Your defence has gone from a joke at the start of the season to being one of the best in the last 5-10 games. Your attack which was doing ok when defence was poor has now gone poor when the defence has improved.
Did I not say this at the start of the season, that things would like a lot brighter defensively when were able to name a consistent defence (a back 4, of preference, but a 3 if need be).
However what Van Gaal has done to the team is questionable at best, lamentable at worst. I sometimes wonder whether he only pays attention to one statistic - possession - as commentators often remark "Man Utd have had high possession etc." and my response is always "and we've done %$&£ all with it". You can get lots of possession by playing balls square. You can get lots of possession by passing backwards. You can get lots of possession by never taking a man on. We do all of that.
Where's the tempo? In certain games under Moyes last season it was demonstrated that Man Utd have to play with a high tempo to win games, if not, no chance. And yet again we're doing the same old same old, passing from side to side. Failing to take any risks. I remember jokes that Man Utd, with the way their team is balanced, will win games 6-5. I think the 1-0 home defeat to Southampton sums things up perfectly.
When is di Maria, bar one good game, going to step up and run rings round defenders and dictate games like Ronaldo used to? I'd expect pretty much the same from the former - 60 million, even in the inflated market of today, is a lot of money. When has Falcao demonstrated that he is worth the wages that he reportedly earns and ought to be signed permanently? When will Shaw show anything like the promise he did last year? When will Herrera actually get a decent run in the team?
Add to that how Januzaj looks like a broken man, how Rafael seems to have gone backwards and how we're still relying on Carrick to dictate games the best he can and you can see why we're in this situation.
The positives are that we're now drawing games which last year we would have lost and that the defence looks more solid (oh look, that coincides with not having an injury list in double-figures)
Our saving grace is that the other teams challenging for Europe have also been inconsistent this year, although I imagine they're not playing as bad and as boring football as we are.
Still, at least there is karma in the news that Adrian Chiles has been sacked.
. To present football on ITV is, like the England manager's role, a poisoned chalice where everyone dislikes you.
hock
