₦airaland Forum

elampiro: I don go sleep. Who has time for lazy Berbatov? Never ever won EPL best player. Has he ever been on EPL best XI?

mtchewwwwww - berbatov made the EPL XI in his debut season. like i said, you must have started watching the premier league after ronaldo left for spain.

elampiro: Ipn 2010/11, Berbatov three goals against Liverpool and one more agaist Everton were only his commendable achievements. The rest goals were against weak teams- 5 against Blackburn, 3 against Birmingham, 2 against blackpool, sunderland, fulham, bolton etc. He can't face big oppositions.

only quack football fans reason like this. every match in the league is worth 3 points. let's assume rooney scored a hatrick @ anfield earlier and 5 against west brom last night, united would be on 13 points as we speak - it's the results of those games you deemed small games that win the titles.

In a season of 38 fixtures, his EPL goals were in 10 fixtures. He went dry in 28 fixtures. He was not the reason we won the league. Rooney's goals and assists across several matches were more useful to the team that season.

perhaps if he was taking penalties, he would have scored goals in the other games. berbatov became the first striker to win a golden boot without a single penalty in his tally, that's outstanding.

now, let's address your lies.....
berbatov scored in 11 different games. he started 24 times and was a sub in 8 games. how that amounted to staying dry in 28 games has to be the most ridiculous point ever made on this thread. however, we are used to your usual fact distortion tactics.

Berbatov led the attack and could not score in 28 fixtures in the season. 28 matches a top striker went dry!!! Shame. Yet one naiaralander is crediting him with the reason for the total points gathered that won us the title. Joke of the millennium.

why are you lying?
did berbatov play in all the 38 league fixtures? did berbatov not score in more than 10 games that season? if berbatov was the preferred penalty taker, common sense dictates he would have even scored in more games than 11.

he was by far one of our most outstanding players that season. we went on top of the table the day he scored 5 against blackburn & he kept us there till the end. we won in 10/11 because of 3 players(nani, chicharito & berbatov). rooney was miles below these 3 players.

Rooney playing from midfield that season contributed to goals more via goals and assists and won more matches. If not for Rooney that returned from injury we would never had won the league.

united were the league leaders as at late november and they maintained that pole position till may. rooney didn't start scoring until the game against west brom on new year's day.

No wonder Berbatov was shipped away as a 4million pounds striker. Can anyone tell me how much losses we incurred from Berbatov deal. Did he sell any shirt for the club? Rooney has made millions of pound for us even though we were lucky to have got him for only twenty something million.

at 31, he had paid his dues for united. he had more games/goal ratio than the fat scouser. with berbatov, we won plenty of titles & he won a golden boot for himself. hopefully, by 39 rooney would one day cop a golden boot. all united's strikers as at 08/09 went on to win golden boots except rooney.

I beg I wan sleep. Berbatov is not worth my time.

he's worth more than the king of your village.

elampiro: 1. Goals do not tell who is the most important player in a team at anytime. Maradonna was not always the highest scorer, same with Amokackie. Rooney's return took us to the top of the league.

which maradona? the same one that scored 5 goals + 5 assists to win argentina the world cup? rooney did not assist & did not score.

2. Berbatov was useless, he was only lucky to score his 20 goals in a few matches against weak EPL teams except Liverpool. In how many matches did Berbatov score? He was irrelevant in 2/3 (two third) of our fixtures that season. Rooney was our most important player and the reason we won the league.

a useless player won EPL's most coveted individual award? this he won without taking a single setpiece unlike tevez & he's useless? how come rooney's usefulness has not won a golden boot in 9 seasons?? where's my dictionary again?

3. Johnny Evans was the official MOTM while Rooney was second. And the fans voted Rooney as the best. Nani was struggling with fitness on the night against Liverpool.

fitness? struggling? the same nani that kept creating chances after chances was struggling.

4. Using your logic, it means RVP lost us the match against Westbrom because it was 1-1 before his arrival. But in the case of Swansea, United won it 2-1 when Rooney arrived.

lost us which game? were we ever in the lead against west brom or how is your own logic working?

What is important is that Rooney assisted two goals when we won 4-1. United has only scored from open play in two matches and Rooney contributed 5 out of the 8 goals in those matches.

and we keep losing. he scored in the game we lost to man city & west brom. if his goals are not helping the team to win league games, then we are better off without him.

