The properly depressing part of week 35

While writing this, United have just collected a single point from games against Chelsea at home and Liverpool away, despite the Cockney blues and Scouser reds barely have made a shot on target over 180 minutes combined. In my opinion this speaks volumes of United's attack, particularly in the established attack phase of the game.

by @Nicopoleides

The line up-against Chelsea:

                           De Gea
Jones           Ferdinand   Vidic      Evra
                   Carrick        Cleverley
Valencia              Rooney           Welbeck
                         Van Persie


The line-up against Liverpool:

                           De Gea
Jones           Ferdinand   Vidic      Evra
                   Carrick        Cleverley
Giggs                     Welbeck         Young
                             Van Persie


As everyone has noticed, both Liverpool and Chelsea parked the bus and hoped to exploit counter-attacks and set-pieces. Yet United have barely been able to create a clear-cut chance over two games, which worries me. After all it's not that different to play Liverpool/Chelsea or e. g. West Ham/Norwich/etc when all they do is defending anyway. And United are currently suffering a lack of ability to attack an in-balance defending side as a lack of x-factor.

If you look at the players individually, they're like employees of Mancunian cotton factories in the early 1800s: They work hard all day long, but won't actually contribute with rocket science or invent Microsoft. Van Persie is probably a fair exception, but he has appeared without enough support and suffered depression from loneliness up-front. One can always wonder why Kagawa hasn't been involved in any of the mentioned game, but regardless of his presence/absence, United are offering too little flair in the attacking department with line-ups like these. Which is why I'd like to see both Kagawa and Nani on a weekly basis, as their presences are more goal-threatening, particularly when being played in the right positions.

In other words, I think we - or more specifically David Moyes - should include more flair in the side, even if it's on the cost of slightly less defensive effort to avoid such clear-cut chance drought in the future.

Additionally, the likes of Young, Valencia, Welbeck, Cleverley and the out-of-form Giggs shouldn't be involved in the top games, particularly not in the starting line-up. Creating chances in the tightest games requires the sharpest cutting edge and the most venomous poision, which the mentioned players don't possess. They'll do it as fringe players, but such an amount of players without an eye for goals or killer passes is linked closely with lack of goals, which we have witnessed. And us having to (or choosing to) play such a bunch of average players makes me more depressed than only clinching a single
point in two games.