A Rudderless United

By: Taylor Rockwell | October 26th, 2009

I really have only one thing to say about yesterday’s performance. My girlfriend and I were out to dinner Friday night and the topic of the Liverpool match came up. She asked me if I was nervous/if she should avoid being in the apartment Sunday morning and I (like an idiot) told her the following.

Me: “I’m always a little nervous… but Liverpool really only have two players that we need to worry about.”
Her: “Who?”
Me: “Fernando Torres, who plays up top and Steven Gerrard, their captain who plays in the midfield. Neither is looking completely match fit, so it should be interesting.”

Fast forward to Sunday morning, and about midway through the second half. She walked into the living room, looked at the television, and asked, “Is Gerrard playing?” I told her that he wasn’t, she paused, and then dropped a bomb: “Then shouldn’t United be winning?” I paused… stammered… and then prepared for the worst. Sometimes it takes a girlfriend with limited soccer knowledge to point out the disturbing fact that you had been avoiding all morning.

Manchester United played their arch-nemesis Sunday morning, and that rival took the field with an injured striker and an inexperienced midfield that lacked its most important player. 95 minutes later, Liverpool walked off the field with 2-0 win and United were left to ponder what happened.

Giggs Tired I will avoid going into gory detail about the overall performance, but what I will say is that United lacked a game changer on Sunday. Wayne Rooney tried, but (in my opinion) it needs to come from the midfield. Our starting four were Michael Carrick, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, and Antonio Valencia. Carrick has been taken to the pod people’s mothership (along with Rio Ferdinand). Scholes and Giggs are clearly still playing at a world class level, but I don’t know if they can shoulder the full burden of changing a game. That leaves Valencia, who looked a threat down the flank for the majority of the match. And yet, I don’t think he’s quite ready to be the headliner in that midfield.

I know this has all been discussed at length time and time again, but I think it bears repeating in the wake of Sunday’s collapse. This year’s United squad has deviated from the plan of the past few years, namely “give it to Slave and see what happens.” To be honest, I couldn’t be happier about that fact. I hate the “one player” mentality that we so readily (and often) adopted. This year’s squad seems to have embraced the idea of interchangeable parts serving the greater good.

However, at some point, those parts need a unifying factor. They require a general in the form of Roy Keane. Someone who may not score all the goals or be the most creative player, but an individual who fires the team up, gets them playing at their peak efficiency, and can turn around a struggling performance. Some who won’t hesitate to get in the face of a struggling teammate and make it clear that it’s time to shape up…. And, if absolutely necessary, threaten to punch Patrick Vieira in the face.

My biggest fear heading into this season was complacency. In fact, I was so worried about it that I overlooked the other issue: leadership. With Slave gone, United needed a catalyst to elevate the rest of the team. Many thought it would be Wayne Rooney, and he’s certainly looked formidable for most of this early campaign. But can he take control of the team and keep them on track? I don’t know. It used to be Rio’s job, but he’s too busy giving away easy balls to the opposition to really concern himself. Giggs is the other obvious candidate, but he’s certainly not the solution for the future. Just who will be remains to be seen, but one thing is certain. If United struggled against a Liverpool that was missing it’s most important player and featured a fairly toothless midfield, how will they handle current frontrunners Chelsea? If they don’t solve the obvious problems, then it could be a very blue day when the Blues come to town.