United Corner (August 26 2012)

And just like that, we have got through the first week of the new football season and you can hear those fans that are disappointed, those that are satisfied and those that have been given new hope as to how this year will develop for their club.

In my first 'United Corner' last week, I wrote that I was looking forward to the new season after the signing of Robin Van Persie, but I still have some concerns about the engine room of the side and whether we have enough in the midfield area to really make progress.

However, I was also of the belief that the options we have in that area were going to be good enough for the Premier League, but perhaps see us come short in Europe. I also thought a 4 point return from the first two games of the season would have been a good start to build upon.


The game at Everton on Monday night was largely disappointing for United in that we never seemed to get into the game and really sit out to control the tempo. We had a couple of half chances here and there, but there was always the fear that Everton were going to be the ones to get the breakthrough and they did look the better team on the night.

Injuries obviously played a big part in the team selection, but it looked a side that was going to need a bit of luck to get away with a win although I still believed it was going to be strong enough to avoid defeat.

To be honest, that may have been the 'opening game' positives spreading through the heart which eventually blocked any thoughts in the mind that Everton were a good enough side to take advantage and go on and win the game.

At the end of the day, losing a game at Goodison Park which is due to start in the evening can happen (read Citeh losing there last season on a Wednesday night), but the manner of the loss is what will determine the mood and feelings I take from it.

On this occasion, I was vastly disappointed with the performance and felt there were too many lacklustre performers in the team that needed to question themselves and truly ask if they had given enough.

One of those was Nani, a player that seems to divide the United faithful into two camps that think he is good enough and those that think he isn't... I can't really fit into either category with any conviction, although I will fully admit to tearing my hair out when watching him play. Nani continues to be frustratingly inconsistent, and he doesn't seem to have any middle ground in his performances- he will either give you an 8.5/10 or a 1.5 but never a game where he is between those numbers.

Unfortunately for us, we saw one of his 1.5 games on Monday night when he can't cross the ball (how many times did he hit the first defender in open play and from set pieces?!), makes the wrong decision when he is in a promising position and generally looks like someone who wouldn't be out of place in a Non-League side.

Some of this could be down to him really wanting to prove himself in the light that he hasn't been offered a contract extension despite seemingly want to commit his future to the club, but it's not the first time he has been a let-down for United and his inconsistencies mean it surely won't be the last (unless sold in the transfer window as some suggest).

Another who didn't impress on Monday night was Wayne Rooney, so often a match winner for United but a player who continued in the fashion that I have become accustomed to in the last twelve months. There hasn't been much competition for Rooney in the starting line up in that time and while the goals have kept coming, there has been a lack of energy (for want of a better word) in his play and almost a lethargic attitude.

It's almost like Rooney had fallen into a comfort zone knowing he would be playing in all the important matches and perhaps he even began thinking that he was 'too good' to be dropped with the lack of competition for him (these are just theories on my part and I have no concrete evidence to suggest they are true). With the introductions of Robin Van Persie and Shinji Kagawa, there is now some real options to bring into the side and, as it turned out, Rooney can now be given a 'rest' when the performances are not quite up to scratch.

It wasn't all doom and gloom at Goodison though, with Kagawa looking like a neat and tidy player that will be a positive to what we already had in the squad. With Fergie so often playing a 4-3-3 in the big games, Kagawa will be an upgrade to the position that Ji Sung Park so often took up for United and he looks a player much more comfortable on the ball and a little cleverer with the passes he plays.


Despite all the disappointment of the defeat at Goodison Park, I was still pretty positive about United's chances this season (how many other teams are going to win at Everton after all was the thinking) and the only surprise from the United team sheet on Saturday was the fact that I had predicted all but one of the players- try playing that game every week and guess the team Fergie will start and see how many times you get it right this season(!)

It was great to see Van Persie and Kagawa both get off the mark in their Old Trafford careers, especially the former as you just know the media were itching to get on a 'witch hunt' like the one they enjoyed when Torres couldn't hit a cow's backside with a banjo in his early Chelsea career.

However, I am a glass half empty kind of guy and the sloppiness of the two goals we conceded against Fulham were disappointing, while we were kind of hanging on at the end for the three points. The injury to Rooney will be a big miss, especially if he is missing for the game at Anfield on September 23, while I still have big reservations about a midfield that can't get a grip on a match.

I know a lot of United fans are high on Tom Cleverley and what he can do for our team, but I just can't see it... He played pretty well when we got in front and he was happy to have the ball at 3-1, but before that (OK fine it was only ten minutes) and after Fulham made it 3-2, he no longer demanded the ball, he was careless in possession and he refused to get forward with the ball.

He gained a lot of respect for his early season form last year, but I don't think he is the solution to the problems we have had for over four years now. As I say, he does do the little things well, but he doesn't do enough for me when we need a midfielder to take the ball on.

I barely noticed him at Goodison Park and I really wasn't that impressed with him yesterday- it's far too easy to want a ball when you're leading by a couple of goals, but it's a different story when you need someone to take the ball and get some composure in the side by leading possession.

In the second half, Cleverley and Anderson (I can't be the only one that thinks he has put on the pounds since he was last in action for us) both allowed too much space for the Fulham midfield to exploit and that leads me to the impressive Moussa Dembele.

Dembele has been linked with United in the transfer window and he looked like a player that would really bring some much needed dynamism into our midfield- he was comfortable bringing the ball forward through the midfield and linking up with the forward men, while he could also beat players with his quick feet. There were at least three occasions he beat a couple of men in the middle of the park and had United on the back foot and would give Fergie a different look in that area of the pitch.

We just don't have a player that is comfortable driving with the ball and forcing defenders to make decisions whether to go to the man or track the run of the forward players and we have even fewer players that can actually beat a man- even the likes of Ashley Young have been almost scared to try and take their man on in a dribble and these are all elements that could improve our side in my opinion, elements that Dembele would bring.

Do I think we will get him? Probably not at this late stage, but you can't blame me for believing that someone will see that we need to bring in someone into the midfield.


Finally, the strangest thing I have head all week about United is that Fergie has been banning hacks for getting a news story RIGHT- huh? Three journalists have been banned from future press conferences because they had written Rio Ferdinand would be missing at Everton and it just continues to see the press conferences becoming a bunch of 'Fergie cronies' that won't dare to ask anything of interest in fear of not being invited back.

Personally I don't see how this to the interest of the fans who are keen to hear about some of the bigger issues at Old Trafford (not related to Glazers who are clearly off the agenda), but I am guessing the 'real fans' are the only ones invited.