he Champions League victory that Manchester United recorded over Bayer Leverkusen in the middle of the week was

welcome in a number of ways: Wayne Rooney got his 200th goal for the club and is fastreassuming his role as Old Traffords favourite teddy bear; Shinji Kagawa played, and put the conspiracy theories surrounding his non-selection up till now to bed; mostly, though, the victory provided David Moyes with some welcome respite from the critics who have spent the last month queuing up to lambast him. Quite what he was being criticized for remains very much a mystery. The modern day supporter usually has two demands: that his side plays beautiful football, and that his side wins. Of course, these two demands are of contrasting natures. The idea of beautiful football is somewhat criterion-based there is usually some idea of a style of play a team has to adopt before we accept that they play beautiful football in other words, there is a model and everyone is expected to match up to it. Winning, the way it works in football anyway, is relative. A team does not have to hit a certain standard or score a certain number of points to win a trophy; a team simply has to outperform the rest of the competition. Managers, then, come under pressure when either one of these two demands are not met, which, even if unjustified, is still understandable. The case of David Moyes, though, is particularly curious in that hes not exactly guilty of failing on either count. United have admittedly not been playing scintillating football so far this term. But then again, neither have Chelsea, Arsenal, or Manchester City. And we should keep in mind the idea of winning being relative: winning a game requires that you be better than the other team; winning the title requires that you be better than the rest. Restated in less elegant terms, that reads: winning a game requires that you be less poor than the other team; winning the title requires that you be less poor than rest. So given that most of Uniteds challengers havent been playing well either, nor achieving the necessary results, it is quite odd that United and Moyes are being singled out it is not as if the other contenders arent without problems either. The other factor is, of course, the style of football, or the beauty factor. There is this idea of beautiful football: a team that is cohesive, and plays football in a manner that is pleasing to the eye, in a manner that flows, amongst other things there is an allure to it, in addition to its intrinsic beauty, the idea of beautiful football itself is alluring it is in some sense it is seen as the moral way. This often plays out when supporters and managers comfort themselves after a loss by saying things like we stayed true to our style of play or we didnt compromise our beliefs etc. But while its quite reasonable for supporters to demand that their team play beautiful football, expecting a new manager to do it in less than 3 months, is close to the definition of unreasonable with some luck, the Oxford English Dictionary might even accept it as one of the definitions.

Escaping the shadow of Sir Alex is proving tough going for David Moyes (Image: Daily Mail) We are left with the conclusion, then, that United are being criticized, or more precisely, David Moyes is being criticized not for anything that his team is doing or not doing he is being hammered simply for being David Moyes. His opinions are criticized not because of their content, nor their form, but their provenance he could say absolutely anything really, and he would still be slammed from pillar to post. One might even take it a step further and say that not only is he being criticized simply for being David Moyes, an idea that is already quite absurd, he is being criticized for not being Sir Alex Ferguson. Nobody would have questioned United under Sir Alex if theyd made a similar start. In fact, United have endured worse under Sir Alex and football commentators have dared not question him as robustly as they are doing now. Many-a-time, even as recent as last season, Sir Alex made some rather far-fetched claims about the team having played well even when the contrary was patently clear; he didnt face the sort of introspection that David Moyes is being subject to presently. Which just goes to show how the person delivering the message is so important sometimes even more important than the message itself.

Master of the (press) house Jose Mourinho (Image: The Sun)

