What next for the 'engine' room?

On Sunday afternoon, we witnessed the weakest Manchester United performance from central midfield in a very long time. After 45 minutes, the first choice pair of Michael Carrick and Tom Cleverley look jaded, tired and useless in possession, something that has never been said about Carrick this season, with him being one of United's most consistent performers in the centre of the park. However, on Sunday, the dark side of Carrick appeared and other than his majestic pass to Javier Hernandez in the 5th minute, he did not take ahold of the game as he has done so effortlessly throughout the season, which begs the question, has he been overplayed? Carrick looked tired and drained and gave away possession so effortlessly, which has been uncharacteristic of him this season. The same goes for Tom Cleverley. Being Sir Alex's preferred choice to partner Carrick in the middle, the Cleverley and Carrick combination has been the most common throughout this season. With this season being Cleverley's first one without any sort of major injury problems in the heart of the United midfield, he seems to have lost his edge and guile that had made him, as well as Carrick, United's fulcrum in the defence to attack transition. In can be said that Sundays performance could be the start of a potentially nervous end of season finale, only if the midfield play as poorly as they did.

Carrick assist for Hernandez on Sunday

Although the whole team played relatively atrocious after going two goals up, both Carrick and Cleverley had distinctively awful games, compared to the rest of the squad, with the exception of Antonio Valencia. But why now? Just as United enter the critical period in their season, which has been spear headed with the desire to wrestle back the Premier League crown from their "Noisy neighbours" Manchester City, their most impressive and consistent partnership seems to be breaking down at exactly the wrong time. All in all, in can be said that the result of such an dreadful display can be pinned down on fatigue. This season, United have played 41 games, of which Michael Carrick has played in 35 of them and Cleverley has appeared in 29. It is clear from these stats that these two have pinned down their spaces in the first eleven, which has meant that Anderson and Paul Scholes have been relegated to the bench. With Carrick and Cleverley seemingly impossible to displace from the first team, questions have to be asked of Anderson's and Scholes's roles in the first team, the same with Darren Fletcher. Fletcher's illness problems have been well documented of the last two years and it seems as if they have caught up with him and he wont return as the box-to-box midfield dynamo he was. Where as for Anderson, it has looked like he has been unable to shake off his weight, fitness and inconsistency problems enough to guarantee even a rotation place alongside Cleverley. For Scholes, he came out of retirement last January to help United through a midfield injury crisis, and the problem seemed to have been fixed in the short run, but has now reappeared. It is now time to ask the question of whether or not having Anderson, Fletcher or Scholes in the squad is a viable option, or are we to look at replacements in the summer.

The last time United spent money on a central midfield player was none other than Anderson and Owen Hargreaves, back in 2007, meaning it has been 6 years since Sir Alex has relinquished any sort of money, on what has been considering United's weakest position. With Scholes and Fletcher possibly retiring at the end of the season and Anderson possibly being allowed to leave for a £10m or so fee, it would free up three spaces in the midfield. With Carrick growing older and Cleverley showing signs of fatigue each season, all three holes in the squad will need to be utilised. With Fletcher looking like being the least likely to leave, it could be possible that only two signings will be needed.

The obvious choice, and rightfully, is Kevin Strootman of PSV. He has developed in a year and half into PSV's most important player, other than Dries Mertens, leading them to second in the Eredivise with a mammoth 81 goals scored in 26 games and conceding 29, the third best in the league. In Strootman, United have an accomplished Dutch national team player, who still has a lot of time to develop. His marauding runs from defence to attack, with an eye for a pass, as well as a shot, make him the complete box to box midfielder, as his 6 goals and 7 assists in the Eredivise show, much like Fletcher in his earlier days. With Strootman costing no more than (appox) £17m, it would be a low risk transfer with the money available and the deal would seem even more likely in the fact that United's transfer policy of late has been to sign players with a potential resale value, with the exception of Robin van Persie. Also, with PSV snapping up Sweden's impressive U21 central midfield captain, Oskar Hiljemark, a perceived replacement for Strootman, in January (PSV confirm Hiljemark capture), it seems all but likely that Strootman will depart Eindhoven in the summer for pastures new, and he may yet be heading towards Manchester.

Kevin Strootman - PSV's midfield dynamo

With the addition of Strootman into the squad, it still leaves space for one more midfielder, which I believe can be Ilkay Gundogan of Borussia Dortmund, but with BVB having a strict no selling policy of their star players until they enter the final year of their contracts, leads me to say that this will be the most unlikeliest of deals, for the time being. A more than adequate replacement, to say the least would be Christian Eriksen of Ajax, who announced eariler in the season that he would not sign a new contract at Ajax (Eriksen says no to new Ajax contract). With his contract running out at the end of next season, Ajax will probably look to cash in on their star player rather than losing him on a free next summer. With this lingering over the Ajax hierarchy, Eriksen, much like Strootman, would not command a high fee, and being only 21 could become a regular in United's first team for the next ten years. I believe that 2012/13 has been Eriksen's year of maturity as he is no longer the attack minded 'number 10', but he has developed into a midfielder in the mould of Anderson and Cleverley that can balance attacking and defensive capabilities correctly and of a higher quality too. The 7 goals and 11 assists he has amassed in the Eredivise are a testament to his abilities. However, whether or not he can adapt his game into the 'number 8' role will have to be seen, but with him being brought up through the infamous Ajax academy with the 'Total Football' philosophy being drilled into him from a young age, teaching him to be capable of covering all positions on a football pitch, he will surely be able to overcome the challenge of becoming an out and out midfielder.

