FanPost

Retrospect: Manchester United’s defensive frailties

Harry Maguire’s arrival at Manchester United from Leicester City strung a lot of brows at the pricetag, a cool 80 Million pounds, of Manchester United paid for his transfer. Maguire became the most expensive defender in world football. Such flair was not new for Manchester United who break transfer records every season to get their billion strong fans excited but the move was questioned by all fan factions and pundits alike who were unsure of Maguire’s deliverables. When measured against other high profile defenders like Van Dijk, Sergio Ramos or Rio Ferdinand, neither Maguire’s quality stand-out as world class nor there seems to be high potential that can be harnessed in the future. United paid for their desperation and were courting Maguire from Leicester City and Koulibally from Napoli for almost 2 years now. The question was despite of signing 4 internationals in previous 5 windows how could United come to this point of desperation. To resolve this enigma we will have to take a trip in the past to 2012/2013 season when Sir Alex Ferguson had retired just after winning the Premier League.

It was 19th May 2013 when United played a thrilling 5–5 draw against West Bromwich Albion and Sir Alex was saying his goodbyes to Manchester United after 23 years being in charge of the team and winning his 13th Premier League title with a huge margin of 11 points. The squad consisted of Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic , Jonny Evans, Chris Smalling and Phil Jones to cover the center back positions. Next day this title winning squad was handed over to David Moyes who was twice named Manager of the month in the previous season. Ferdinand (34) and Vidic (31) had been the lynchpin of United’s defense with Evans (25) supporting the duo for five seasons raking in over 100 appearances for the club, Smalling (23) was also developing well alongside and had been in and out of first team for three seasons now and Jones (21) was heralded as the next Duncan Edwards by Sir Alex himself. Despite of concerns aired by the pundits historically over the makeup of Sir Alex’s squad this was a decent mix of age, experience, skills and youth potential and would have even Klopp and Guardiola salivating over today. Yet what followed under Moyes was defensive frailties and anonymity of United squad triggered by mismanagement, ego clashes, suspensions and endless bouts of injuries to key players.

During the season started games with Vidic and Ferdinand at the back but after just 5 games Moyes started switching partnerships which was out of character for both the club and Moyes, who was known for creating strong stable defense pairings at Everton. Moyes switched his defense 25 times over the 35 league games he managed. Most remarkable was his fallout with Rio, who wasn’t utilized again after first 5 league games. Moyes tried 10 different partnerships unsuccessfully and if it wasn’t for Vidic who started 23 league games, only missing games due to injury or suspension, and provided an inkling of stability in the defense Moyes era might have ended a lot sooner. Fallout with Rio allowed Evans to truly get integrated into the first team and he started 17 times despite of 9 games long injury period in second half that would lead to Moyes’s dismissal. Jones and Smalling made a fair contribution with 13 and 10 starts respectively. Ryan Giggs took charge of last 3 league games and featured Rio and Vidic together which might be considered as testimonial to the colossal partnership of the Sir Alex era which departed United in the following summer.

Post World Cup United went into overdrive and started assembling a squad with the heroes of the tournament starting with deploying Luis Van Gaal at the helm. Marcos Rojo (24) marched in next after having impressed over the summer and earning a place in Castrol performance index along with Daley Blind on the day he won the Dutch footballer of the year award for his performances for Ajax the year before. LVG brought in with him "The Philosophy" and bravado backed by his impressive repertoire and experience which was most evident in his backline setups consisting of three center backs and devoid of any full backs something unknown to United. LVG had shown the clarity to promote Jones and Smalling as the key defensive pairing with Evans supporting and the new recruits slowly being merged with the squad. LVG was also more prudent and confident with only tinkering his squad at the behest of player unavailability. Unfortunately for him injuries soon ravaged his squad with all of the defenders missing 10 or more games through the season and forced him to recruit McNair and Blackett from the youth setup to fill the gaps. United defenders were unavailable for 63 matchdays due to injuries which is equivalent to 2 defenders missing an entire season. LVG managed 22 games with 2 or more defenders missing from the squad. Such was the extent of injuries that he was unable to field same defense for more than three games. Evans missed 20 league games due to injury and 6 game suspension awarded for spit hurling incidence and was subsequently sold over the summer which shocked the United fan base for he was considered best defender of the lot.