The Swansea match was 2-0, Rooney came and it went to 3-0 before Swansea scored 3-1. Check your facts.

what's this one saying? it was 2-0 before rooney came on. united had effectively won the game before rooney's arrival. if he didn't take part in that game, it wouldn't have affected the scoreline.

elampiro: 1. Goals do not tell who is the most important player in a team at anytime. Maradonna was not always the highest scorer, same with Amokackie. Rooney's return took us to the top of the league.

which maradona? the same one that scored 5 goals + 5 assists to win argentina the world cup? rooney did not assist & did not score.

2. Berbatov was useless, he was only lucky to score his 20 goals in a few matches against weak EPL teams except Liverpool. In how many matches did Berbatov score? He was irrelevant in 2/3 (two third) of our fixtures that season. Rooney was our most important player and the reason we won the league.

a useless player won EPL's most coveted individual award? this he won without taking a single setpiece unlike tevez & he's useless? how come rooney's usefulness has not won a golden boot in 9 seasons?? where's my dictionary again?

3. Johnny Evans was the official MOTM while Rooney was second. And the fans voted Rooney as the best. Nani was struggling with fitness on the night against Liverpool.

fitness? struggling? the same nani that kept creating chances after chances was struggling.

4. Using your logic, it means RVP lost us the match against Westbrom because it was 1-1 before his arrival. But in the case of Swansea, United won it 2-1 when Rooney arrived.

lost us which game? were we ever in the lead against west brom or how is your own logic working?

What is important is that Rooney assisted two goals when we won 4-1. United has only scored from open play in two matches and Rooney contributed 5 out of the 8 goals in those matches.

[quote]The Swansea match was 2-0, Rooney came and it went to 3-0 before Swansea scored 3-1. Check your facts.

what's this one saying? it was 2-0 before rooney came on. united had effectively won the game before rooney's arrival. if he didn't take part in that game, it wouldn't have affected the scoreline.

dopeJemi: Sack Moyes and Bring in Mancini

heaven forbid!! man-what? i would rather have bonfrere jo!!!

elampiro: 1. Before Rooney returned from America, what was the position of Man United in the league?

who cares what united's position was? the fact is rooney wasn't scoring, he was being outplayed by berbatov/chicharito and he wanted out of united. united kept winning - beating teams left, right & centre.

2. How many games did Hernadez played in 2010/11 visavis Rooney?

heaven bless the mexican, 13 goals + 2 assists in 1491 league minutes. he scored 20 goals in all competitons that season. berbatov was even better....

Also Rooney stated 25 games in 2010/11 with United having 64% win and 2.12 points/match, while the 13 he didnt start United had 54% win with 2.08 point per match. Virtually all the other seasons are like that since his arrival. Even last season you guys said he was poor.

this is not how to compute statistics. for example, berbatov scored a hatrick against liverpool & rooney contributed nothing in that game. it's part of the dodgy stats you are crediting rooney with just because he started. how can a passenger get the credits for what other hardworking players achieved??

giggs assisted berba's first goal, nani assisted the second & oshea assisted the third. so what's rooney's contribution in this game? why would you put a win% next to rooney's name when oshea of all people was more productive than rooney in one of the biggest games of the season?

3. Rooney was our best forward against Liverpool.

that's a myth - nani was better!!!

4. I thought the Swansea game ended 4-1. What is the 2-1 you stated above?

a total of 5 goals were scored in the game including swansea's goal. 2 goals were scored before rooney came on(2-0) 3 goals were scored after rooney came on(2-1)

nitrogen: Fallacy!

prove me wrong!!!!

elampiro: 1. Your match chart is ridiculous because Rooney scored from a set piece. If Chicharito and co failed to connect his set pieces, then it's their headache. Rooney's accuracy gave him a goal from a set piece.

was the set piece he scored from a corner? a cross or what? chart is ridiculous? opta stats is ridiculous?

2. What do you mean by absence? Apart from two season or three, how many strikers have had more games than Rooney since we started winning league again from 2006?

rooney was sent to america to work on his weight in 10/11. berbatov/chicharito won us the league that season whilst rooney was busy haranguing united for a move to city.

