cautious not to talk about change in philosophy. This squad has the talent to win games and it is upto the manger now to mould the squad into a team credible enough to win games every week.  

Next up is Tottenham Hotspurs at Old Trafford, Tottenham play an open game irrespective of opponent or stadium. They will be waiting to pounce on weakness shown by United in midfield and defence. Whatever happens in the next match, this season is going to be a bumpy ride for the fans, players and Mourinho alike.

"Manchester Born & Bred" delivers a huge win

Considering the history of verbal duel between the managers, Manchester United and Chelsea match would've been more about them playing the match rather than 22 players slugging it out in the Old Trafford sun. However, what is lost amongst most of the fans is both Mourinho and Conte are managers of same breed. Both are reactive and old school managers who do not wrap their head around a single style of playing and prioritize results over style. Difference being Mourinho is more stubborn than Conte, hence his persistence of "parking the bus" in big games, whereas Conte devises a game plan to overcome the strengths of the opposition being true to his reactive style. 

Today's game at Old Trafford clearly differentiated the characteristics of the respective managers game plan. Mourinho sent out his team man-marking important players and depending on scraps for his forwards to feed off. In contrast Conte focused on swarming the midfield and using Willian & Hazard to wreack havoc to United Midfield and their by creating chances for Chelsea. Mourinho's game plan is perfect to nullify Chelsea's strengths however this nullifies his team's individualistic strengths that's a huge drop off considering the squad which they have assembled. Conte uses the strengths of his players and drilling them to implement his game plan. See the difference, players get a chance to express themselves in Conte's gameplan and players regress in Mourinho's.

Alas, not all the best laid plans come to fruition. Chelsea strommed United midfield at the match beginning and dominated the possession and also the chances. Willian nicked a goal with a superb team play and match up with Hazard. If this game plan had continued, Chelsea would've completed premier league double over Manchester United for 4th time.
Mourinho's gameplan of man marking started stiffling Chelsea with Scott McTominay disciplined man-marking Eden Hazard out of the game (just like Herrara in the same fixture last season) and United picking up steam towards end of 1st half and being awarded a goal for their patience and sticking to the tactics which their manager laid out for them.

Post break, home team emerged with renewed focus and started enforcing things their way rather than wait for Chelsea to slip up. And introduction of Jesse Lingard (man for big games) gave home team a different outlet. Lingard's in-game brilliance shone when he ran past Chelsea markers and picked a brilliant Lukakku assist. Chelsea dropped off drastically in the 2nd half and nowhere seemed like they would make a comeback win or a draw.

Mourinho will use this game as an example to prove many of his detractors wrong. To show his critics that he has still got the tactical nous to be a force to be reckoned with. To show Pogba an example of Lukakku to be relentless rather than dropping off when he is doesn't have the ball and seem un-interested when things are not running through him. Use Lingard and McTominay as an example to show he will trust the youth and academy graduates with right attitude and focus. From pure importance of the result perspective, this result gives United some breathing space in the top 4 race. However, there is still a huge cause for concern with respect to performance of biggies such as Sanchez, Pogba and Martial. These are the players who are brought to bring a flair to the game at Old Trafford, but are being stifled with manager's tactics. With Mourinho prioritizing results over anything else now, fans have to get accustomed to the style and continue to hope there are better days ahead.

Conte would've felt unlucky for not getting the win and disappointed that Moratta goal ruled wrongly off-side. His bigger concern would've been below-par performance by Moratta again, how easily McTominay marked Hazard out of the game and how Chelsea's and Chelsea Player of the Match Willian's intensity dropped off in the 2nd half. They have a no clear back up game plan to depend on and very thin bench strength to call upon.

This game showed that even reactive tactics can get best results for the games. However, i would attribute this win to "Manchester born & bred" characteristics of Scott McTominay and Jesse Lingard.

