Dr Jekyll Mr Hyde Man. United

I didn't watch the match against West Bromwich Albion because I was very sick. I had every intention to soldier on despite my sickness but my ailments overpowered me. When I checked the score in the morning, I was unhappy to find out that United had lost but I wasn't surprised. It has become common for this version of Manchester United to unexpectedly lose when you least expect it and to win spectacularly again when least expected. You just never know which United would turn up from one match to the other. Gone are the days when we could expect United to go on a long winning or at least unbeaten run, where defeats would be few and far between and a losing run would not last longer than at least 2 matches. I can't comment on the performance against West Bromwich because I didn't watch the match but it was a defeat United could ill afford as they needed to stay on the coat-tails of Manchester City, who have a game in hand. After that defeat, whatever chance United had of qualifying for the Champions League through their league position has now got slimmer.

The reaction of our fans to the defeat to West Bromwich is ridiculous, extreme and embarrassing. Post-Arsenal, many fans was buzzing about the possibility of entering the top 4 and finishing higher than 4th in the league. Some overly optimistic dreamers even started tipping United to mount a late and unexpected title surge. It was tough to find anyone stating LVGOUT and/or WoodwardOUT etc. Post-defeat to West Bromwich and the same number of fans (almost), are down in the dumps suggesting that United could peter away and end the season in a mid-table position. It is embarrassing because many fans have spent so much time mocking fans of other clubs that express such extreme reactions but are now as guilty as fans of our rivals for displaying similar outbursts.

In today's day and age, you don't get that many fans who understand football and are realist. This is a phenomenon that exists with fans of other big clubs too, Liverpool and Arsenal come to mind as their fans have displayed equally dramatic opinion changes. I feel before anyone supports a club or even when they decide to support a club, they should first understand and analyse football before they make crazy declarations that are synonymous of someone who could be suffering from a bipolar disorder. It is easy to get excited and carried away on the waves of success but before anyone opens their mouth to talk or in today's world, access their keypad to type, they should first calm down and think carefully using logic and keeping emotions aside. United were successful for so long because the manager and players didn't focus on gloating over one or two wins, they focused on the bigger picture and celebrated when they achieved it. They didn't spend time rubbing it in the faces of their adversaries, they focused on doing it again and again like a machine. That should be the attitude our fans should take. Even in those successful times, there were seasons where United fell below expectations and had poor seasons, the team made the best they could of the season and responded. United fans should take a leaf out of the mindset of our successful teams and apply it in their role as a fan of the club. It's small talk to label a person as a plastic fan or non-plastic fan. A real plastic fan is someone who only supports during the good times and goes missing in the bad times. As fans, everyone is entitled to their opinion, everyone has their right to express their disappointment and joy in whichever way they like but one should always rationalise before forming an opinion and then expressing it.

Post-Arsenal, I felt that United did achieve a significant result and were on a good run after taking into account the comfortable and morale-boosting wins in the FA Cup against Shrewsbury Town and in the Europa League against Midtjylland. They continued it albeit fortunately and in gritty fashion against Watford in midweek but they needed more than 2 successive league wins. United needed to keep winning and go on a run, keeping pace and putting the pressure on Manchester City in 4th place with the derby yet to be played, winning the derby will definitely aid their hopes and any other slip-up from City along the way could be taken advantage of by United. That was the task at hand. It is disappointing but qualifying for the Champions League has become the club's "Premier League title" now. The reality is that United desperately needs to qualify for Europe's elite club competition. It is the bare requisite after yet another disappointing season. However, United have hardly been consistent for most of this season and it is one of the major reasons why United find themselves in a below-par season. With that in mind, it would be an achievement for this side to go on a long winning run almost till the end of the season to qualify for the Champions League. The task at hand was huge and it became mammoth with that defeat to West Bromwich. United now find themselves behind Manchester City and West Ham in 6th place, 3 points behind Liverpool who have a game in hand. Mathematically it is still possible to target for the 4th place in the league but considering the way the team has played and how inconsistent it has been, the task is almost impossible now. It will require a miracle and that miracle is called positive consistency of results.

