I've waited a few days since the Swansea result to write this piece as I didn't want to write anything as a knee-jerk reaction or in the heat of the moment. The fact of the matter is though, that even three days on, I am still feeling very angry and upset; not just at the result against Swansea but the manner of the defeat and our lack of transfer activity in pre-season.
No team can afford to lose a trio of defenders, never mind those of the class of Evra, Vidic and Ferdinand, without replacing them. The loss of Luke Shaw shows how stretched we are in defence and how vulnerable we appear at the back, especially playing a 3-5-2 formation. Do we really have the quality wing backs that are required to play this formation? A great amount of pressure is put onto the players chosen to play in this position such is their importance in making the system work. Is the 3-5-2 formation a viable option for Premier League football? All these questions are yet to be answered. Our lack of pace is also glaringly obvious but a big worry for me is the lack of movement and creativity in the team, especially when we go behind.
Away from the performance on the pitch on Saturday, our current woes run much deeper. In modern day football everybody now has the opportunity to be heard, to have a voice, to have an opinion via social media sites. The fans, The Players and even some chairmen have taken to Twitter and it can often be a hostile environment. Some see this as breaking down barriers between players and fans. It is also an opportunity for those running football clubs to gauge how supporters feel.
Reading through my Twitter feed since Saturday you get a good understanding of the raw emotion that United fans are currently feeling. There is a lot of anger, a lot of blame and a lot of hostility. Whilst #glazersout and #woodwardout has been trending in recent days, the fact of the matter is that whilst the sentiment behind the words are being echoed loudly, the act in itself is going to achieve very little.
I have seen many people claim that the only thing that will make a difference is people boycotting games, not buying merchandise and not spending money at the food kiosks inside the stadium. Unfortunately when you are a club the size of Manchester United for every one person who doesn't go to a match or buy the merchandise there are another ten thousand people around the world who are willing to fill that void. I am also of the thought that whilst I don't approve of the hierarchy currently running our club I still want to be there to support and watch my team play on a Saturday afternoon.
As I have already stated, blame has been the name of the game since Saturday. The Glazers getting blamed for not investing some of the hundreds of millions of pounds that they have accrued through sponsorship deals. Ed Woodward for not sealing deals for players before the season has started. Whilst i don't dismiss any of this i want to look at our current situation from a different perspective. We have been linked with many a player over the summer from Toni Kroos to Cesc Fabregas. Arturo Vidal to Angel Di Maria. Danny Blind to Matts Hummels. Whilst the Marcos Rojo deal looks very close to completion I would be interested to know how many of the other rumoured transfer targets have actually been true.
Whilst social media gives everybody a voice, the downside to that is that the rumour mill gets out of control from supposed undercover football agents to sports journalists and links to mainstream media looking to forge out a good story. How much of what we read is actually true? We all blame the Glazers and Woodward for not getting the deals done. Another train of thought is that Van Gaal has spent all summer at a world cup and has spent a limited amount of time with his new squad of players. Has he been able to identify which players are needed? It may be that Van Gaal hasn't told the owners and our chief executive which players he wants and therefore this is why it has been left so late for a second season running.
I am in no way defending the actions of the Glazers. They have failed to invest ANY of the money that they have generated through our club. They have taken away over five hundred million pounds of revenue from our club over the past six seasons that could and should have been invested in players.
Ed Woodward was slow in the transfer market last season and needed a good pre-season this time around to prove himself to the fans. He has failed to do this, leaving United fans feeling disillusioned, angry and frustrated at the hierarchy that seem more interested in generating sponsorship deals to line the Glazers' pockets rather than investing money back into the team.
I agree fully that our transfer business should have been concluded before the season began and it is looking increasingly likely that it is going to be another nervy transfer deadline day in less than two weeks time. Gary Neville, on Monday Night Football, said that United need new signings. He also stated that we can't afford to buy out of desperation as we did with Fellaini last year. However, whilst so much is written and reported about transfer targets, how much of it has any substance attached to it?
Unfortunately I don't have answers as to how or when things will turn around. I am feeling somewhat lost, concerned and very angry at the moment. It feels like we have been lied to as fans. It was only a matter of weeks ago that we were told "watch this space". Well, Mr. Woodward we all sat and watched the space that should have been filled in the defence as Swansea eased two goals into United's net on Saturday. We were told that money was no object in making new signings yet we weren't prepared to pay a couple of million more to secure the services of Thomas Vermaelen.
No club, never mind a club with the aspirations of Manchester United, can be competitive with the defenders that we currently have at our disposal. Action needs to happen now before another season falls by the wayside. Another season like last year and we will then begin to fail to attract the big name players we so desire.
As I have said Marcos Rojo looks like a done deal which is a start in repairing the damage done in our first game of the season. Although Rojo had an impressive world cup starring in six games during Argentina's route to the final I have to admit that I had never heard of him prior to the tournament. I have to ask is he the calibre of player that is going to solve our current plight? Looking at his disciplinary record of twenty one yellow cards and four red cards in just forty nine appearances for Sporting Lisbon this signing could potentially cause more problems than it solves. Based on the few games I saw him play at the World Cup though, he looked very capable with the ball at his feet and could put in a challenge or two. Although he may not be the world class player we have been linked with, Louis Van Gaal has the managerial experience to get the best from him as he did with the likes of Ron Vlaar and Dirk Kuyt during his time with the Netherlands.
Whilst the Swansea defeat magnified the frailties of our current squad I still believe we had enough quality in that team to have won the game. The defeat was certainly a reality check after a summer of optimism. A couple more signings and a win on Sunday against Sunderland whilst recapturing some of that pre-season form and we will hopefully see the mood lift around Old Trafford.
