What We Learned: Manchester United 1–2 Swansea City – Barclays Premier League We Need Reinforcements: It was blindingly obvious before the game yesterday, but if there were United fans still believing this squad to be a Premier League winning one, they were sorely mistaken once the team-sheet was released. Manchester United debuts for Tyler Blackett and Jesse Lingard alongside Ander Herrera suggested an admirable faith in youth, but also exposed the gaps in a squad commonly referred to as unbalanced. Of course by half-time there were ten reds players who were not fit to play, but even so the team looked like one normally played in the quarter finals of a league cup, not on the opening day of the season. Supporters will be crying out for the sort of signings that have been promised all summer. After inflated interviews where Ed Woodward says United are not afraid to spend, and Van Gaal’s admission that this team needs new recruits, the defence and midfield is still as shallow as it was in May. A real title challenge may be a step too far for this current squad, but if they are to secure a Champions League place, Van Gaal and Woodward will need to sew up one of the long drawn out sagas. Arturo Vidal, Angel di Maria and Mehdi Benatia have all been taking up column inches in red devil transfer pieces, but ultimately there have been no new signatures in the last two months. Yes the promotion of youth is always appreciated, but these youngsters need to learn from world-class talent, which at the moment is severely lacking. Pre-season means nothing: When Manchester United were touring America and beating teams like AS Roma, Liverpool and Real Madrid, there was a surge of confidence flowing through the teams. Compared to the embarrassing losses against mid-table sides in the J League and the Thai XI last year, the squad looked capable once again of out playing the top teams in Europe. Van Gaal’s record in pre-season: played six, won six, 18 goals scored, five goals conceded. Van Gaal’s record in the Premier League is now played one, lost one. That is all that matters now and United have failed to collect any points in their first game. Worse still it was billed as the first in a run of easy games to start the season, yet the reds could not have begun much worse. Those glamour games filled with sponsor responsibilities and excited American fans are now long in the past, and United need to start winning where it counts. One of the centre-backs needs to step up: Having lost the iconic partnership of Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic, a defensive combination that had won everything at club level, many questioned United’s remaining centre-backs. Unfortunately Phil Jones, Chris Smalling and Tyler Blackett did little to quell these doubters, as they were unable to nullify a fairly plain Swansea attack. Yes they countered with pace, but the Welshmen did not perform with the flair and intricate attacking sequences that we have seen them do over the years, instead preferring to get it to Bony early after sitting deep for some time. There were times when it just seemed as if no one was being marked. The second goal was a case in point, as Nathan Dyer’s scuffed shot seemed to elude all the United players who had assembled in the box and find one of the few white shirts there. Without a leader in defence barking at the full backs to track back, and organising the midfield to form effective cover, Swansea found space in their opponents’ third in each of the rare occasions they ventured that far. It seems Van Gaal has placed his faith in Chris Smalling, positioning the Englishman in the middle of the three centre-backs. But the 25-year-old will have to do more to attain a clean sheet as often it was a case of last-ditch tackling which eventually cut out an attack, rather than competent marking. Tyler Blackett unfortunately made a couple of costly mistakes yesterday, despite putting in a generally competent performance. Putting so much responsibility in him at this time however is another exposition of the thin squad currently at Old Trafford. This will be the biggest season of Rooney’s career: Having announced him as captain on Tuesday, Van Gaal said that he wanted Wayne Rooney ‘to fly’ in his new role. It didn’t quite happen yesterday however as despite scoring United’s solitary goal, the England frontman was not at his best. An impressive work rate was unfortunately matched by a number of poor decisions in the final third and some unusually weak shots on goal. Rooney was still comfortably one of the better players in red on the day, but that was not difficult. The new captain will be looked at to inspire the players around him whilst taking the game by the scruff of its neck, but despite a clearly strong effort, this did not transpire. He will have to influence games consistently as the team’s figurehead and if Rooney didn’t know it already, it is a relentless task that will test his credentials as one of the world’s best players. There is a difference between talent and leadership. Rooney will need to show both every week if United are to achieve their targets this year. Formation worries: Van Gaal’s 3-5-2 formation had its critics before the Swansea game but after the fixture the cries for a flat back four will be more than ever. Paul Scholes has already said the midfield is too slow in this setup, and the ease with which Swansea broke to score their goals will also worry United supporters. After impressing with the Netherlands and in pre-season with a then-labelled ‘exciting’ new formation, the 3-5-2/3-4-3 only lasted 45 minutes in the Premier League, as Van Gaal was forced to revert to a 4-2-3-1 after the break. Whether the Dutchman will return to three at the back for the Sunderland game is likely, but the mad genius may be forced to change his tactics early on in the season. After all that preparation, it would signal a messy start to the league for the Van Gaal. The quicker Van Persie returns the better: With many highlighting United’s shallow back line, few pundits were concerned about a toothless reds attack. But that is exactly what the fans were forced to sit through in yesterday’s fixture, as the home side failed to get in behind their opposition’s defence for the vast majority of the 90 minutes. The strikers were performing so poorly that Van Gaal decided United would be more of a threat by taking Hernandez off at half time. Without the class of Robin Van Persie or even the relentless dynamism of Danny Welbeck, the front three looked absent of ideas. Especially disappointing was Juan Mata who was enjoying a renaissance in America, only to fail to really pick out anyone in the box when he had the opportunity. With such a stretched defence and midfield, the strongest part of this team is surely the attack. The front three cannot afford to perform so poorly on a regular basis as with the current line-up, clean sheets may be difficult to come by. Fans have high expectations of their number 11: As already mentioned, United found it extremely difficult to get in behind Swansea’s backline (a team not famed for their resolute defences), but this was changed to some extent by the introduction of Adnan Januzaj. As ever the Belgian wonderkid was full of attacking enthusiasm, looking to take on his opposite number at every opportunity. Despite this refreshing directness, the 19-year-old still could not pick out a player or make any decent attempt on goal. Receiving the number 11 shirt this week was not free from controversy for Januzaj, as many remarked that it was a pre-emptive move, and the starlet had not yet proved himself worthy of such a historic shirt. There are big expectations on the youngster’s shoulders now and he cannot afford to simply be known as a flair player. It was a problem that faced Christiano Ronaldo in his first couple of seasons at Old Trafford, time and time again failing to provide an end product after exciting expositions of skill. Januzaj will have to start becoming more of a threat in front of goal to truly fulfil his potential and his shirt number. Ronaldo was certainly able to. Perhaps the exits haven’t been established yet: Whilst this is all still speculative, many articles written on transfers out of Old Trafford have consistently name dropped Nani and Marouane Fellaini. Both not only started on the bench against Swansea but were also brought on to influence the game and change United’s fortunes. It was not to be but does suggest Van Gaal may think they still have a purpose at the club. Perhaps it was more to do with the fact that by the end of the afternoon, Manchester United had ten injuries to their squad. In any case, not many expected either player to be making an appearance in the red devils’ first game of the season and with the clubs current record of getting replacements in to Old Trafford, they may not be able to leave quite yet.
Posted on: Sun, 17 Aug 2014 14:27:08 +0000
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