Think Again

On 22^nd April 2013, Manchester United won their 20^th League title taking an unassailable lead in the championship with a record for most points in the season in sight. Fast forward exactly one year and on the 22^nd of April 2014 David Moyes was relieved of his duties as manager of the world’s biggest football club. In ten months, the ‘chosen one’ has made history…of course for all the wrong reasons. Manchester United have failed to qualify for the Champions League. In ten months, a championship winning team has turned into a mid-table disaster. Moyes, by way of his poor tactics, team selection, failed transfers, losing support of senior players etc. has earned the wrath of fans, football pundits, analysts and so on…Yes player performances have been highlighted by everyone. That United needed an overhaul in the summer hasn’t been denied either. But as a hard core United fan I asked myself ‘was a ten month reign of an unsuccessful manager enough to bring down a club of the magnitude of Manchester United??’ How is that possible?? I mean is he really that bad?? Or was it just the wrong choice at wrong time?? Whatever it is, think again…only ten months??

I have had countless arguments about whether David Moyes was the wrong man for United or whether the players must take the blame for this horrific season…At the end of the day, sacking Moyes and holding him responsible was the right or perhaps the only decision that seemed valid. While it is no doubt that the manager is the first in the line of fire, what makes me sad is that some players who don’t deserve the Red jersey are going to get away with shocking performances. Like last year, in the jubilation of winning the league, the cracks within would again be covered up. We might win the remaining games of the season and then everything will be forgotten in anticipation of probably the biggest transfer window in the club’s history.

Anyway, to cut the chase, in my rage towards the players this season, I looked up a few statistics. What I deduced makes me wonder what the analysts at Manchester United really do…Have a look below…

THE MANCHESTER UNITED MIDFIELD

2011-12                 Position : 2 (by goal difference)      Top scorer: Rooney (27 goals)
PLAYER	APPEARANCES	ASSISTS	CROSSES (SUCCESSFUL)	THROUGH BALLS (SUCCESSFUL)
YOUNG	19	7	60	3
NANI	25	8	47	4
GIGGS	25	8	24	7
VALENCIA	27	13	45	4
CARRICK	30	3	4	4
2012-13  Position: 1  Top scorer: RVP (26 goals) Rooney (12 goals) Please note: Rooney – 10 assists & RVP – 8 assists
YOUNG	17	3	23	2
VALENCIA	24	5	39	0
KAGAWA	17	3	5	5
CLEVERLY	18	2	4	0
CARRICK	34	4	7	3
WELBECK	13	4	3	0
2013-14 Position: not worth it  Top scorer: Rooney (17 goals) RVP (11 goals) Please note: Rooney – 10 assists
YOUNG	12	1	15	0
CLEVERLY	18	0	13	0
FELLAINI	11	0	7	0
CARRICK	24	0	5	0
WELBECK	14	1	0	0
VALENCIA	19	3	17	3
KAGAWA	12	3	6	5
MATA	12	4	12	8

  

We lost the title on the last day in 2012…The midfield performance that season is far better than the following season when we actually won quite emphatically. So did we really win or were the other teams just not good enough? If you hide the years from the table, looking at the figures anybody would claim that the first table is the one when it was most likely to win the league. According to me, the only reason we won the title last year was due to Robin Van Persie’s crucial & often breath-taking goals without much creativity from the almost non existant mid field (check the assists). The slide in performance had started. And what is the difference between last year’s & this year’s performance?? Check the table again, it’s not much. What is sad to see is the overall decline right from 2011-12 in terms of crosses, assists & through balls. Over the last 2 seasons, Tom Cleverly hasn’t played even one successful through ball…Young is not far away with 2. That, for me, is absolutely ridiculous. It is staggering how things like these have been overlooked. Steven Gerrard has made a total of 89 tackles this season….Azpilicueta has made 98. Fellaini (yes he tops this) has made 57. No United defender comes even close to some of the other stats from Chelsea or City. Micheal Carrick (United’s current best holding midfielder) fails miserably in every category and ranks even further down in the overall player ratings. Manchester United have failed to rebuild over the last two seasons while the others have consolidated. This season was just the tipping point…Moyes was a part of the failure not the reason for it.

So were ten months really enough to derail this football giant? And was David Moyes rightly sacked? Should he have been given more time? After all, the team had won the league just a season ago…

Think again…