This isnt something singular to Manchester United either. Jose Mourinho at Chelsea is on the receiving end of it too just in the reverse fashion. Mourinhos side has not enjoyed the best of starts either. They have just lost three games consecutively. Now, if it were any other manager, theyd be receiving blows from pens that are famously mightier than swords. But its not any other manager, its Jose Mourinho. Perhaps its his irrepressible confidence that creates the illusion that hes right an illusion possibly so convincing that it causes skeptics to end up feeling skeptical of themselves. Extracting ourselves from the personalities involved, we find that Manchester United arent in too bad a position after all after tonights derby they would have played Chelsea, Liverpool, and Manchester City, all potential title rivals, and even the worst -case scenario of a loss will still see them only five points off the top a gap that isnt irrecoverable, especially when we consider that the other contenders have mostly yet to play each other. One gets the feeling that they will drop points both against each other as well as to other teams along the way. Already Chelsea have dropped three at Everton last week; midweek they lost to FC Basel in the Champions League and their defence looked hopelessly at sea, especially during set plays clearly all is not well at Stamford Bridge. Man City too, have been blowing hot and cold they suffered a reverse at the hands of Cardiff City and were held to a draw by Stoke City; there are question marks over their players concentration levels a criticism that has been leveled at them for the past few seasons. Pellegrini might be effecting a change but it too, will take time. Arsenal have undoubtedly strengthened with the addition of the mercurial Mesut Ozil. But theyre still relatively lightweight up front; their defensive problems have not been resolved either even a genius like Ozil cannot compensate for a Koscielny. All things considered then, Moyes United arent in that bad a position, and all the negative press hes been facing looks like little more than a gross overreaction. Then again, Uniteds position is merely the what of the situation; its the who thats at the centre of it all and thats precisely the problem.

Fellaini Marouane Fellaini was Manchester Uniteds only summer signing. The Belgian midfielder has been brought in to partner Michael Carrick at the heart of the midfield. In theory Fellaini is supposed to bring the bite, power and muscle, given his aggressive style of play (no player committed more fouls per game than Fellaini last season). But in practice is this partnership really destined to succeed? How have they fared so far? The pairing has had mixed results in the last two fixtures. In the real big game they featured in away at Manchester City neither player was particularly effective. United set up in a variant of a 4-4-2 with the two midfielders at the base, looking to both protect the back four and instigate transitions going forward. Carrick, who was one of the top passers in the league last year is supposed to pick the passes from the base of midfield and instigate transitions into attack, from the deeper position. The England international is the top interceptor in the league and is far better at defending his back four than some suggest. Fellaini is, in theory, supposed to play slightly in front of Carrick, whilst also having a degree of defensive disicpline he has got more license to get forward and influence the play from an attacking point of view. This worked OK against Bayer, but it is still worth noting that the side conceded two goals. From a more attacking point of view Fellaini hasnt been that productive so far, having failed to create a chance in his two league outings and creating just the one chance versus Bayer in the Champions League tie. In this regard Fellaini is an odd choice as the more progressive player of the two as he is not that creative. Last season the majority of chances he created for team-mates at Everton were from knockdowns and flick-ons, rather than incisive passes. A lack of mobility The major issue with regards to this pairing is the obvious lack of mobility. Against Manchester City this was devastatingly exposed. Yaya Toure and Fernandinho are two incredibly mobile and energetic midfielders, who are both powerful on and off the ball. Carrick and Fellaini played as a two man midfield pairing, with the club lined up in a 4-4-2. The result was that they were left overwhelmed by the movement of Citys midfield, particularly when Samir Nasri tucked in from the left. Fellainis own deficiencies were most obviously highlighted when he failed to track back into his own box for the third goal and also when he was easily by-passed by Vincent Kompanys pass to Jesus Navas on the fourth. Fellaini also made an incredibly slow attempt at getting back (even if Navas is a very quick winger), leaving Navas to cross almost un-marked. This will probably emerge as a regular theme this season, especially if Moyes continues to opt for a 4-42. A system not best suited to two immobile centre-midfielders. Carrick would be best paired with a

runner, who can run out of midfield (someone like Ramires for example, or even Moussa Dembele), not with a robust, but slow player like Fellaini. Conclusion Fellaini might emerge as a good player for United. The Belgian is versatile, strong and good in the air, whilst his passing is improving. That being said in a two man midfield pivot he simply doesnt suit Carrick that well. Neither player is quick enough to compliment each other effectively, whilst Fellaini is arguably not creative enough to dictate the tempo or provide cutting edge from deep (which might be why the club chased Cesc Fabregas). Moyes might have to consider a three man midfield in the bigger games and against sides who play mobile players in these areas, or risk being over-run in this area.