3. In 2010/11, Rooney presence on the field gave us better results than when he was absent. So also in almost all the seasons. So I don't get it. I can't lay my hands on the start now and I am not in for a long argument.

rooney's presence?? a fat fool that did not score from open play between august 2010 & the new year gave us better results? in this period, chicharito was scoring freely & berbatov was scoring hatricks.

4. Rooney was the best player in the Leverkusen match. He also scored two great goals and assisted 1. Against Liverpool he was the best player from the midfield to attack.

rubbish.....how's rooney the best player against liverpool??

5. Manchester United has only scored from open play in just two matches- Swansea and Leverkusen. A total of 8 goals were scored in the two matches and Rooney had a hand in 5 of them.

what about the games we lost? the swansea game was won before rooney stepped foot on the pitch. welbeck & RVP had scored goals before rooney came on & that would have been enough to see united through. it was 2-0 before rooney came on & 2-1 after rooney came on.

we are better off without rooney.....

SailorXY: That's why stats don't paint the pictures in HD. There's no United follower that you can convince that Young has had more impact than JS Park @ OT & succeed.
Even if you try to convince Young himself, he'll doubt you

statistics paint the true picture. facts over opinion, mate. ashley young is an easy target, people tend to think he's not paid his dues unlike the other wingers in our squad but ashley has done much more than valencia or js park in the little time he's been with us......FACT!!!

SailorXY: #Young should never have been bought & that's it#
Arguing otherwise is just finger exercise on Nairaland
We just dey argue & counter argue opinions here, abeg let's move on to the next one

he gets criticised because he's an easy target - statistically, only nani is better than young at man utd. valencia, giggs, js park, welbeck, etc are miles below young....

nitrogen:

E be like say Cooger and young are blood brothers. Nawa o!

young has been una scapegoat - he didn't play yesterday and the team lost woefully. there are other issues & poorer players than young in the team. we know who they are....

elampiro: Which season has ever passed without Rooney being either the most important player or one of best in the team?

rooney was the leader in 09/10 & 11/12 season. united won nothing in those 2 seasons and rooney scored plenty of goals.

Statistics has shown that Rooney's presence in United starting line up has given us better result than when he dint start in every season since he arrived.

produce this dodgy statistics where rooney's presence gave us better results than his absence. his absence won us the league in 10/11. his presence lost us the league in 09/10 & 11/12. 04/05 - 08/09 cannot count, we had ronaldo, ruud, tevez, etc then.

I thought RVP, Nani and Giggs have taken set pieces and Rooney even missed out of some matches. How many f those set pieces were scored aside penalty? You have to be a genius to score or assist from set pieces.

obviously, they have not taken as many as rooney. players with less than £50k per week are assisting/scoring with set-pieces. if that is what £250k/week buys us at man utd, then we should cut our losses. sell rooney, buy baines.

Rooney helped us beat Liverkusen and Liverpool to lift our spirits in the cup competition.

how did rooney help you beat leverkusen when he was the culprit that made them equalise? chicharito scored against liverpool, rooney didn't. the scorer should get the credit, not a setplay assistant!!!

The league poor running is a general problem for the team and I thought City and Chelsea are also not having it funny. If Rooney didn't score from open play yesterday, we had other players- Nani, Kagawa- Chicha and RVP. Whay didn't they create their own chance?

RVP was a late substitute. nani & kagawa don't make the amount of dosh rooney makes. rooney gets paid the wages of a world class player but his performance(at best) is even lower than mediocrity.....

opta found rooney out...rooney is shyte!!

chamotex: I don't care about the principles...if these players are not good enough to beat West brom at OT why are they in the squad?

you seem to have forgotten the mental aspect of this. the team just lost 4-1 to their bitter rivals. the next league game should have been handled with a bit more of seriousness.

Phil Jones was not playing RB for the first time yesterday, neither was Buttner at LB

i doubt you would find a league game under fergie where he played jones as RB & buttner as LB. they are basically 2 handicaps as far as attacking football is concerned.

Carrick and Ando were not playing together for the first time either.

when carrick & ando have played in the past, they were supported with strength in the other areas of the pitch.

