I have finally found the time to pen my thoughts. I have my thoughts and views on different topics but let me start with Manchester United in this article. Let's revisit the Champions League qualification clinching match against Club Brugge in Belgium. It was a convincing performance as reflected by the score-line which could have been more. We had a couple of scares which we just about dealt with in defence. However, I felt that as much as United should be credited with the performance, Brugge should have to take responsibility for delivering a below-par performance at home. They had virtually let us play and dictate the tempo of the game. I felt Swansea would have provided us with a bigger and stronger test last weekend and my prediction came true. Swansea not only provided us with a stronger test but they made a mockery of our excellent defensive record till then. However, truth to be told, if United were sharper in front of goal, we could be talking about another United win and not about Swansea emerging as our bogey team. We had chances at 0-0, we certainly played with more confidence after going 1-0 up and then it all fell apart like a house of cards in the space of 5 minutes. We got caught on the counter attack for the first goal and then conceded a rather soft second goal which Sergio Romero has to take the blame for. We could have equalised for 2-2 but didn't manage to and that led to the usual meltdown all over social media among United fans.
Since Sir Alex Ferguson has retired, I feel United fans have become twitchy. Perhaps its the legacy of David Moyes' time with the number of bad results and performances we suffered from causing a lasting psychological impact among fans. It is annoying to read as a fellow fan because the reactions are extreme and not balanced enough. As a fan, I am never happy to lose a competitive match and my mood can be affected for days or weeks depending on the magnitude of the match and/or identity of our opponents but it is important to bring some balance and subjectivity to the matter after we regain our composure and calm down. First thing I feel all fans should realise is that our great club can never win it all forever even if that is what we aspire and expect. Football goes in cycles and ours ended when Sir Alex left. We have to be patient and can only hope the club makes the right decisions in terms of signings, manager appointment and planning and that our cycle will return soon or at the very least we will achieve some Cup success. Secondly, United fans should focus on Manchester United not Manchester City or Liverpool or Chelsea or Arsenal. I don't mind taking some joy in seeing or hearing of our rivals dropping points or losing. I am especially delighted to hear of Liverpool or City losing but please don't mock their fans. I know a lot of fans have been doing it for years when we have been successful and are continuing to do so. I understand the exchange of banter between rival fans but at the very least, if you want to do it, wait until the season is over because it can always come back to bite us in the same weekend or during the course of the season. We are not immune to dropping points and losing, no team is no matter how strong they are and we certainly are not in a position of strength now to be able to mock and banter confidently. Thirdly, the meltdown from United fans have made us sound like fans of our rivals who we have ridiculed in the past. All that is required is some intelligence of football. We have lost under Sir Alex too and suffered heavy defeats. We have gone seasons without winning anything or anything major. Before Sir Alex and Manchester United became successful, we went many years without winning anything. It can happen. Just calm down and put things into perspective.
There was another meltdown from fans on the last 2 days of the transfer window. I admit, I got as irritated as anyone reading about what was going on in the transfer window but after a few days, I have calmed down. Fans seem to think nowadays that the solution to our lack of success or poor performances lies in the transfer market. It seems to me that fans' solution to our problems are that we need to sign some big name player or the other at an astronomical sum and sell X,Y,Z from the team. Regular buying and selling of players in big quantities will not guarantee success. During our period of success, at most we have only signed 2-3 players and sell not more than the same amount. In two seasons, last season and this, we have bought at least 5-6 players and sold about the same number in each season. The lack of stability is hardly a recipe for success. What fans don't realise is that this is not fantasy football or Football Manager. This is real life and players are human beings who need time to adjust to a new league and new country if they are joining from overseas. They would also need to adjust to the manager's requirements too. Some take a faster time to settle in and some take a longer time. It is also one thing to play for a smaller club and another to play for a club the size of Manchester United. Patience is needed if we are to see results. We need a settled team not one that keeps chopping and changing every season.