I dreaded being drawn against Liverpool in the Round of 16 of the Europa League because firstly, I would rather play against a European club side since this is an European tie after all and secondly, after the last encounter against Liverpool at Anfield where United got a smash-and-grab win, I was afraid, it could come back to bite us as that win could have just papered over the limitations of United against Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool. I hate losing to Liverpool but I approached this match feeling less intense than usual for a match against Liverpool. It was odd to face them in an European tie and that too in a two-legged tie and not the final itself. The fact that United have beaten them in the last 4 competitive matches, led me to be lulled into complacency and not knowing what to expect just left me hoping that United would not play as poorly as they did in their previous league encounter at Anfield. My worse fears were realised as soon as United conceded a rather soft penalty. Overall, I got to admit that it was a deserved win for Liverpool and United had another poor outing at Anfield against Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool who are set up in a different way compared to Brendan Rodgers' Liverpool. The German used the same tactics and strategy that he had employed in the January encounter. The only difference is that Liverpool scored this time albeit with a touch of good fortune but they deserved their good luck.

United lacked creativity going forward, they lacked intensity, it seem like they were just going through the motions and had their thoughts elsewhere. Normally losing to Liverpool would leave me filled with rage and sour my mood for days but having seen how poorly they can play, I am no longer surprised at the performance and the score-line to feel the rage. I knew it could have been worst had it not been for the heroics of David De Gea again so to only lose 2-0 after a performance like that is a very slight positive to take from the result. The unpredictability and inconsistency of the team's performance is astonishing and remarkable.I am lost for words and tired to explain and rationalise the performances and inconsistency that has blighted the season. It's far too easy to blame injuries or the manager alone for this. Everyone from the players to the manager has to take their share of the blame. I was very surprised by the selection of Marouane Fellaini. He had just returned from injury and before he got injured, he was playing very well but normally Van Gaal likes to build his returning players' fitness by letting them play part of matches and not throw them directly into a match situation. Fellaini not only played, he played for 90 minutes and was as poor as anyone of the outfield players. It seems that the strategy was just to lump the ball long to him which is a strategy one one would use late in a match when chasing a result not from the first minute. Frustrating and very disappointing. It could be a blessing in disguise if he is banned for the second leg.

What will happen of United now? Your guess is as good as mine. The match against West Ham on Sunday in the FA Cup will not be easy at all even if United is playing at home. It is not beyond West Ham to beat United as it is not beyond United to suddenly play very well and win. Can United overturn the result against Liverpool in the return fixture at Old Trafford in a week's time? Yes and no. Again, it will depend on which United turns up.

Troubles At My Club: Inter

Inter is free-falling and rather dramatically. There's no signs of arresting this slide despite the occasional glimpse of promise when there is an odd win to interrupt the run of draws and losses. It is particularly depressing because the run that has seen Inter drop from top to 5th and 13 points behind current leaders and champions, Juventus has included resounding defeats against arch-rivals AC Milan and twice against Juventus. This alarming slump of form in the second half of the season is not a new phenomenon though. It happened in 2012-13 under Andrea Stramaccioni and 2013-14 under Walter Mazzari. Stramaccioni couldn't keep his job and was sacked at the end of the season while Mazzari did just about enough to ensure Inter qualified for the Europa League and keep his job for at least one quarter of the following season. As Inter approached the end of the first half of the season on a high, I was interested to see if Inter could bring this form into the second half of the season or collapse the way Stramaccioni and Mazzari's Inter did. At the moment, it is proving to more of the latter than the former.

Roberto Mancini was given an almost free reign in building a squad with the ultimate objective of qualifying for the Champions League in mind. Inter had a rather impressive transfer campaign and the team did well for the first half of the season but the reality was that the football on display didn't match the results achieved by the team. For most parts of the season, Inter relied on dogged defending, defensive organisation, brilliant goal-keeping by Samir Handanovic, a mixture of clinical finishing, mistakes in the opposition defence, great goals and set-pieces to win matches. Inter displayed great determination, team-spirit and resilience to get their results. It was not beautiful to watch and widely-criticised by the media but most importantly, as far as Inter were concerned was that they got the wins and were on a run. Their confidence was on the rise and the noise emanating from the Inter camp was that of who cares about the style of football as long as we are winning. As a fan, the football was not enjoyable to watch at all. I struggled to stay awake to watch late kickoffs and gave up watching late matches "live" altogether except for big matches against Milan and Juventus. I could understand the rationale if it had been to bring about stability and get on board some positive results and go on a positive run to give a newly formed team some confidence. However, as the season went on, it became apparent that Inter's strategy is only to play defensively and kick lumps out of their opponents.

