billycopper
Player Valuation: £40m
I had thought that us playing Preston and American sides in pre-season had left us under-prepared, while our rivals were in summer tournaments against the likes of Ajax and Inter. But we did have some more competitive games last summer with the same result.
If I was Davey the next thing I would try would be to start the season with a couple of kids in the team. They would be hungry, enthusiastic and would give 100% to try and impress. We'd be able to give old pros at clubs like Bolton and Blackburn a wake up call. It's the same principle why clubs like Hull, Blackpool and Swansea start so brightly. It's new to them and they're an unknown quantity, which makes life difficult for the opposition. We could rotate in the likes of Barkley, Vellios, Baxter and McAleney.
Give them a couple of months and then pull them out of the side again. Stalwarts like Neville, Cahill and Distin will be well-rested by this point and keen to step in and see us through the difficult winter period. Hopefully the knock on effects are that it would extend their careers and reduce the likelihood of injury.
The other area which possibly contributes to our slow start is a lack of goal-setting. Moyes always says that he plays the games and sees where it takes them. At this stage of the season the players can see for themselves what there is to play for and the effort required to reach it but, in August, they possibly drift along and don't worry too much about defeats. Maybe Moyes needs to set them a monthly points target if they want to reach the Europa League? In that case, if we lose at home to QPR we know that we need to put extra effort into the next game to recoup the points. Would players like Osman, Fellaini and Rodwell not gamble on getting forward more often or shooting from distance if they had a goals target too?
If I was Davey the next thing I would try would be to start the season with a couple of kids in the team. They would be hungry, enthusiastic and would give 100% to try and impress. We'd be able to give old pros at clubs like Bolton and Blackburn a wake up call. It's the same principle why clubs like Hull, Blackpool and Swansea start so brightly. It's new to them and they're an unknown quantity, which makes life difficult for the opposition. We could rotate in the likes of Barkley, Vellios, Baxter and McAleney.
Give them a couple of months and then pull them out of the side again. Stalwarts like Neville, Cahill and Distin will be well-rested by this point and keen to step in and see us through the difficult winter period. Hopefully the knock on effects are that it would extend their careers and reduce the likelihood of injury.
The other area which possibly contributes to our slow start is a lack of goal-setting. Moyes always says that he plays the games and sees where it takes them. At this stage of the season the players can see for themselves what there is to play for and the effort required to reach it but, in August, they possibly drift along and don't worry too much about defeats. Maybe Moyes needs to set them a monthly points target if they want to reach the Europa League? In that case, if we lose at home to QPR we know that we need to put extra effort into the next game to recoup the points. Would players like Osman, Fellaini and Rodwell not gamble on getting forward more often or shooting from distance if they had a goals target too?