The Lost Chance for Manchester United

When United finished their pre-season tour of America the squad was brimming with confidence and the fans all over the world had a very good vibe about the upcoming season. But when they landed in England the chemistry with which the team played in the States pre-season which saw them go undefeated to the title evaporated and with that Old Trafford faithful started feeling anxious again over the clubs fortunes including our every own Ginger Prince. So when LVG started calming the nerves down by insisting everyone to believe in his methods and that it will be a long path to top, we could atleast be content that the manger acknowledge that the improvement is required rather than giving a false sense of confidence.

But after watching the match against Sunderland anyone would start wondering how could a team with so much talent in the current squad could struggle to beat a team which by a God’s (Sunderland fans would swear it was Gus Poyet) miracle escaped relegation last term.

Starting with the midfield duo of Fletcher and Cleverley would make any United fan unsettled, not that Fletcher is bad but alone there is only so much he can do to patrol the midfield area. With Cleverley only putting the pass that comes his way onto the path another player without finding a killer pass is only a man on the field rather than a man who is supposed to rake up assists. Any team, I mean any team, would look at the United midfield and feel that they have a chance to nick the points today, mind it points not a point. So having an awesome trio of front three is of little use without a player who can take the ball out of defence and find a meaningful, chance carving pass. With rumors of Di maria of gaining significant momentum, I am left wondering what would he add to the squad which doesn’t play the system which he excels in.

To be fair United started well against Sunderland but tapered off with players unable to get going other than pass it wide and expecting a miracle overhead kick by Rooney or RVP. Sunderland knew that they had to close down the United front duo quickly and they did it perfectly till Valencia, slotting well into right wing back position, found a way a get a pass into the box when Mata lost Larsson with a clever movement and found the net. The goal seemed to get players into a positive attitude but Sunderland knew that United defence was vulnerable with the English trio of Jones-Smalling-Blackett lacking proper leader ship to steady the team when the opponents like Sunderland use muscle in the penalty box, which they did and that was how the forgotten man of Englishmen Jack Rodwell got what could be his career reviving goal. Anxiety sets into United fans whenever the opponents win a corner or a free-kick near United’s penalty box. Fortunately for United, the defence started settling after conceding a very damaging goal, and could deal with the Connor Wickham & Steven Fletcher well later. Blackett was usually impressive with his power and physicality on the left hand side. He has the talent to survive the physicality of the league but whether he has the technique to cope when he faces the playmakers of Hazard’s calibre remains to be seen. The same couldn’t be said of Chris Smalling, the senior of the trio who struggled to settle into the game and had to make way for the league debutant Michael Keane before the first half could be even completed. Not sure of what lead to the change, but it moved Keane onto the right side of the trio with Phil Jones taking the central role and patrolling the area well. Based on the today’s performance alone one could sense that Jones should play central among the trio. The average age of the United’s English defence trio was lesser than that of Sunderland’s two. It was a nice remainder of the United values who believe in giving a chance to the youth. They may not be the ball playing defenders LVG was looking for but if blooded properly with the premium chances and quality guidance by the coaching staff, United may not have to look into the market for defenders as even Keane adjusted to the pace really well. LVG will have his work cut out to get the talented defence to work into defending and contributing to set-pieces.

Whenever United broke Sunderland could get back into their natural shape due to the lack of penetration of passes of United midfield. If brought in Di Maria will be a very huge asset on the counter. But with ball rolling between themselves United lacked quality to make something happen with it. Herrera might have helped today but still United need another midfielder possible two who are willing to put tackles to win the ball clean and then pass it on to Mata/Rooney/RVP to make merry. As been the case since last few transfer windows United fans may not welcome such a player.

The front trio of Mata, Rooney & Persie are individually talented but couldn’t do much to help the score line in United’s favour today. Mata was unusually bad at aiming the crosses and none in United’s team properly meeting them. When scoring from open play is proving is proving difficult players need to be ruthless with these chances. With the squad already short on quality players avoiding needless yellow cards earned by Young, for simulation and Cleverley, for a rash non-ball winning tackle will be helpful in not making it difficult for the club. With players unable to break well organised Sunderland, LVG ringed in the changes replacing Van Persie with, rumoured to be unwanted, Welbeck and Darren Fletcher with Januzaj. These changes had two way affect on the play. With Welbeck always up to closing down on opponents and fast on counter being an asset on the right hand side and Januzaj playing out of position in midfield unable to control the tempo.