The strategy employed by Mancini was backward and perplexing at the same time. I wasn't in favour of it then and now it is getting exposed. I am perplexed because in Mancini's first 2 seasons at Inter, he had Inter playing some of the most exciting and entertaining attacking football seen at Inter in recent times. He became rather one-dimensional and physical in his approach in the post-Calciopoli era but it was still more attacking than what we have witnessed for most parts of this season. At Manchester City, he had them playing attacking football too and had always imposed their style on their opponents which is why I do not understand why he had imposed such backward and cowardly tactics. He is not only getting his team to play defensively but he is also looking to mirror the opponents' formation to counter them. These were tactics and strategies that belonged to the foregone days of Italian football. Football has moved on since then and more Italian teams now look to impose their style of play onto their opponents and play a more expensive brand of football. Inter, being a big club and like all other big clubs, should be looking to impose their style of play. If Mancini is not able to be progressive in his tactics and strategy, he could at least match the norms of modern football. Granted that in the first half of the season, he had successfully implemented the tactic to mirror the opponent's formation but in Italy, where almost every coach is tactically astute, you can't get away with a single approach and tactic if it is not overly dominating and powerful.

In the first half of the season, he had successfully rotated the squad without any European football but he is not able to get the best out of his players now as the players playing are no longer able to match the levels of the first half of the season and in the case of some players, they have either not shown their true value yet or are getting their limitations exposed now. On the matter of the squad he has built, I don't understand why he has built a midfield that is devoid of creativity and based it entirely on physical strength and on players that have greater interest in stopping a player than creating play. Felipe Melo brought character, leadership and a winning mentality but he also brought in a world of trouble. At the age of 31 or 32, he has still not learnt how to tackle and how to tackle cleanly. He has still not learnt when to be aggressive and when to stand off. He is a ticking time bomb and Mancini chased him like as if he was after a midfield God. Inter's decision to offload Mateo Kovacic is biting the team badly and this is a point that I have raised repeatedly in previous posts. I understand the decision to offload him was to raise some money for the signing of other players but the decision not to replace him with a player of similar ilk is a bigger folly. When Inter signed Geoffrey Kondogbia, it was heralded like as if we had signed Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo but honestly, who is Kondogbia? I have never seen him play before so I was not excited at all about signing him and after watching him this season, I don't understand what the hype was all about. I felt the hype was more about beating Milan to his signature but if there's anything we need to beat Milan on it would be results on the pitch and not signings made off the pitch. At the moment, it looks like once again we have made a big blunder in the transfer market and made everyone at the club look like fools especially those that negotiated the transfer and the manager that wanted him and Milan have come up trumps once again. Inter bought creative, attacking players in Stevan Jovetic, Adem Ljajic and Ivan Perisic. All these players play further forward or on the wings. Jovetic showed promises of rediscovering his form at Fiorentina but has fallen out of favour now because his performances has not picked up or been consistent enough. Ljajic started the season slowly but slowly got stronger and he too has fallen off the boil in recent games. As for Perisic, we are still waiting to see the Perisic we saw at Wolfsburg and Croatia. He has looked a pale shadow of his normal self.

