United Must Embrace Class of 92 To Save Identity! Stan Speaks….

Anyone else just feeling that little bit more respect for David Moyes today?

Came into a dressing room who’d dined on the greatest for 26 years, had snakes in the grass calling him names behind his back, and an ageing squad that needed renovation. He brought in a player widely used by “genius” Louis van Gaal – Juan Mata – who has arguably has been United’s brightest spark, so why is LVG, a man who’s spent ONE QUARTER OF A BILLION POUNDS, getting off so lightly?

I don’t see the United way of fast flowing attacking football, I certainly don’t see round pegs in round holes on the pitch, and I fear he’s left a professional football team worryingly light up top. A man who’s played 10 for 3 years, a rookie with a handful of games and a striker who’s struggled to get into the United or Real Madrid teams for two years. This is unacceptable.

Why? This is Manchester United, who had Van Nistelrooy, Cole, Solskjaer, Yorke, Sheringham all competing against each other, driving each other on and trying to outscore each other.

Will LVG get it right? Possibly, but as I wrote the other week having spoken to my good pal Bryan Roy who played under him at Ajax, “ He does it his way or the highway, he won’t care about fans or players feelings on style, he just wants to get results his way”.

That’s fine but did anyone see any real progression from the Moyes’ United to yesterday against Swansea? I didn’t, and Moyes didn’t have the luxury of the LVG spend with possibly even more to come in the next 24 hours.

At the end of the season I’d take the boldest move of all if I’m Ed Woodward.

Get the Neville brothers, Scholes, Butt and Giggs as staff, with Sir Alex Ferguson to lend an ear from afar and let this great club go back to the future, with the United way.

If those guys can’t breathe identity back into a team more resembling an ‘English Galacticos’ than a cohesive team built in the 90s, then nobody can.

Swansea

I had them to finish 6th this season, one place above Spurs, so you can imagine, though it’s early days I’m feeling a tad smug today. A solid start by the Swans, but it’s not so much of a surprise when you look why and why the Pride of South Wales are embarrassing United, Arsenal, Spurs and Liverpool in particular on an almost daily basis.

I’ll take City and Chelsea out of it because they won the lottery, they really don’t have to have a policy, although both pretend they do. They don’t, they just spend their way out of any hole they are in, so i’m saving my fire for the clubs that should know better.

Swansea buy players at the beginning of the window, bedding them into the team. United, Liverpool, Spurs and Arsenal will probably all be on the phones looking for key ingredients around 5pm Tuesday.

Swansea have a system of play that goes from youth to first team. A seamless journey if you’re an 18 year old for example. Do Spurs have a system of play? Do either Liverpool, United or Arsenal promote youth that they, not other clubs, have developed anymore? Ben Davies, honed and taught in Swansea, Raheem Sterling honed at QPR, Adnan parachuted in from afar, and any number of young Gunners picked from the tree at 16-19 from other clubs.

Swansea get the management criteria right. Young, principled, ambitious. Spurs? Old and experienced Harry who worked without a DoF, or young AvB or Poch , the polar opposite. Liverpool went Roy, back to Kenny, Rafa the benign dictator, and Brendan the coach.

United wanted to give a Fergie protege a chance in Moyes but ended up with a guy who, if he’s honest, was probably looking at topping up his pension rather than turning a juggernaut around. The Swans? Martinez, Rodgers, Laudrup, Monk. Coaches, similar style, all adding something from the next.

So Man United, Liverpool, Spurs, Arsenal, and even to a degree Chelsea and City who were huge underachievers before the money came along, maybe you all should look at little old Swansea to run a football club, you may just get the consistency you all crave!