Eriksen strike vs Man City in the Champions League group stage

David de Gea - The Premier Leagues biggest scapegoat

Being a 22 year old footballer at one of the worlds most famous, prestigious and scrutinised clubs will never be the easiest part of a young players career. For David de Gea, I wouldn't be surprised if he had been glum and disorientated with life in England after two weeks.

He arrived in England as the worlds second most expensive goalkeeper (£18m, after Gianluigi Buffon), with the weight of expectation of succeeding his predecessor, Dutch legend Edwin van der Sar. Immediately after signing, the English press wondered whether or not this expensive, young, inexperienced and stick thin Spanish goalkeeper would make the grade. At 21 years old, van der Sar was not even a starter for Ajax Amsterdam and Peter Schmeichel was the goalkeeper for Danish second divison side Hvidovre. With the amount of expectation put on a player who was just starting his career (in goalkeeper terms), it would have seemed he would be doomed to fail.

The physical and aerial aspect of English game has been well documented and this was the part of his game that de Gea would have to work on the most. His first competitive start was against city rivals, Manchester City. Although Man Utd won 3-2, the emphasis wasn't on the result, but on the new goalkeeper, who had failed to command his area for one goal and let a 30 yard strike go under his body and from this moment, the emphasis has never shifted from him. The first of two defining moments in de Gea's campaign last season came in the New Years Eve EPL clash versus Blackburn where United lost 3-2 at home, with De Gea at fault, rightly, for letting Grant Hanley out muscle him for the ball from a corner which equated to Blackburn's third and final goal for the afternoon, allowing them to leave the home of the Champions with three points. De Gea was subsequently dropped for the foreseeable future after his error and replaced with Anders Lindegaard. However, with Lindegaard injuring his ankle on the 31st January, SAF was 'reluctantly forced' to field De Gea in goal for the reminder of the season. With every performance that De Gea took part in, the more his confidence grew (who knew?!). It all culminated in a must win game versus Blackburn, yet again, on the 3rd of April. United dominated from start to finish, yet were suseptable to the counter attack of a fast counter attack minded team. As was the case, Blackburn threatened little with the ball but created numerous chances on the break, with Junior Holliet testing De Gea from range, only to be foiled. Some would say that this was De Gea's best game in a United kit, and rightly so. He had kept them in the game with some fine stops.

As the 2012/13 season came to an opening, speculation was rife whether or not SAF would replace his 'vulnerable' goalkeeper. The rumours proved fruitless and United kicked off the season against Everton, and were it not for De Gea, United would have lost by more than just the 1-0 scoreline. As the season progressed, De Gea and Lindegaard rotated the role of the number one jersey until the time came for the first Manchester derby of the season at the Etihad, and with Lindegaard's wife going into labour, De Gea was trusted with the #1 kit, and he hasn't looked backed. However, the first talking point against de Gea came in Uniteds 2-1 victory over Liverpool at Old Trafford where de Gea seemed to parry the ball straight into the path of Daniel Sturridge who subsequently scored. Following the game, De Gea was somehow criticised for parrying the ball to Sturridge, when 90% of the keepers wouldn't have saved the original shot from Steven Gerrard. However, this was just the tip of the iceberg of pure idiotic analysis that would find its way towards De Gea.

In the league game against Spurs, De Gea was seen to have made a monumental error in punching the ball right into the path of a waiting Aaron Lennon to square it to Clint Dempsey to snatch a late and dramatic equaliser. In the post match coverage, papers, websites and pundits alike were all critical of De Gea for not getting more onto the punch, but there was no mention of him being sandwiched in between a Serbian rock in Nemanja Vidic and Steven Caulker. There was no mention of Patrice Evra, just standing, ball watching as De Gea's punch dropped down to Lennon. And there was no mention of Michael Carrick letting Clint Dempsey having an open shot at goal. The whole of the media were on de Gea's back, even though he had kept United in the game with some incredible saves, none more so than against Dempsey himself.

The one thing which has irked me most about the scapegoat tag De Gea has earned is that his rivals at other clubs have got away with murder compared to him. None more so than a certain England #1, Joe Hart. Earlier on in the season, when United had beaten Chelsea, Juan Mata had scored a great free kick, but it was overshadowed in analysis that De Gea had taken a step in the opposite direction of where the ball would end up. Yet in the Manchester derby, as van Persie scored a last minute winner, Joe Hart too took a step in the wrong direction, yet there wasn't even a grain of criticism towards him, why? De Gea has gained United more points than lost, can the same be said for Joe Hart? Especially after the game against Sunderland where he was beaten by the cross-cum-shot by former teammate Adam Johnson, that he allowed to squirmish under his body onto the post and in, which meant Sunderland took all three points, yet Johnson was praised for his instinctive shot at goal, with Hart not at any fault, he was just caught out with a 'moment of magic'. Again, this Saturday just passed, Petr Cech parried a Yoann Gouffran shot straight into the path of an incoming Moussa Sissoko, yet he didn't get criticised, instead, Sissoko gained all the plaudits for keeping up with his compatriot and tucking the rebound in. Most recently, in Uniteds game against Fulham, De Gea made an excellent save from Bryan Ruiz at 0-0, getting a small finger on his shot that deflected it against the post, yet the Daily Mail didn't acknowledge it, choosing to say he didn't even get near it. Typical.

As said before, with the amount of favouritism in the media towards other goalkeepers other than De Gea, he has been made to be a scapegoat whenever a result goes against United, no matter how good the other team was, or how bad the individual errors were that lead up to him conceding the goal. The choices of the press to write about the individual genius of the opposition against rival goalkeepers, then choosing to write about faltering (falsely) performances of De Gea is more than obvious that they wish to rip into De Gea, and in some cases rightly so, but this season, De Gea has been immense and is a shadow of the shy, skinny and weak Spaniard that came to England in 2012.