On the transfer market this season, I feel we had done pretty well until this week. We signed Memphis, Matteo Darmian, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Morgan Schneiderlin and Sergio Romero early. Memphis, Darmian, Schweinsteiger and Schneiderlin had the benefit of going on tour with team and that has helped them settle in but nothing beats actually playing in competitive matches and in that respect, they are still adjusting. Romero came the latest and was thrown straight into the first team due to David De Gea's frame of mind from the uncertainty surrounding his future and Victor Valdes' falling out with the manager and he is playing catch-up due to the lack of proper pre-season training. All five have done decently well so far. What I do not understand is the decision to send Adnan Januzaj out on loan to Borussia Dortmund. I guess no-one saw that coming. He was playing regularly in the first team in the last 3 matches before missing the matches against Brugge and Swansea. Louis Van Gaal had said that he would not entertain any offers for him so why the change of heart now? I am puzzled by the decision. We hope the experience at Dortmund would do him good and he can return with greater confidence and experience. Javier Hernandez was another who at the start of the season was seen as one of the three strikers in our squad seemingly set to stay. Was the change of heart due to that penalty and open goal miss against Brugge? It was put to me that his fate was probably decided after the miss against Newcastle. I feel he could have still done the job if he was trusted and shown the faith the way Sir Alex did. It's sad to see that since Sir Alex left, Hernandez no longer plays with a smile on his face and his enthusiasm has reduced too. He looks lost. Hopefully he rediscovers his confidence, enthusiasm and joy in Germany.
The most controversial piece of business would have to be the signing of Anthony Martial from Monaco for a 36 million euros and the price can rise further if he becomes more successful with us. With all due respect, unless you watch Ligue 1 regularly, most would not have heard of him and it came as bolt from the blue for all as nobody saw this coming. What has made it controversial was the price United paid for an unproven teenage Frenchman. It is not the player's fault that he was bought for that amount but undoubtedly he will be under pressure from the start due to the price tag. We can only hope now that he turns out to be a good signing and we can only support him as a Manchester United player. David De Gea, as widely expected was on the verge of joining Real Madrid in exchange for Keylor Navas but due to an administrative error, the move fell through. I hope now that his future is settled albeit not favourably for him, he can be fully focused on giving his all to the club. We might have some sympathy for Victor Valdes who has been left out since pre-season due to a fall out with the manager. Maybe he shouldn't have refused the orders of the manager or could have done so tactfully. It's a pity as he could have been playing in the first team from pre-season onwards due to De Gea's state of mind. To be fair, Romero has done well when called into action except when he has the ball at feet or against Swansea but there is a feeling that fans would rather see Valdes play having seen him as an adversary who won a lot even at our expense in the past. However, this saga should have ended by the end of the transfer window. He should have been sold and if he wasn't then I feel it is only fair that Valdes apologises and is given a chance to stake a claim.
My final words in this article would be on Louis Van Gaal. We have seen him work for a season now and to be fair to him, he hasn't had a settled squad yet. I feel the squad he has this season is better than what he had last season. Our midfield is as strong as ever. The options are plentiful but he has to start rotating the squad. Memphis is still young and adapting to the English game. He needs to be given a breather and taken out of the limelight from time to time to keep him fresh and hungry. Wayne Rooney has had a poor season so far outside of the night in Brugge in the Champions League. Van Gaal should have the courage to drop him even if he is our captain which is where Hernandez would have come in handy or maybe Van Gaal could try and rotate Rooney and play him as the Number 10 instead which again could be where Hernandez would have come in useful. Fellaini is back but I can't see him start games as a number 9. He can play off the number 9 and having him in the side would enable us to play in a different way which so far during Van Gaal's reign has been the most convincing and dominating style. However, that style of play can be easily read and nullified. With the options we have, we can play with different players offering different options and style. We have the potential to play free-flowing football with an exchange of players in the forward positions but I have seen that the players have played tentatively and within themselves which is disappointing. There is no use keeping all that possession when most of it is away from the box and is just being recycled without penetration or causing any threat. He has to realise that we got to play faster and press harder from the front. It doesn't come bigger than the match against Liverpool on Saturday to put things right and I hope we do.
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