Harry Redknapp criticised the Manchester United squad for its paucity of top quality this week.
Never one to mince his words, he said of the squad and his great mate Sir Alex Ferguson:
“More talk today but still don’t see LVG leaving,” Redknapp tweeted.
“Even if Sir Alex was there they would still only be 5th or 6th with that group of players.”
So is it true? Would the great man struggle with this squad?
We have always been such admirers of Fergie that we feel he could mastermind a title challenge, even at this stage of the season. And we could at least be confident that he would rouse his troops sufficiently to get into the top four.
In terms of the squad Louis van Gaal has made a couple of dodgy decisions in Bastian Schweinsteiger and Radamel Falcao. We would be amazed if either got back to anything like the imperious form of their pomp.
But he has bought some really good players who Fergie would surely like the look of.
We feel that Memphis has been mismanaged in the same way as Di Maria was at Manchester United. Forwards have notoriously fragile confidence and when a youngster like Memphis comes to a new country he needs loads of love.
Whether LvG has put an arm around the star in private we don’t know. But it’s certainly not doing his confidence any good sitting on the bench while the very average Jesse Lingard continues to start.
We believe that Fergie would play Memphis on the right where he can play a simple game and use his great qualities to full effect. He’s fast, strong and can beat a man. He also delivers a good cross. So put him on his strong foot and he will cause havoc.
It’s difficult to say where he would play Martial – up top or on the left. But with Ashley Young out injured there is a shortage of players for the left wing so perhaps the Frenchman would get to exploit the space and use his lightning pace out there.
This would mean starts for Wayne Rooney at number 9. Fergie may prefer him in the hole, but, given his current options, he would know that Rooney could benefit from the proper wing play of the aforementioned and also that he is the best finisher at the club.
He would surely go with Mata in the hole to start with. The Spaniard has been farmed out to the right under Van Gaal but, rightly so, Fergie loves pace out wide. Round pegs in round holes means Mata gets a chance to play where he prefers.
Ferguson would doubtless have Smalling and Jones in the centre of the defence and, of the currently available players, he’d go for Daley Blind on the left until a more dynamic option like Rojo or Shaw was available.
And, on the right he’d have little choice but to plump for Paddy McNair – a more than able-bodied utility man who would thrive under Fergie.
So here is how we believe that Fergie would set up this current Manchester United squad, taking injuries into account. And we would be in for an exciting end to the season. Oh how United fans would love to see the great man back at the helm.