It was a point well-earned for Sunderland and a glorious chance of building up momentum lost by United. These are the early times, with the manger still learning about the league and players adjusting to a new system. But United fans have already lost the patience they would have reserved for rebuilding concept and are demanding the results which will settle the fans, club as well as players.

LVG will be realising the enormity of the task and seems like a man up for the challenge. Players let down David Moyes very much last year and have to share the blame for last season along with the Moyes. Now the players need to step up and help LVG get United to the top. Any manager is as good as your team, unless the manger Sir Alex, who was watching on from the stands. What fans would do see him in the dugout again and relieve those glory days.

Hoping for a better outing by the team next time along with possible additions to the squad.

Once a Red Devil always a Red Devil.

20 is history.

After the match ended my friend texted me to ask, is this the worst start in Manchester United history?

I pondered over how to answer the question, because one I am not a historian and two I don’t like accept that it was the worst start in my memory. So, I replied to him. It doesn’t matter. History is history, Sir Alex Ferguson is history, and 20 English titles 13 premier league titles are all history.

David Moyes is what we have now. Is he a capable man to manage the team? Is he capable of repeating the past history? I don’t know, but from what we all know by now. He is a seasoned premier league manager who knows how to navigate within the premier league and has had his highs and lows in so called the best league in the world. So all we know for now is that he is a capable manager.

That brings me to the reason for this article. So, why is such a capable manager experiencing such a horrendous start to his career at one of the biggest club in the world? The main reason he faltered in his start is because of his team selection in all those losing matches, also in the matches won but no one bothers about them too much. So is it his fault? Certainly not his fault alone. It’s the fault of the team too. The team that won the league with 11 points has no reason whatsoever to perform as badly as they did today in the match against West Bromovich Albion. The squad that Moyes inherited was so worn out that it had only one midfielder worthy of getting a look into the Manchester United squad. Still, the same team won the league. That’s testament to the managerial abilities of THE GREAT SIR ALEX FERGUSON. If anyone has any doubts over why Sir Alex was the greatest, the mentioned analogy is more than sufficient to answer them.

So coming back, the current problems are because of the squad not of the manager. He has vowed to fix it and I believe in him because he is capable of it. I have heard a argument stating that even City, Chelsea changed their managers and they have started better than United. The reason being that even though the manager changed, the management that looks after the transfer activity of the team didn’t change. Their respective management knew what exactly the team needed and made the necessary moves the transfer window. Where as in United’s case it was a one man army of Sir Alex, hence with just his change there is a huge void left behind.

Moyes did a mistake of blindly believing that the last year’s squad could do a repeat in terms of performance and hence committed his fouls in the transfer squad. If being naïve is a crime then he is guilty, but lowering their own performance the players are surely guilty of what they did in all those matches which cost us the points. As a die-hard Manchester United fan, I always take pride in the team’s style of play. And in recent the style hasn’t made me proud, honestly there is no style at all. Making a match a contest and losing is fine with me like what happened against Tottenham at home last year (United lost 3-2, but they played with style which has made them champions so far). So whats going to happen in the January transfer window will be keenly awaited because Moyes has made his intentions clear regarding adding 2-3 players who can walk straight into the team and may be chop off the dead wood.

May be Moyes will fail, but that’s the thought for another time in 2-3 years. Lets give the man a decent chance to succeed in a league where a team that beat Manchester United 4-1 and score another 5 goals for fun in a league cup and still go down 3-2 to last year’s strugglers. No wonder they consider Premier league to be the toughest in the world.

Lets not take solace in the fact that all the top teams dropped points today (at the time of writing), because we are not team who depend on others to drop points.

The team selection is forced because that’s all he has after a disastrous transfer window.  But there are some unanswered questions of why didn’t Fellaini start? Why is Anderson even in the squad? These are the questions I am sure Moyes will answer soon.

