RA MEDIA

Zorro, The Mysterons and Angel Delight Published 15/03/18 on Moore Than Just A Club

For the better part of this season and the last, I have yearned for players to rise to perform at their best and display a maturation of the potential we always hoped was there. Mostly, the fans have been disappointed with individual performances, certainly any peaks have spiked only for brief periods but flatlining again as the players and team failed to take stock and gather any kind of momentum.

There were obvious failings in the last campaign, however Bilic and the club reached out into the cosmos to bring in players that would heal our wounds and make us a force we were led to believe we finally could be…but West Ham fell flat on its face, knocked out two front teeth and got put on the naughty step on more than one occasion.

Arnautovic arrived as our most expensive product but failed to impress, even enraging fans with his apathy and aptitude. Not until Moyes arrived did he start to wake up and deliver performances, thrill us with his talents and bag a string of goals that gave us all a warm and cosy feeling. However, the current team predicament is not based on recent performances, but on a season long trial that has had few successes and some major embarrassments…those early encounters were not only points lost but were also trend setting experiences we wished would simply vanish into thinned air.

The Mexican ‘foxey in the boxey’ arrived with a big reputation and an even bigger salary tag, but also fell on hard times and was left out in the cold more often than not…and when his services were required, it was as if he was stationed in Ice Station Zebra…cold, isolated and bereft of supplies. When Moyes took the helm, many wondered whether a soured relationship between the two at Manchester United would emerge once more.

For a while that seemed to be the case, but one assumes it was merely about Moyes changing the formation to make the team more resolute in defence…this meant that Hernandez was almost surplus to requirements or benched until required for bit parts in team performances that shrilled rather than thrill onlooker’s gazes.

Hart was hired to jump into the mix to offer superior stopping power whilst Randolph was ejected onto pastures new and embraced by would be resurgent Championship contenders; Middlesborough FC. The England goal keeper, who had been unceremoniously ousted out of Manchester City and had partaken in an Italian adventure at the foot of Alpine summits with Turin…or… ‘Torino’ to be correct. Bilic and the club saw an opening to bring Hart in as number one between the sticks but they failed to make the team a defensive force…the team suffered..as did Hart. He made mistakes, as do all keepers, but most were not of his own making either.

The trio should have given us some butterscotch delight to make us look up and hark at angelic voices wooing us up to heavenly heights…but it was a fiasco from early impression to latest incursions. Moyes worked wonders for a period of time and I sang his praises on multiple occasions, but overall his results statistics mirror those of Bilic and the infection that spread throughout the team then seems to have remerged and taken hold of wayward souls who strap on boots, miss opportunities and lunge with fouls.

The striking difference this season to the last has been the team’s inability to build upon in game successes regardless of injury woes and transfer impotencies. It has been a testing time for Moyes and the coaching team, however many of the players still seem out of sorts and fallen out of love with the club who reward them so handsomely. Irrespective of our fate, I would expect swathes of changes made in the summer to eek out the dying wood and replace it with newer stock of juvenile saplings but for now…this is our starting roster and Moyes must inject fervour during their morning roll call.

Whilst I believe that Moyes has performed well, considering the fiasco behind the scenes…he also cannot be blameless especially when we failed to capitalise during cup games, capitulated with naive formations, failed to be the offenders when teams cowered before our rampaging stars and when he failed to make changes early enough when rapid reaction was warranted…and this continues to be his Achilles heel.

The fans look to their soldiers on the battlefield to fight with purpose and honour. To dig into their trenches and launch themselves over the top when opportunities present. There is no time for Christmas day pipes of peace…this is blow for blow until we stand as victors and our opponents are left to lick their wounds.

We look to our leader on the pitch…our Captain Scarlet Noble to rally more heroics from fallen men…to fight off aliens with ray guns and mysterious intentions. Each and every opposing team is no ally, is no friend and cannot ever be underestimated. Those games have passed and the lessons have been learnt. The team must have greater purpose and must deliver as they have done so in the past and not as they did against a battling Burnley on Saturday. Our Captain who started the game with honour, soon became embroiled in tantrums where composure would have served us all better…it was a failure of purpose and a fall from grace, from those who would invade and he who would defend.

All fans would cross fingers and toes and urge the lads into a win and to gain three enormous points. I prayed for a performance that would resign the previous two games to lost annexes of failing memory and a result that would spur us on to the next game…in weeks to come. The hope now resides in a Miami training camp that is an ‘obvious’ choice of action when many feel the best course is to hand players sledgehammers, to break rocks and earn some humility for tarnished pasts.

It was neither emphatic, nor was it convincing in all areas, however Moyes managed in the first half of the game to set up the team to play higher up the field with greater composure and guile. I knew, with every fibre, that playing on the front foot and pressing high would deliver greater opportunity for penalty box action and where the little Zorro would be most effective…if only Moyes had even bothered to place him in the starting line up. What a pity! What a farce! What a complete shambles!

The manager and team must be more Mourinho-esque, in that they must tailor their formations and tactics dependant on the opponents of the day. Play the hard defensive & counter attacking game against the big teams to come…but play a high pressing and attacking game against those of lower standings. This is hardly news as fans have been lamenting on this point all season and this has been a contributing factor in our failings.

Every game will be a huge challenge, for the players, the fans and the whole as a club. We need to feed our Zorro, we need a Captain Scarlet to lead the men to fight off the Mysterons and we must feast upon Angel Delight in every encounter.