Manchester United will have a new manager next season after 27 years. Throughout the era of Fergie, one thing has been common about the way they play. They always have two wingers who can dribble along the sidelines and provide the perfect cross for the striker in the middle. They have mostly played with two strikers who complement each other well. However, from next season, there may be a change of style in the way United play due to the arrival of David Moyes. We shall see the ways in which he may play the team.
David Moyes’s team at Everton set up in a 4-2-3-1\4-4-1-1 with directness, high tempo and intensity. He used to play with an aggressive and organized defense with two attacking full backs in Coleman and Baines. He should have no problem with the defense at United as he has five centre-backs to choose from, and both the full-backs are excellent going up the pitch even though Evra is caught on the counter sometimes.
The midfield is where he must show his tactical acumen. With the retirement of Paul Scholes and ineffectiveness of Giggs in the centre of the midfield, Moyes needs to buy an attacking central midfielder. Last season, Michael Carrick showed his passing range consistently; he was so good that Scholes’ absence wasn’t really felt. Carrick has become a deep-lying playmaker like Xabi Alonso, shielding the back four as well as spraying passes around the field. Other than Carrick, the other central midfielders in United’s squad are Cleverley, Anderson and Fletcher, with the latter seeming unlikely to return to his best. With Anderson’s departure seemingly imminent, what United need is a central midfielder who can dribble his way through opposition players, and has the creativity to play the final ball, someone like Wilshere or Dembele. However, the perfect player for this would be Barcelona‘s Thiago Alcantra, who would be available for around 15 million. Another thing he can do is to convince Wayne Rooney to stay and move him permanently to a central midfielder’s role, which is not new to him, as he would be the perfect foil to Carrick. Moving Rooney down the pitch would mean Kagawa gets his preferred no. 10 role and can play they way he did in Dortmund.
Lets come to the wingers, who had a forgetful season last year. Nani, Young and Valencia performed poorly last season, and scored only four goals between them. Even though Valencia played more than 40 games, it was only due to the lack of options that Sir Alex had in the wide areas. The problem is that all three of them expect the full backs to overlap them and subsequently, the defenders are exposed on the counter, especially on the left. Their crosses don’t seem to pick out the strikers and are being easily defended. Ryan Giggs, despite his age, played really well in some of the matches, but he can’t play week in week out. Now, Moyes has another winger, Wilfried Zaha, coming in, who played very well in the Championship last season, and was the main reason that Crystal Palace earned promotion. And if the rumours are true and Ronaldo is coming to Manchester United, then Moyes needs to sell either Nani or Young. Valencia must remain as he can be useful in big games and tracks down players properly.
Coming to the front line, that is one area of the pitch were United are spoilt for choice. The strikers are so good that the three main strikers have 49 goals in the Premier League, while Welbeck has scored just one goal as he was mostly played on the wing as a replacement for the poorly-performing wingers. If Rooney is going to leave the club, they will need a replacement for him and Ronaldo can well be the man for that. If Ronaldo is going to arrive, they can play with a front four of RVP, Cristiano Ronaldo, Shinji Kagawa and Wilfried Zaha. If the deal goes through, they can be the most potent front line in all of Europe. However, David Moyes must change the style of play that United have adopted for a long time.
Throughout Sir Alex’s reign, Manchester United always had two wingers who would deliver the final cross into the box for the two strikers. Now the no. 10 role has become significant for a team to challenge the best teams across Europe. Because of this, most teams play one striker and put more emphasis on the quality of the midfield. Unlike Sir Alex, David Moyes must use the abilities of Shinji Kagawa and Carrick to the maximum. Shinji Kagawa must be entrusted with no defensive responsibilities, and the team must play around him. Carrick’s composed performances in the heart of midfield show that he can be the third centre-back when the team defends and Shinji Kagawa must be ready to attack on the counter. Carrick showed that he has got the vision to play the Scholes-esque pass which would be very useful in starting a counter attack. With the arrival of Zaha, who has got loads of pace, United can switch from defense to attack within a few seconds. The arrival of Cristiano Ronaldo would mean that the team has two natural goalscorers in Robin Van Persie and Cristiano Ronaldo, and Javier Hernandez to back them up. David Moyes’s team in Everton was set up with a pressing and organized defense. He can do the same at Old Trafford. With Vidi? back from injury, he will be the mainstay of the defense along with Jonny Evans, who has both performed very well at centre-back and seems to be the natural successor to Rio Ferdinand. Rio Ferdinand and Chris Smalling will be able back-ups. Phil Jones, who has played in a number of positions this year, can be the back-up for Rafael Da Silva or Vidic. Rafael looks to have cemented his place on the right side of the backline with excellent performances last year. Evra would be the only weak link in the defense as he is often caught out of position. Moyes, who is good at developing young talent, can groom Fábio to become a replacement for Evra. He is very good at attacking, but has to improve his defensive game. Since he is two-footed, he can play on either side of the defense, cut in and take shots and can cross with both legs, something that has not been seen at Old Trafford for quite sometime.
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