LVG started his second season without Jones and Rojo who were unavailable through long term injuries. Shockingly Evans was not replaced over the summer and Blackett was loaned out as well despite of 6 league starts in the season before. That allowed Smalling and Blind to start eight games together and form a semblance of a partnership that featured 27 times. Niggling injuries would further limit both Jones and Rojo to just 6 and 1 start respectively with Smalling becoming the key defensive figure with 35 league games. Though this forced stability at the back would take United for a winning FA cup run, first silverware of Post-Ferguson era, it was not enough to secure a top four finish, lost solely on goal difference, or keep Van Gaal at the helms. The FA cup and near top four finish is truly a testament to Van Gaal’s ability to coax so many games over the two years out of such a fickle squad at his disposal and I would be first to acknowledge that apart from the dour games there were so many achievements under the crazy Dutch.

After the "Chosen One" and "Philosopher One" it was finally the time of the "Special One". Mourinho had courted desire to manage United forever and was notably upset to have been overlooked by Sir Alex as his successor. Mourinho is widely considered genius of defenses and considering this story about the defense we can hope that he would fare better than his predecessors. Mourinho was quick to learn from United’s previous season and since he is not the manager who favors drafting youngsters into first teams, he quickly invested in a defender bringing in Eric Bailly (22) from Villareal while clearing out fringe players like Blackett and McNair. Bailly adopted at United like a duck to water and ended up starting 21 league games for United. Blind started the season besides him for four games but after loss to Manchester City didn’t start many games at the back. Unfortunately for Smalling, after single handedly bracing defense in the last season, he would not get long runs within the team owing to injuries and would only start 13 games in the season. Ultimately it was Rojo who started alongside Jones 12 times and raked in 17 games in total that formed the major pairing for United. Bailly himself had run ins with injuries to Mourinho’s dismay and would be unavailable for a total of eight games. Jose showed preference to keep his defensive pairs settled but midway through the season lost trust in his players and changed the pairings too often. United finished sixth in this season and this time the difference from the top five was significant. It was Europa league and promise of Champions League in next season that saved him from the axe.

Jose buckled down for the 17/18 season to win it and signed another center back in Victor Lindelof (23) from Benfica in Portugal, Jose’s home country, for a reported 35 Million Euros, fourth center back signing since departure of Rio and Vidic just three seasons back. Jose once again started building a pairing for the season in Jones alongside Bailly who started the first six games in the league until Bailly was injured. This time in the story is a good point to take account of a curious pattern, defender who made most appearances in the last season and hence was integrating in the team got invariably injured early in the next season and miss most of the season. The same happened to Bailly who after starting 21 games last season only starts another four games after the initial six games for a total of ten starts. Jose then drafted Jones and Smalling, who would for the first time start more than 10 games together. Blind on the other hand lost respect of the manager and would never start at the back that season. The new signing would be slowly drafted into the first team and would make 13 appearances in the latter half of the season. Despite of changing pairings 24 times through the season Jose would manage to finish in the second position in his second season, not bad run for a fragile defense but United never challenged for the title.

18/19 looked like the season when United would change the status quo and actually challenge for the silverware. Jose prepped for the season by making space in his defense for a new signing by sending Blind back to Ajax and Rojo looked set for move away from United until Board intervened and denied Jose any replacements. All defenders were available at the start of the season except for Rojo and this would be the first season where injuries would not ravage the squad. Lindelof second season at Old Trafford would prove more productive as he would represent the side 28 times most of which came with Smalling at his side who himself would remain the mainstay of the defense with 24 starts. Lindelof was lauded by coaches, fan and pundits alike for his performances and no non-sense defending. Jose in the meanwhile would reflect his rage for not getting a replacement for Blind out on the squad and have massive fallout with the players and subsequently lose his job mid-season. United legend Ole Gunnar Solsjkaer would take over a caretaker till the season ends and would be able to coax few memorable performances of the squad most notable of which is a turn around against PSG in the Champions League. Though post that match Ole would shuffle his defense every game and end up losing most of the subsequent games.

It is easy to gather when we put all the data together that we have more than capable players in the defense yet the key element that none of them could provide is the consistent appearance in front of the keeper. It can only be speculated how much this Russian roulette going on for six seasons must have affected David De Gea and his performances. Hence United opted for Maguire who was not only a top rated, young, English center back but also is made of admantium and has been largely injury free throughout his career. His body condition and strength is one of the key factor that forced United to cough up 80 Million for him. Maguire will ensure that he stands guard in front of the goal post and provide that much needed stability that United has lacked since the departure of Rio and Vidic. Who he partners with is yet to concur but Maguire will make anyone standing besides him look good. With him in the line up there is even hope that United can allow academy graduates like Axel Tuanzebe more time to prove themselves in the top league.

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