Looking back on the Premier League season so far, one can safely describe this season as one of the most hotly contested in years. At the top, at the bottom and everywhere in between, British soccer is witnessing a rare case of genius.
Indeed, the current season is developing into perhaps the most open Premier League title race of the last decade, as Luis Suarez, Sergio Aguero, Mesut Ozil and company continue to torment Europe’s most competitive defenses with their acute tactical awareness and raw technical skill.
The emergence of a new generation of genuinely world-class talents adds further intrigue and excitement to this year’s Premier League. Eden Hazard, Daniel Sturridge and Aaron Ramsey continue to build upon promising individual campaigns last term and seem poised to make the step to bona fide superstars.
While the competitive nature of the title race appears to have brought out the best in some clubs — see Arsenal, Liverpool and Everton — others have faltered in the face of the reinvigorated competition at the top of the table.
It’s safe to say that no club has been as affected by the changing landscape of power at the top of the Premier League as Manchester United. Long the gold standard of English soccer — and last year’s champions — United has endured a nightmare season plagued by inept transfer market dealings, injury crises and undeniably poor performances on the pitch. Not since the 2004-05 season has Manchester United finished outside of the top two in the league, but that distinguished streak appears destined to end this time around as the team languishes in seventh place, 15 points from the league’s summit and seven from the top four. United is in an unfamiliar position of weakness.
Understandably, many have pointed the finger at David Moyes — United’s newly appointed manager following Alex Ferguson’s retirement — as a key catalyst of the team’s decline. Despite taking charge of virtually the exact team that won the league last season, Moyes has thus far been unable to produce the results that his predecessor achieved year in and year out. But is this lack of the so-called “Fergie Factor” the sole contributor to United’s formidable regression? In one word, absolutely.
Excuses for the club’s troubles are manifold: United fans are quick to point to an aging squad, slow adaptation to new tactics and unfortunate injuries to key players as potential explanations for the club’s poor performance. But on further examination, these claims appear desperately hollow. The average age of Manchester United’s entire team is middling — 27.4 years old. While stalwart center-halves Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic are 35 and 32 respectively, their drop-off in form this season can hardly be blamed on age. Both performed admirably for the entirety of last season’s title charge.
Certainly, players like Ferdinand, Vidic and even Patrice Evra will need to be replaced in the coming years, but the decline of the club cannot be pinned on players like these who, on the evidence of the last 12 months, are still more than capable of delivering performances at a level befitting the pinnacle of European soccer.
As for those who claim the team needs more time to implement new tactics, it must be noted that Moyes had an entire preseason to work with an experienced group of winners. Surely a full summer of preparation would be enough for a quality manager to instill his ideas in the playing style of a championship club. Moyes’ successor at Everton, Roberto Martinez, has shown how a good coach can — in the space of just this most recent preseason — bring his tactics to a new team, having infused Goodison Park with an innovative, free-flowing, incisive and attacking soccer that is already showing results.
Finally, injury troubles can only be blamed to a point. While any team would suffer from the absence of players of the caliber of Robin Van Persie or Wayne Rooney, United is blessed with riches at the forward position and have two respectable back-ups: Javier Hernandez, a proven scorer at the Premier League level, and Danny Welbeck, who — though raw — offers a tremendous upside and is already a regular for Roy Hodgson’s English national team.
So how is one to judge Moyes’ reign thus far? While it’s impossible to comment on Moyes’ training methods — though they likely involve psychologically torturous attempts to undermine Shinji Kagawa’s confidence and quite possibly a great deal of verbal abuse aimed at the ineffective, spiky-haired Tom Cleverley — evaluating his transfer market dealings is not as difficult.
The summer additions of Wilfried Zaha and Marouane Fellaini’s fabulous hairstyle have been lackluster at best. Zaha failed to start a league game before his move to Cardiff, while Fellaini has struggled with both form and fitness in his short time at the club, leading some to question whether his obsession with looking as much like a shrub as possible is affecting his performance.
Meanwhile, United’s back four have suffered from rampant inconsistency, devoid of the defensive stability that had become such an influential facet of their enduring success under Ferguson. The center-back partnership of Vidic and Ferdinand has dwindled in significance, as figures like Evans, Smalling and Phil Jones have provided adequate rather than championship-caliber replacement. The team has already allowed 29 goals this season, nine more than Chelsea, the League’s top ranked defense, and four more than this season’s combative and industrious underdogs Everton. As is so often the case in soccer, a club’s successes hinge heavily upon the solidity of the back four, and, as is obvious judging by their current form, United is suffering from a dearth of young, spritely talent who could reinvigorate an aging defense that stands in considerable contrast to what was achieved under Ferguson.
So where does this place United in the context of the rest of the season? Supporters of the club will certainly be lifted by the January arrival of Juan Mata, a supremely talented player capable of unlocking even the most impregnable of defenses. Mata’s skill set has already been put to good use: In his first two games with United, he registered two assists as a much-needed attacking outlet for a previously weak midfield. Still, questions remain as to whether he, Rooney and Van Persie can effectively play together, as Mata revels in the No. 10 role that Rooney has handled effectively so far this season. Indeed, the only game the three have started together ended in a shocking 2-1 defeat to lowly Stoke City a week ago.
Another obvious talking point is how Mata’s presence will affect the burgeoning development of United’s promising young attacking midfielder Adnan Januzaj. The 18-year-old’s performances, full of energy and imagination, have provided a silver lining to what has thus far been a largely underwhelming season for the champions. In light of all this, one can only assume Moyes’ objectives have shifted from bringing home the season’s silverware to limiting damage and maybe finishing in the top four.
Given the financial power, winning tradition and global prominence of Manchester United, one would likely judge this season to be a minor hiccup after an era of tremendous success. That said, missing out on Champions League soccer places the owners of the club, as well as Moyes, in a precarious situation. Recruitment of top-quality players in the summer is dependent upon offering a high standard of competition, and the Europa League simply does not set the heart racing. The plight of Liverpool — a European giant condemned to the relative irrelevance of second-tier European soccer the past five years — should certainly serve as an ominous reminder of the importance of ensuring that one poor season does not instigate a prolonged period of mediocrity.
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