Manchester United 1 West Bromwich Albion 2: Oh No Moyes, Not Again!!

David Moyes did achieve a ‘first’ – his first lost at Old Trafford and it was not pretty – the manner of the loss. Put it in simple stats – 6 Premier league games, 3 losses, one draw, and two wins (only one was convincing – against Swansea), making Manchester United lying a lowly 12^th in the league table. The other two wins came at cup ties – both at Old Trafford. While general consensus is that Moyes has a gigantic shoe to fill and will be rightly given time to lead United in the new era, the manner of his team selection, his tactical ability as well as his role as the motivator for the team has come into question.For one Manchester United and its supporters are not accustomed to losing two league matches in a row – in the manner they lost to Manchester City and West Bromwich Albion. Historically United was always able to bounce back after a ‘hurtful’ thumping and go on and produce a series of convincing performance but not this time. This time the man at the helm is no longer Sir Alex Ferguson. It is David Moyes, someone handpicked by his predecessor and some who admitted he is still trying to know his team. A direct comparison with Ferguson start at United 27 years ago shown that Moyes was on par with Ferguson. But back then United was the Liverpool now (they had a midfield maestro in Bryan Robson as with Liverpool’ Steven Gerard now), losses were easier to stomach. Being defending champion and the most successful club in English football means whichever team out there playing and whichever opponents they are facing, cannot turn out such ‘lack of cutting edge’ performance.

 

To be fair, Manchester United did start well, the manner of their swift counter attacking was similar to those displayed during the Capital One Cup win against Liverpool few days ago. What was not there was the finishing. How most fans wish that David Moyes would be at the touchlines screaming at his players after 30 minutes of play. The longer the inability to finish their attacking plays with goals the stronger the confidence of the opposition and this is where West Brom capitalized on.

 

Moyes’ team selection was not that puzzling, given that this team did reasonably well against Liverpool and his intention of giving more than one game to those lacking game time. But his tactical decision was puzzling, replacing Shinji Kagawa at half time with Adnan Januzaj. While this type of match might do the world of good to Januzaj experience, it did nothing to Kagawa’s confidence in the manager. Kagawa has proven to be a quality player and his best position will always be the No 10 role behind the striker. But that does not mean he cannot play anywhere else in the midfield. Rather than substituting Kagawa, Moyes could always try tactical changes on the field, for example – switching roles on the pitch. The substitution at half time sends a signal to West Brom that all is not well with the team’s confidence. It is little surprise then that West Brom did pick out Januzaj and pressure him – given his inexperience – and it is the one lost possession from Januzaj that leads to a goal for West Brom.

 

The puzzling tactical switch aside, Manchester United was toothless after failing to break West Brom and the midfield and defense were to be blamed for failing to organize the defense and taking control, and nothing the forwards can do – not even Robin Van Persie. David Moyes had failed to galvanise his team during half time (perhaps too busy making the tactical substitution) and probably under-estimated Steve Clarke’s side. He (Moyes) has got to learn from this fast as the games will be coming one after another from this point on. Next up is Shakhtar Donetsk, an away fixture at the Ukrainian city in a Champions League group tie and Donetsk is the one team that could derail Manchester United’s chances of progressing to the next round. Let’s hope that Moyes will not achieve yet another series of ‘first’ this time – first European loss (home or away), or a first European draw.