Rooney and Chicha have started games together so many times as well.

analyse this as a whole, stop looking at it in parts. have buttner/jones been our wingbacks in the games rooney/chicha played in the past? the game hadn't even started when I
i called moyes a fool. the line-up & the subs already told me the selection was awful.

if buttner could get another start after wednesday, so should rafael. that moyes preferred jones to rafael/fabio is flawed in principle. fabio started in the champions league final in 2011. who is jones?

elampiro: He scores and assist for the team.
He has a good attacking build up.
He helped us beat Liverpool

these scoring & assisting are mostly from setplays. if de gea takes those setplays, he would be scoring & assisting as well.

Yesterday he helped Kagawa with a clear cut chance.

what about the clear chances rooney had been given on a plate and yet squandered? smalling set him up with an excellent pass at city & rooney kicked the ball out of the stadium and he was only 6 yards from goal.

You need a good team selection to excel. Rooney has been our best player so far.

for the media & the plastic chair analysts. evra has done more than rooney this season.

Wayne Rooney has either scored or assisted all bar two of ‪#‎mufc‬'s 11 goals since coming on as a substitute at Swansea on the opening day.

ironically, we have lost 3 league games in this period as well. individual glory vs team glory. i think i prefer the latter. when RVP, berbatov, ronaldo were in a rich vein of form, we won games & titles. whenever rooney is scoring/assisting freely, the team fails to win.

rooney is a poisoned chalice - we are better off without him.

I don't intend to enter into any argument.

there's nothing to argue - rooney's goals/contribution barely help the team to cop victories. this time last season, RVP was scoring winning goals, hatricks, etc. when rooney start scoring winning goals, i would give him his credits.

elampiro: @Coogar, Rooney has some assists and goals from open play in the matches United has played so far.

which ones has he got since RVP got injured? freekick against city(set play), corner vs liverpool @ OT(set play), freekick vs west brom(another set play). so what exactly is rooney doing in the team?

afrodoc: we need to start with this formation and lineup for 3 to 4 consecutive matches.
.......................de gea

......rafael.....vidic.......evans....evra

...............carrick.....cleveley........

.....nani..........rooney.......kagawa

.................RVP.

I believe this is our best starting lineup at the moment and it will eliminate a few avoidable issues..

that is not our best formation - i'll go with mine and it excludes england's golden boy.

--------de gea-------
twin--vidic--evans--evra
----carrick---cleverley----
-nani---kagawa---young-
-----------RVP------------

if RVP gets injured, play rooney in RVP's place. if chicharito must play, play RVP behind the mexican & kagawa can rest or replace ashley young. rooney cannot play in the hole. he's too technically inept to be a playmaker.

1)Rio/Vidic combo does not gel with Carrick/Fellaini combo. Why? Cos those r 4 speed challenged players at the core of midfield and defence. When Rio and Vida play together they tend to sit deep to reduce the speed behind them and cut off runs behind by opposing strikers.

rio is finished as a defender....
you can only be on top of your game as a sportsman for 10 years. 2002-12 were rio's years of golden service. he needs a long rest and his inclusion in the team must be once in 3 weeks.

What this does is to open up space in the central midfield as the back line falls more and more to the back. When you have 2 players like Carrick and Fellaini who cant cover much ground it leads to a lot of unchecked movement and runs at our defence by opposition midfield.
P.S the main culprit in this Rio Ferdinand whose pace is totally gone and as a result whenever he is on the pitch we find it hard to play high and press and whenever we lose the ball our defence looks shaky.

rio did not name himself, moyes did.
fergie knew how to manage rio and play him in every other game. moyes kept giving rio tough games one after the other, it's obvious rio is mentally-fatigued.

2) In the absence of really good wing play RVP's supporting cast needs to be comprised of technically decent players who can come infield if necessary and offer numbers and quality play. I believe rooney,kagawa and nani are better than the other options we have in that respect.

this is where i blame moyes the most. united boss games via the flanks. even in the 5 years we had shitty midfield, the wing play won us games. why then has he abandoned that and letting us play percentage football? if we had rafael/evra last night, we would have won convincingly....

3) Januzaj and Zaha to take the squad positions of Giggs and Young in the team. We need legs AND creativity in this team Young offers only legs and Giggs offers only creativity.

janujaz & zaha are not ready for first team football. yes, they are talented & the potential is mammoth but they lack the experience to fit in. they still make elementary mistakes & the choices they make in the final third still need work. they still don't know when to pass, dribble, shoot or just retain possession. they should be loaned out. lingard would come back readier for the first team than zaha & janujaz.