By Simon Glen
FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER @sglen2001
No team can afford to lose a trio of defenders, never mind those of the class of Evra, Vidic and Ferdinand, without replacing them. The loss of Luke Shaw shows how stretched we are in defence and how vulnerable we appear at the back, especially playing a 3-5-2 formation. Do we really have the quality wing backs that are required to play this formation? A great amount of pressure is put onto the players chosen to play in this position such is their importance in making the system work. Is the 3-5-2 formation a viable option for Premier League football? All these questions are yet to be answered. Our lack of pace is also glaringly obvious but a big worry for me is the lack of movement and creativity in the team, especially when we go behind.
Away from the performance on the pitch on Saturday, our current woes run much deeper. In modern day football everybody now has the opportunity to be heard, to have a voice, to have an opinion via social media sites. The fans, The Players and even some chairmen have taken to Twitter and it can often be a hostile environment. Some see this as breaking down barriers between players and fans. It is also an opportunity for those running football clubs to gauge how supporters feel.
Reading through my Twitter feed since Saturday you get a good understanding of the raw emotion that United fans are currently feeling. There is a lot of anger, a lot of blame and a lot of hostility. Whilst #glazersout and #woodwardout has been trending in recent days, the fact of the matter is that whilst the sentiment behind the words are being echoed loudly, the act in itself is going to achieve very little.
I have seen many people claim that the only thing that will make a difference is people boycotting games, not buying merchandise and not spending money at the food kiosks inside the stadium. Unfortunately when you are a club the size of Manchester United for every one person who doesn't go to a match or buy the merchandise there are another ten thousand people around the world who are willing to fill that void. I am also of the thought that whilst I don't approve of the hierarchy currently running our club I still want to be there to support and watch my team play on a Saturday afternoon.
As I have already stated, blame has been the name of the game since Saturday. The Glazers getting blamed for not investing some of the hundreds of millions of pounds that they have accrued through sponsorship deals. Ed Woodward for not sealing deals for players before the season has started. Whilst i don't dismiss any of this i want to look at our current situation from a different perspective. We have been linked with many a player over the summer from Toni Kroos to Cesc Fabregas. Arturo Vidal to Angel Di Maria. Danny Blind to Matts Hummels. Whilst the Marcos Rojo deal looks very close to completion I would be interested to know how many of the other rumoured transfer targets have actually been true.
Whilst social media gives everybody a voice, the downside to that is that the rumour mill gets out of control from supposed undercover football agents to sports journalists and links to mainstream media looking to forge out a good story. How much of what we read is actually true? We all blame the Glazers and Woodward for not getting the deals done. Another train of thought is that Van Gaal has spent all summer at a world cup and has spent a limited amount of time with his new squad of players. Has he been able to identify which players are needed? It may be that Van Gaal hasn't told the owners and our chief executive which players he wants and therefore this is why it has been left so late for a second season running.
I am in no way defending the actions of the Glazers. They have failed to invest ANY of the money that they have generated through our club. They have taken away over five hundred million pounds of revenue from our club over the past six seasons that could and should have been invested in players.
Ed Woodward was slow in the transfer market last season and needed a good pre-season this time around to prove himself to the fans. He has failed to do this, leaving United fans feeling disillusioned, angry and frustrated at the hierarchy that seem more interested in generating sponsorship deals to line the Glazers' pockets rather than investing money back into the team.
I agree fully that our transfer business should have been concluded before the season began and it is looking increasingly likely that it is going to be another nervy transfer deadline day in less than two weeks time. Gary Neville, on Monday Night Football, said that United need new signings. He also stated that we can't afford to buy out of desperation as we did with Fellaini last year. However, whilst so much is written and reported about transfer targets, how much of it has any substance attached to it?
Unfortunately I don't have answers as to how or when things will turn around. I am feeling somewhat lost, concerned and very angry at the moment. It feels like we have been lied to as fans. It was only a matter of weeks ago that we were told "watch this space". Well, Mr. Woodward we all sat and watched the space that should have been filled in the defence as Swansea eased two goals into United's net on Saturday. We were told that money was no object in making new signings yet we weren't prepared to pay a couple of million more to secure the services of Thomas Vermaelen.
No club, never mind a club with the aspirations of Manchester United, can be competitive with the defenders that we currently have at our disposal. Action needs to happen now before another season falls by the wayside. Another season like last year and we will then begin to fail to attract the big name players we so desire.
As I have said Marcos Rojo looks like a done deal which is a start in repairing the damage done in our first game of the season. Although Rojo had an impressive world cup starring in six games during Argentina's route to the final I have to admit that I had never heard of him prior to the tournament. I have to ask is he the calibre of player that is going to solve our current plight? Looking at his disciplinary record of twenty one yellow cards and four red cards in just forty nine appearances for Sporting Lisbon this signing could potentially cause more problems than it solves. Based on the few games I saw him play at the World Cup though, he looked very capable with the ball at his feet and could put in a challenge or two. Although he may not be the world class player we have been linked with, Louis Van Gaal has the managerial experience to get the best from him as he did with the likes of Ron Vlaar and Dirk Kuyt during his time with the Netherlands.
Whilst the Swansea defeat magnified the frailties of our current squad I still believe we had enough quality in that team to have won the game. The defeat was certainly a reality check after a summer of optimism. A couple more signings and a win on Sunday against Sunderland whilst recapturing some of that pre-season form and we will hopefully see the mood lift around Old Trafford.
By Simon Glen
FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER @sglen2001