Jonathan Biabiany was re-signed and has not been used quite as often. He was devastating against Sampdoria but didn't start against Juventus. He hasn't played often enough for me to pass a judgement on his performances this season. I understand the need to ease him back into playing competitive football after his heart scare last season. Joao Miranda and Jeison Murillo were our signings of the season in the first half of the season but both have looked out of form since the turn of the year and mistakes have crept into their game which has resulted in Inter dropping points and conceding goals. However, they still remain Inter's best signings. Martin Montoya was so awful and out of favour that he was sold during the January transfer window and Alex Telles hasn't quite looked good enough. Our best full-back is still Danilo D'Ambrosio, who I feel is under-rated. In the case of players like Jovetic, Ljajic and Perisic, I feel the manager's tactics and strategy is not conducive and helpful for attacking players to perform at their best. In the case of Perisic, he might not have fully adapted to Italian football. Jovetic has lost touch, spark and confidence after his unsuccessful spell at City. He would need to be humble to rediscover himself. Ljajic, I feel is having a blip in form. He has been excellent for most of the season. Inter added Eder during the January transfer window when wisdom would have dictated the need to sign a creative midfielder as the priority. I am not opposed to signing Eder as he is a good forward that can give us a hand and offers something different to the forwards we have but we needed a creative midfielder first to provide the attackers a platform to attack and score. Eder has worked really hard as has Rodrigo Palacio but their hard work in doing their defensive duties and in building up play has somewhat blunted their attacking prowess.

Marcelo Brozovic has been our most attack-minded midfielder and he has gone off the boil too but there is no-one else to take over the mantle from him after the sale of Fredy Guarin who was the other attack minded midfielder. Kondogbia has the built of Patrick Viera, Paul Pogba or Yaya Toure but has the influence of neither on the game. He looks perpetually like a lost tourist on the pitch. The examples of illustrious players like Michel Platini and Zinedine Zidane have been given of other foreign players (coincidentally French) who struggled in their first season and then exploded. We shall see if that is indeed the case with Kondogbia. Mauro Icardi is a player I hate for moral reasons but as a player he is ill-suited to play in the present tactical system. He is not strong enough to hold up the ball on his own, he is not fast enough to get past his man, he can't dribble past his man and he is not capable of doing the extraordinary out of nothing. He is a plain poacher that relies on chances created for him. I don't rate him too highly as a player as well but my judgement of him as a player could be clouded by my opinion of him as a man and it is very embarrassing and an absolute disgrace to see the captain armband on him. Objectively, I can't see him as a leader or possessing any leadership qualities.

At the moment, with the way the team is built and the players at Mancini's disposal, the rest of the season looks doomed and we would be lucky to even qualify for the Europa League let alone the Champions League. Milan's rise is in direct contrast to Inter's fall and theirs is the triumph of good football as they persevered and stuck to their manager who adapted to the squad at his disposal and turned their form around. Good football always prevails and that is my belief. I don't think a week of ritiro will help, rest of the season in ritiro might help. Mancini has to find the answers to arrest this slide and get the team to win again. It's ironic but at times like this, a string of hard fought, backs-to-the wall 1-0 wins would help restore confidence. However, my fear is that if that happens, all will be treated as good again and as fans, we would need to endure some terrible football for a long time. Mancini's second coming has been very disappointing. He has keep calm and get the players to calm down on the field and not get tied down with hounding the referee over every refereeing decision against the team. That just adds to the image of a team that has been built to intimidate which I feel is unbecoming of a big team like Inter and a waste of energy.

My final word is on the owner Erik Thohir. I feel he is more a businessman than an Inter fan. He claims to support Inter but does he really understand football? He is looking almost entirely at the business aspect of the club. I don't feel the passion for the club the way I felt it from Massimo Moratti who we felt is a fan like the rest of us. He made some bad choices and mistakes in the past in terms of his hirings, sackings, signings and sales but all is forgiven because whatever he did, he did it almost firstly as a fan. At least during his reign, he brought fantasy to the fans. I understand and agree that Italian football is no longer what it was in the 90s and doesn't have the financial muscle to compete with other leagues and as such Moratti can't bring fantasy to the fans like he used to but at least he was like one of us and we felt it. It was a big mistake to completely remove Moratti from his role as the owner. It was progressive and humble of the great man to move aside but for the club it hasn't been a great change. One other thing, the team needs identity. We don't have identity if we keep signing foreign players who don't understand what it means to play for Inter and the jersey. We need to have Italian players who understand what it means to play for Inter and to play in the Italian league. It's one thing to say in press conferences that "it is your dream to join Inter", "I know/love Inter" and rattle off names of legends but another to actually know what it means to have the jersey on your back when you step on the field.