=
Lastly if we sort the problems with creativity out and have a regular back line playing week in week out (minus ferdinand) our form should improve and top 4 can still be achieved

just play rafael & evra. they are wonderful tools for any winger to deploy as a decoy. opponents don't fear jones/buttner - they know they can't cross to save a life. rio needs about 6 weeks rest. play jones, smalling & evans as CBs and the team is sorted!!!

jackbauerspower: Yebariba Somboribobo

Yet again Rooney is Uniteds only Goal Scorer.

Rooney must be a Nairalander the way he likes to show my man Coogar up

Is Dayokanu Rooney in Disguise?

which stüpid rooney? ask yourself why all the goals have been set-plays...RVP has been injured for a while & giggs did not take part in the last 2 league games - which means only rooney takes the set pieces & surely by the law of probability, he would score few of those. even leighton baines score freekicks for fun these days and his wages are less than £60k per week. you seem to be compliant with mediocrity, coogar isn't....

chamotex: What line up are you talking about?
Are you telling me the players we had out there were not good enough to beat West Brom at Old Forking Trafford?
Abeg abeg abeg.

Then we should sell them all off then, innit?

the line-up was flawed in principle.
not even fergie(in his partial senility) fielded jones & buttner as fullbacks in a must-win game. moyes had nani & kagawa as inverted wingers - it simply means he relied on mediocres like jones & buttner to provide the width against west brom. which of these rookies can even cross the ball to save a life?

that was why we couldn't break west brom down with the amount of control we had in the first half. everyone kept running to the middle to create a clusterfück. anderson & carrick midfield combo was also wrong. one loves to be static, the other loves to move with 1-2 ball or creating triangles, where was the tandem?

you guys underestimated west brom and it seems you didn't learn lessons last season when fergie threw his common sense away and allowed sentiments to becloud his judgement. 2-5 scoreline became 5-5 under fergie's nose. football is not about names, it's about balance. moyes' team last night made no sense and his substitutions were utterly bizarre.

nani has taken the game by the scruff of the neck while a £250k per week player is busy stinking up the place. someone should please sell rooney in january.

mbulela: i knew Moyes was bad. i just did not know he was this poor.
Fergie left a bad team but i doubt it was as bad as Moyes is making it look.
I watch matches now and i struggle to understand what is happening.

the failure started from his horrible line-up. it didn't make sense at all. the horrible line up caused the horrible subs & the rest is history.

StarBoard: I ask you Mancs again,
Is David Moyes the man for this job?

he's a complete idïot...
for prioritising our champions league game, he's a simpleton. the next 5 league games are more important than the CL as we speak. city are losing, this shoulda been the day to capitalise on chelsea/city dropping points.

StarBoard: West Brom creating better chances as our defenders looking like amateurs.
If we win this game we should consider ourselves lucky

moyes must beat west brom. he has to....

StarBoard: Why waste a substitution with Janusaz?

moyes is not competent!
awful decisions all the time. our attack has more venom with rafael at RB. rafael is a machine, he can play 5 times a week if allowed and his combo with nani would have caused serious damage to west brom.

he trusted jones ahead of smalling & fabio. what sorta manager does that rubbish? jones is only good as a centre-back or in a 3-man midfield. he should never be played as a full back.

afrodoc: you can shut your mouth first!
i was wondering how long it will take you to lose your little sense and start ur rude ways.u need to check urself
its also common sense that when the striker runs offside before the passer turns with the ball he needs to check himself.

you are a tool....
hernandez is running towards goal - the passer is behind him and has a clearer view of the defence line. he's the one that must check himself whether to pass or not. if he's not sure, he should retain possession & let hernandez start again. referees don't flag strikers offside if the passer retains the ball.

common sense cannot be bought @ shoprite, olodo 10 kobo.

afrodoc: are u watching the match? nani had to delay the pass unnecessarily until much later. had chicharito made a better timed run nani could have released him earlier for a tap in.
if the onus is always on the passer like u seem to claim why are some strikers hailed for their WELL TIMED RUNS? it means there are others who need to work on their timing e.g chicharito
nobody is heaping too much blame on d boy,he is a good striker but there is room for improvement.

will you shut your mouth?
a well-timed run depends on the passer of the ball much more than the recipient. you can start spewing nonsense but the key to hernandez's run is he runs from an ONside position. if the passer can't pick him from that initial position then the passer gets the blame, not the runner!!!

it's common sense....

