Forewarning: This is a long post on a theory for our present troubles; intended for discussion.

 

After watching the recent post of soccer saturday's critical examination on United's transfer dealings, there seemed to be a consistent theme on players we've brought in. Here is a theory for why we have been struggling after so much investment in the transfer market:

 

Summer 2013:

• Marouane Fellaini (Position: Box to Box Mid)

January 2014

• Juan Mata (Position: #10)

Summer 2014

• Ander Herrera (Position: #6, or #8)

• Luke Shaw (Position: Left-back)

• Marco Rojo (Position: Left-back/Center-back)

• Angel Di Maria (Position: Attacking-Mid / Winger)

• Daley Blind (Position: Left-back, Center-back, Defensive Mid)

• (Loan) Radamel Falcao (Position: Striker)

Summer 2015

• Memphis Depay (Position: Left-winger, Forward)

• Matteo Darmian (Position: Fullback/Wingback on either side)

• Bastian Schweinsteiger (Position: Center-mid)

• Morgan Schneiderlin (Position: #6 / Center-mid)

• Sergio Romero (Position: GK)

• Anthony Martial (Position: Left-forward / Forward)

Summer 2016

• Eric Bailly (Position: Center-Back)

• Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Position: Striker / #9and1/2)

• Henrikh Mkhitaryan (Position: Midfield #8 / #10)

• Paul Pogba (Position: Center Mid / #8)

Notice how few of the players we have brought in have defined roles or positions in our team!

 

We can argue terminology, what position you think this or that player should be listed as, or what position is each players' best position (and I expect that to happen in the comments regardless); But isn't that the problem Shouldn't it be more obvious each players role in the team? We don't know, and I don't think they fully do either. How can they perform when it is questionable what their role and responsibilities are this week or the next?

 

To a large extent it is the result of buying a mix of players who all have vaguely defined roles rather than fitting into a known system. It's hard to fit players from three different managers systems into a team cohesively, and even harder when one of them (who brought in 12 players in total) was actively looking for utility players or ambiguous positional roles.

 

Mourinho touched on this in a press conference over the summer, but he mentioned trying to bring in players with specific roles or positions in the team. I fully support the effort of the players while they are United players, but I think a clearing out of mediocre total footballers and replacing them with players who have established positions will bring the needed structure and fix our identity or role confusion on the pitch.

 

tl;dr : the utility total footballers LVG has brought in don't seem to know what their roles and responsibilities are; bringing in players with established positions and know their role in the team should (hopefully) help us back to winning ways.