Pogue Mahone
Swiftie Fan Club President
- Joined
- Feb 22, 2006
- Messages
- 135,011
- Caf Award
- Caf Lifetime Achievement Award 2021
The above question was a big theme last year, with a lot of us coming to the painful realisation that Fergie had been getting a bunch of not particularly great players to punch well above their weight - aided by increasingly infrequent contributions from aging world class talents.
We've flatted to deceived a bit this season. There are signs of improvement (if you look for them!) but we have a similar points total to 2013/14 and a lot of fans who are not happy with where we're at right now, despite huge investment in the summer. The criticism has focussed on the manager playing people out of position and stubbornly using a formation that doesn't seem to get the best out of the players available. However, something we're not hearing much this season is the question of whether or not he's in charge of a squad of players who are good enough to be doing much better than they are.
Weirdly, it was watching Santi Cazorla last night that made me take a step back and think about the tools at Van Gaal's disposal. This was an Arsenal player - specialists in failure - who didn't even make their best XI in the opening months of the season putting on an absolutely sensational performance. Does Van Gaal have any player in his squad who has put in a performance like that this season? Or indeed, ever? Alongside him was Ramsey, who has also been a bit crap this season but was incredible the season before and could easily get back to those heights again. How many United players could score the sort of goal he scored against Galatasaray, for example? Then you have the likes of Ozil, Wilshere, Sanchez, Chamberlain and Walcott. At various times, in various games, they've all shown they're capable of absolutely destroying the best opposition around. Giroud is no great shakes but he's keeping Welbeck out of the team, a player that many of us think would have been good enough to displace either RvP or Falcao based on the respective performances this season. Their defence has been very poor at times this season but Koscielny and Mertesacker have previously gone on a long run of games looking like one of the best CB partnerships in the league. Not something you can say about any of our lot. Gibbs is a very good fullback and - although the others have their flaws - Wenger has the luxury of choosing from two specialist fullbacks on each flank. Something Van Gaal can only dream of.
The Arsenal squad is full of players who have been a bit hit and miss but when they're at their best they can look as good as any players in their position, in any team on the planet. How many United players could we say that about? I would say Rooney, Di Maria and Mata and that's it. With at least some concerns regularly expressed about all three of them. RvP was a world class striker but will he ever be one again? I suspect not. In fact, there's huge doubts whether either of our strike partnership will ever hit the heights again.
I'm not sure that any of our central midfielders would be talked about as one of the best around. Arguably Michael Carrick but he's not getting any younger and was never thought of as belonging to the very top tier. Our two wingers are reinventing themselves as wing-backs but it's a long time since we thought we had the best wingers in the league and not many United fans would have been happy last summer if they thought Valencia and Young would be our primary options out wide. We all got giddy about Januzaj but it's increasingly apparent that this was because everything else was so crap and we were desperate for some positivity. He's been no great shakes this season and his stats from his debut season don't really tally with our expectations. I hope he'll come good but is it guaranteed? I think not. Then we have our defence. Shaw has huge potential but we're still waiting to see the best of him in a United shirt and there's huge question marks over everyone else.
So yeah, our squad really does seem lacking when you compare it with the league's "fourth place specialists", never mind the teams who typically finish ahead of them. Van Gaal's stubborness and inflexibility is infuriating but perhaps it's a response to the same horrible surprise Moyes got when he took over. We're a club with title-winning aspirations that somehow ended up with a squad that is barely capable of qualifying for the Europa League.
Am I being harsh? Or has the squad overhaul that Van Gaal needs to do to compete with the best teams around barely even started?
We've flatted to deceived a bit this season. There are signs of improvement (if you look for them!) but we have a similar points total to 2013/14 and a lot of fans who are not happy with where we're at right now, despite huge investment in the summer. The criticism has focussed on the manager playing people out of position and stubbornly using a formation that doesn't seem to get the best out of the players available. However, something we're not hearing much this season is the question of whether or not he's in charge of a squad of players who are good enough to be doing much better than they are.
Weirdly, it was watching Santi Cazorla last night that made me take a step back and think about the tools at Van Gaal's disposal. This was an Arsenal player - specialists in failure - who didn't even make their best XI in the opening months of the season putting on an absolutely sensational performance. Does Van Gaal have any player in his squad who has put in a performance like that this season? Or indeed, ever? Alongside him was Ramsey, who has also been a bit crap this season but was incredible the season before and could easily get back to those heights again. How many United players could score the sort of goal he scored against Galatasaray, for example? Then you have the likes of Ozil, Wilshere, Sanchez, Chamberlain and Walcott. At various times, in various games, they've all shown they're capable of absolutely destroying the best opposition around. Giroud is no great shakes but he's keeping Welbeck out of the team, a player that many of us think would have been good enough to displace either RvP or Falcao based on the respective performances this season. Their defence has been very poor at times this season but Koscielny and Mertesacker have previously gone on a long run of games looking like one of the best CB partnerships in the league. Not something you can say about any of our lot. Gibbs is a very good fullback and - although the others have their flaws - Wenger has the luxury of choosing from two specialist fullbacks on each flank. Something Van Gaal can only dream of.
The Arsenal squad is full of players who have been a bit hit and miss but when they're at their best they can look as good as any players in their position, in any team on the planet. How many United players could we say that about? I would say Rooney, Di Maria and Mata and that's it. With at least some concerns regularly expressed about all three of them. RvP was a world class striker but will he ever be one again? I suspect not. In fact, there's huge doubts whether either of our strike partnership will ever hit the heights again.
I'm not sure that any of our central midfielders would be talked about as one of the best around. Arguably Michael Carrick but he's not getting any younger and was never thought of as belonging to the very top tier. Our two wingers are reinventing themselves as wing-backs but it's a long time since we thought we had the best wingers in the league and not many United fans would have been happy last summer if they thought Valencia and Young would be our primary options out wide. We all got giddy about Januzaj but it's increasingly apparent that this was because everything else was so crap and we were desperate for some positivity. He's been no great shakes this season and his stats from his debut season don't really tally with our expectations. I hope he'll come good but is it guaranteed? I think not. Then we have our defence. Shaw has huge potential but we're still waiting to see the best of him in a United shirt and there's huge question marks over everyone else.
So yeah, our squad really does seem lacking when you compare it with the league's "fourth place specialists", never mind the teams who typically finish ahead of them. Van Gaal's stubborness and inflexibility is infuriating but perhaps it's a response to the same horrible surprise Moyes got when he took over. We're a club with title-winning aspirations that somehow ended up with a squad that is barely capable of qualifying for the Europa League.
Am I being harsh? Or has the squad overhaul that Van Gaal needs to do to compete with the best teams around barely even started?