StarBoard: I thought this was supposed to be an "easy" fixture. So why and how are we struggling to get clear-cut chances?
When and how did we descend to being so boring and clueless?
At least coogar is starting to believe me when I say DM doesn't know what he's doing.

what do you expect with rooney upfront? the fat scouser can't pull trees on his own. he needs RVP to function well. if the partnership was RVP/chicharito, we would be 2-3 goals up by now.

it's so bad now rooney's now the media darling, a more competent kagawa can't even play in the hole any longer under moyes otherwise moyes gets baptism of fire from the media.

RuuDie: Na wa oh. Nothing this man will do will ever please us!

All your favorites are there; Nani, Ando, Kagawa, Hernandez... you still find way to stroke the man. Chai!

God will help Moyes!!!

jones off for valencia - i have been vindicated. moyes has now wasted a substitution due to his foolishness. if he had started with rafael, we wouldn't need to play valencia in the RB position.

afrodoc: Coogar can u see an example of hernandez straying offside way too early, he made it difficult for nani to pass to him

why did nani pass the ball then? chicharito's job is to make the run as soon as a united midfielder gets hold of the ball. if hernandez's run is faster than nani's nervous system then nani must hold the ball & retain possession - hernandez can always try again.

chrisley024: Haha! I laff for Young. Even bench?
Coogar where is ur boy?

giggs, vidic, evra, cleverley, rafael not on the bench, their career must be over as well. how do you people watch your football. there are 27 players in united, the manager can only name 11 and bench 7 players. about 10 players per week will not make the travelling squad.

montelik: You can't please some pple no matter what. So Moyes rested Rafa who only just returned from injury and he is a tool. This is the same Rafael who has a tendency to re-injure himself, immediately he returns from a lengthy layoff. Yet Moyes is a tool.

moyes is a complete idïot....
the game on tuesday is not a must-win game. it's an away game. win all our 3 home games and get a single draw/win away and that's job done in europe. 10 points & above is what we need to qualify.

today's game is a must win game - the league leaders are opening a big gap that can become insurmountable if we don't start taking points.

nateevs: Are you saying Torres should have been sent off at all?

torres should have been sent off for the catfight with vertonghen earlier on. he should be happy he got a second yellow cos the other offence would have gotten him a retrospective punishment of 3-match ban. with his second yellow, he would only miss one game.

dademola: maybe rafael is being rested for tuesday

even then, smalling is better on that side than jones. fabio is even much much better than jones/smalling as fullbacks....

i hope moyes knows he has to win the next 5 league games instead of messing about with the team.

moyes is a complete idiöt....

jones in the right back again? does he not know rafael should have started there and jones/evans should be centre-backs?

Ibime: One swallow doesn't make a summer.

He should keep this level of performance consistently, you go see who go argue with you.

he kept that level towards the end of last season. he scored & made in the midweek and he's been a beast in this game. what has ba done @ chelsea since his move?

Ibime: Like play, like play, I'm warming toward Torres these days.

what a vet can see lying down, a charlatan won't see it even if he climbs the MTN mast.

BinghiNya: tales from the past

and your point is? did welbeck go to euros or not? did he start games at the euros or not? you went back to the past to lift my quotes & yet you still failed. you need deliverance....

dademola: i expect a stern test in ukraine. Bearing dat in mind, i think d likes of evra and vidic and rooney(who has played 4 games in d last 11days), shud be given some time off. As we observed on wednesday, der r sme playrs in dire need of game time. Players like nani, rafael, kagawa, shud be on for d whole 90mins.

https://i.guim.co.uk/n/sys-images/Sport/Pix/pictures/2013/9/27/1380302805473/Man-Utd-v-West-Brom-001.jpg

BinghiNya: your opinion counts for nothing, you only support what u feel right. You are no authority in this footie business, nani our best winger you must be high on dry carica papaya snuff, nani couldn't even start a champions league final all his years here and you claim he is your best winger, best winger ko best flyer ni

football experts even know nani is our best winger so it's your opinion that needs help from the united nations.


