Do United Need Something Different?

By: Wayne Farry | November 11th, 2008

After watching United’s awful defeat to Arsenal at the weekend I couldn’t help but think that United have been lacking something this season. Sure, against the poorer and mediocre teams in the EPL United’s tactics work well and they score lots of goals. But against the other members of the ‘Big Four’ United’s way of playing seems quite ineffective.

At Stamford Bridge United played well for the first half hour but eventually Chelsea came back into the game. In the first few minutes at Anfield United played well and got a goal but after a while even Liverpool took over and became stronger than United. The same can be said for the match at the Emirates. United had the better of the first 15 minutes but after that Arsenal seemed comfortable and almost bossed the game at times, it was appalling.

United’s tactics against these teams this season have seemed quite unimaginative. They end up resorting to kicking in crosses from way out. Also, Fergie said he bought Berba as a striker, a centre forward but since he’s come he’s pretty much played the same as Rooney, dropping off and trying to set things up. But against the better teams you simply don’t get that much space. This was evident with the amount of possession United gave away at the Emirates, it’s like they were running out of ideas. But surely this can’t be it? How can a team containing Rooney, Berba, Ronaldo, Carrick and Anderson be devoid of ideas when it comes to attacking? It defies belief in my opinion.

Also, in these matches United’s midfield seemed far too easy to get through. In my opinion this is because both Carrick and Anderson, or Park Ji Sung or Scholes if he is playing are all attack-minded players. When they come up against top-class midfielders they can’t really cope in a defensive capacity.

So, that begs the question that the title asks. Do United need something different? Do they need a proper, and I mean proper centre forward who won’t drop off at any given opportunity and will actually be in the box when the balls knocked in? A striker who’ll be there in the six-yard box to tap in the easy ones while Berba’s too lazy to run into the box.

Maybe United need a proper holding midfielder? Hargreaves is our main defensive midfielder but he spends most of his time defending himself from injury than from opposition attacks. If his injury concerns and setbacks continue maybe United will have to cash in. And if they do, who would be a good replacement? Maybe a Lassana Diarra type player? Or maybe Diarra himself, he’s a carbon copy of Makelele and would be a perfect partner to a more attack-minded midfielder, I think.

So, what do you think? Do United need a proper centre forward or a holding midfielder? Or both? Or do you honestly think United need neither? Let me know…