David Moyes in you we believe so you better not screw it up. 

The summer of confusion at Old Trafford.

All the signs that emerged after the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson were positive, with the swift appointment of David Moyes and his staff. The appointment of Ryan Giggs from a player to player-coach and Phil Neville as the assistant coach was symbol of belief in the club culture. Everything smooth for a club that is renowned for stability not only on the pitch also off it. Where others clubs go through a series of transformations during the football summer with the appointment of new managers and the players adopting to the certain manager and few falling out of favour and down the pecking order even before the ball has been kicked in in the new season. That problem never occurred for Manchester United, the perks of having a single boss for past 26 years. Yet one problem spilled over from the Ferguson era to Moyes, THE ROONEY CONUNDRUM.

You see the problem with replacing the title winning outgoing coach is that you are not only supposed to retain the title but you are supposed to do it in some style to prove that you are one for the job. It’s the challenge facing the likes of Moyes and Guardiola, as if this wasn’t enough the delicate matter of fan favourite Rooney was handed over to Moyes. He seemed to handle it well initially, but some misinterpreted quotes have brought up all the kind of headache to him when he on the other side of the world building his side to retain the title. May be he should leave it up to the board to the Rooney mess, but he is intelligent enough to know the caliber of Rooney, he introduced him to the world. Losing a player of that caliber to direct rivals (Chelsea have already made an offer, with Arsenal also interested) will be damning because irrespective of the forward options at United Hernandez, Welback & Van Persie, Rooney is something special to the fans and the club. Given that Rooney never gave in the transfer request and still silent through this entire episode seems to me that he wants to stay and play, in his preferred position. That’s all he has asked for, to play in his position (apart from an improved contract three years earlier). One should remember that United legend Paul Scholes also got into the dark side of Sir Alex and was punished by benching him for important matches. Comparing to that scenario Rooney has suffered enough and should be given one more last chance to prove that he can follow in Scholes footsteps and go on to become a legend at Old Trafford. 

Moving on other issues plaguing the club during this summer, or should we say last few years is the signing of the genuine midfielder for the club. The last of such signing was Michael Carrick. The issue was put to rot and the rot seems to continue. Not that there wasn’t any effort put to fill the gaps, Sneijder couldn’t be signed because of his high wages, Moura was lost to high fee of Paris Saint-Germain. Hazard again lost to money of Chelsea. Thiago lost to allure of Guardiola. Again and again United have a lost out the race in the market and it is starting to reflect badly. But it has never affected the Club heavily in Premier league, because of the mentality of club. But in Europe it has become limp. There are some exciting young players in the squad who would be up to the challenge but not with immediate effect. Players like Adnan Januzaj, who is impressing the boss at the preseason friendly, Zaha and Nick Powell will take time to get adjusted to rough and tumble of premier league, let alone Europe.

I am no expert in transfer dealings but I feel United should’ve reacted quickly to the Thiago transfer. United were in negotiations from almost a month and yet Bayern Munich came in swooped up Thiago in just two days. And now United are in for Fabregas for 30 milllion euros. Seriously 30 million? Thiago goes for 22million and the club bids for a improved senior player who has proved potential at highest level, for just a 8 million more. That shows United are not seriously interest or someone at the club who decides the bid don’t know the player potential. Anyway, Barcelona won’t sell him. Another long term target Kevin Strootmen is also lost to Roma. So where does that leave the club? Again at square one. The search for another Central midfielder (CM) goes on. That’s the confusion I am talking about. The club need a genuine CM, needed it for years, and still can’t get one. The sight of targeted players lost to some other clubs has become a common sight for fans like me. Do we have the money to buy required players? Yes. Do we have the history? In plenty. So what’s the issue? No one seems to know or get hold of the answer. So how is Moyes going to manage without the required CM? He had Fellaini at Everton. So how will he fill that gap United? That’s the answer everyone is waiting for.

Have your say, by commenting below.