Moyes must keep faith with Nani
Even though the Stretford End bellowed his name during Manchester United's victory over Liverpool on Wednesday night, David Moyes has not done a lot right since replacing Sir Alex Ferguson. In an age where patience is almost non-existent, Moyes has had to learn on the job at United, where standards are incomparable even to the impressive ones that the Scot set at Everton, and the chastening defeat by Manchester City last Sunday shone a light on the flaws that were not corrected in the champions' squad during the summer.

Then again, United are the champions. Moyes has hardly inherited a collection of chancers, rather a side that had the title wrapped up by April last season, and as much as Ferguson, Robin van Persie and even Roberto Mancini masked United's various weaknesses, the support cast remains strong. The goalkeeper, David de Gea, possesses enviable reflexes and potential, the defence has enough if rotated properly and United have the best striker in the league.

They are, of course, less sure in central midfield but an area of equal concern so far has been in the wide positions, where Moyes's prosaic selection of Ashley Young and Antonio Valencia against City suggested he is not a manager who trusts what he cannot control. At his best, Valencia was strong, quick and could cross accurately; there was a game against Chelsea in May 2011 in which he beat Ashley Cole any way he desired – with strength and with skill, inside and outside. But now he has lost confidence, form and the No7 shirt, he resembles a one-trick pony without the trick, while any defence worth its salt knows what to expect from Young: in-swinging crosses from the left, an enduring, embarrassing, indefensible struggle with gravity and a cowardly streak not befitting a United player (when England lost to Italy at Euro 2012, a colleague correctly predicted before kick-off that Young would miss a penalty if the match went to a shoot-out).

However defences are on shakier ground against Nani, who is surely the best winger at United. In his brief appearances this season, he has shown more initiative and gumption than Valencia and Young combined and even though he can be frustrating, selfish and unreliable, he can decide a match with a flash of class – in the 2009-10 and 2010-11 seasons, he often inspired United. Like Shinji Kagawa, Nani needs a run in the team. Both have a streak of individual brilliance that can relieve the pressure on Moyes.

dademola: u want to elampiro to get angry abi?

elampiro? abeg, let's talk about something else. what's the team selection going to be like against west brom?

dademola: Ofcourse, d passer of d ball cldnt hav knwn d player is offside, and still attempt to pass d ball. Again, if a player drifts offside, he might not neccesarilly interfere with play, bt as at dt moment, he has rendered himself useless to his teamates.

this is where intelligent midfielders earn their stripes & semi-intelligent midfielders like giggs & rooney are found wanting. an intelligent midfielder should have the gift of vision and sense of timing.

look at barcelona.....when xavi & iniesta see that messi & pedro are likely to have drifted offside, they alter the direction of the attack to buy some time for their strikers to get back ONside.

with united midfielders, they will force the issue regardless and handover the possession to the opponents. midfield maestros only make the pass when they are sure the centre forward isn't offside. if he's offside, they hold the ball & buy some time.

dademola: i agree to sme extent, bt u shud remember dt,even if a player is making a run frm an ONSIDE position, he shud knw dt; REMAINING LEVEL WITH D LAST DEFENDER UNTIL D PASS IS MADE, is important, so as not to stray offside. Chicharito(who we knw likes to play on d shoulder of d last defender), is alws too much in a hurry to peel off frm his marker, and not because he is too lazy to stay onside . I still reiterate my point; A PLAYER WHO IS CONSTANTLY FLAGGED OFFSIDE SHUD CHECK HIMSELF. Like elampiro rightly pointed out; "inexperience" is d right word to use. He can only get better with more playing time. #enof said#

you don't see my point...
remaining level with the last defender is a moot point. the defenders are not stationary objects. they often push forward to make sure the striker is offside. the key issue is - if the passer knows hernandez had drifted offside, why pass the ball?? the passer can hold the ball & hernandez would try again.

if hernandez falls behind the defence line without the ball being passed to him, the referee would not stop play as hernandez isn't interfering with play & therefore he cannot be flagged offside. can you now see the fault lies with the passer & not the striker?