It is a strange moment for Manchester United. There was a time when it seemed that all that needed to be fixed was the team’s midfield, yet now there are considerable concerns over the defence and the attack too.
“Considerable” might seem to be a strong word, given the club’s fourth place in the Premier League table, but there is a sense of stagnation that suggests the team are unlikely to rise much higher on the domestic or European stage if things continue as they have been.
A compelling question is why, after so much investment, there is still so little fluidity to the team’s forward line. Wayne Rooney has received ample criticism for that, but what is just as worrying is what has happened in his absence.
The reliance upon Anthony Martial is startling. It is hard to think of another club with such extravagant resources in world football that has put such an onus upon a 19-year old. This is not to say that Martial is any ordinary teenager, or that he will somehow be overwhelmed by the expectation, but it does suggest a failure in recruitment that he is the only one expected to produce a defining moment in the club’s most decisive games.
It also suggests a failure of leadership on the pitch. Memphis Depay continues to struggle, which some might regard as predictable given his youth, but it might also be that his game is too formulaic at present. The Dutchman’s outstanding performance this season so far was against Club Brugge in the Champions League playoffs, a team which transpired to be one of the weakest that United have encountered so far. Since then, wiser defenders have given him a far more severe examination, denying him the space that he thrives upon in that inside-left position.
Memphis can argue, in his defence, that he has often been placed too far wide to make an impact, but that does not wholly explain the difficulties that he has had. There have been passages of play when he has combined well with Martial, but the club need far more than a succession of promising moments.
The other player of whom more should be expected is Juan Mata. It may seem unfair to criticise a playmaker whose goals have been a feature of United’s most thrilling victories under Louis van Gaal — most notably, the 2-1 victory away at Anfield in the Premier League last season, and the 4-2 home win over Manchester City. But he is held to the very highest standards and, as such, his level of productivity has yet to reach its best.
Much of that may be due to the tactical constraints under which Van Gaal is forcing his team to operate, although the Spaniard is offered the greatest possible freedom within that system to do his work, supported on several occasions by two defensive midfielders.
It is not that Mata is not making chances — witness his sublime throughball for Martial’s opener against Wolfsburg in the UEFA Champions League — but he should be much more assertive at the helm of his team’s attack. In a league where the playmaker is currently king — see the form of Manchester City’s David Silva, Arsenal’s Mesut Ozil, and Leicester City’s Riyad Mahrez — the onus is upon him to be similarly elusive, to open up defences with ever greater precision and weight of passing.
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