There’s always a debate when it’s time to blame someone. Who is more responsible for a team looking bad – the manager or the players? David Moyes might be over criticized from the day he took the Manchester United job, but his inability to keep this team on its edge and hungry for more, while Wayne Rooney, along with Adnan Januzaj and David de Gea, seem to be the only players not suffering from too many highs & lows in his game.
And even Rooney can’t walk away from the 2-2 draw with Cardiff unscathed. First there was his kicking out at Jordon Mutch which deserved a sending off but only got him booked, and there were those incredible misses, including one right after Cardiff’s late equalizer that should have been a goal. There was something too lenient and lethargic about Manchester United once they held the lead(s), which isn’t the first time we’ve seen such weakness from them.
David Moyes seems too relaxed when his team has a one goal lead, as if it satisfies him. Too long a manager of a team that doesn’t see away points as something ordinary, his belief in a goal and keeping the lead right away has been hurting Manchester United all season long, but his inability to find an answer to his midfield problem might be just as big.
No Michael Carrick? It looks like Manchester United can’t cope with such an absence, unless they start using Wayne Rooney as a central midfielder, something he absolutely loathes. Tom Cleverley just looks clueless and out of position most of the time, especially when thinking is necessary, and not just running fast to get to a point.
Marouane Fellaini? If it wasn’t for the long list of Tottenham expensive failures, he would be leading the “flop-of-the-season” award list by far. The only thing he’s been able to be good at is physical battles, but central midfielders, especially in a two-man system and even more so those who cost so much money need to be able to do so much more. Manchester United aren’t getting that from the Belgian, who played a much more attacking role for Everton over the last couple of seasons before being plucked out of Goodison Park (tied with Manchester United for 21 points) early this season.
Patrice Evra might have scored a goal, something he’s been doing quite a lot over the last couple of years, but his defending is becoming poorer and poorer. Too bad for a goal here and there to conceal.
Right now, Manchester United are a part of nine-team group separating itself from the rest of the league. Arsenal are league leaders with 28 points, getting a 4-point cushion from Liverpool and Chelsea, who are followed by Manchester City, Southampton, Manchester United, Everton, Newcastle and Tottenham. Even though they’ve gone undefeated in their last four matches, winning four of them, it’s hard to say they’re much better than those teams near them in the table, even if they have their full lineup at the disposal of David Moyes, who doesn’t seem to convinced when you look at him during matches that he knows what to do with them.