Overcoming MU’s playmaker conundrum, just a Mata of time

World class footballers have the tendency of injecting confidence and faith into any and all squads they enter. Mesut Ozil stands as the most recent example of an individual signing which raises the morale and subsequently, overall performance of a squad.

David Moyes will be hoping that Manchester United's record-signing Juan Mata can do the same.

Manchester United (MU) have not had a good record in utilising a trequartista (look it up).

David Moyes' insistence of shunting Shinji Kagawa out on the wing has been detrimental to both MU and Kagawa himself - Sir Alex Feguson's traditional 4-4-2 had no space for a free-roaming playmaker, utilising strong, technically adept midfielders who are willing runners.

Paul Scholes was never a "number 10" - the timing of his runs into the box, ability to manoeuvre around tight spaces and ruthless finishing made him perhaps the most talented English footballer of the Premier League era.

He benefitted from the presence of Roy Keane, undoubtedly the most imposing central midfielder in Europe at the time.

However, this current MU squad has neither option. Phil Jones has been £18 million and a Paul Pogba well wasted, though this might also be influenced by his constant rotating through different positions by both Ferguson and Moyes.

Tom Cleverley is an enigma - an engine room with no one manning the wheel, this could also very well be a lack of definitive instruction from the manager, or it could simply be that Moyes has instructed Cleverley the good-old fashioned footballing adage of "putting yourself about and running yourself into the ground".

Darren Fletcher, fresh off defeating a ghastly illness which has kept him out for the better part of three seasons, will need time to regain his strength and get up to speed with the pace and physicality of the Premier League.

So, the question is can Juan Mata solve MU's midfield problems?

It depends. Will his presence galvanise a brutally demoralised Manchester United squad?

That's the idea. Will he play in his natural position at MU, the very same position which he dominated and was voted as Chelsea's player of the season two years running?

Nobody has a clue, at least up to the Cardiff City match. How will David Moyes cater for the likes of Wayne Rooney and Robin Van Persie when they return from injury?

Does he play a 4-4-2 with a diamond shaped midfield, Carrick sitting deep with Adnan Januzaj on the right, Juan Mata behind the two strikers and either Nani, Antonio Valencia or Ashley Young on the left?

The issue with fielding a 4-4-2 with a diamond shaped midfield is straightforward enough - in today's Premier League landscape, especially against the squads competing for Champions League berths, a four-man diamond shape will be overrun in midfield.

Arsenal have Mathieu Flamini and Mikel Arteta in the 4-2-3-1, Liverpool's tandem in midfield is (ideally) Lucas Leiva and Joe Allen, whereas Chelsea call upon Ramires and David Luiz for big fixtures. Even Roberto Martinez's Everton operate a very efficient deep-lying midfield combination of James McCarthy and Gareth Barry.

Of course, Jose Mourinho's genius has worked in such a way that Juan Mata can be fielded against both Manchester City and Arsenal (Chelsea's biggest rivals in the title race), as MU's fixtures against his own team has conveniently passed.

But there is no doubt that if and when MU take the field against the aforementioned teams with a 4-4-2 diamond shaped midfield, they will run the risk of being overrun.

Perhaps David Moyes would line up with a 4-2-3-1, akin to that fielded against Arsenal in a galvanising victory back in November. Not pretty, but ruthlessly efficient on the night.

The front four was key in that fixture, and if Moyes is going to effectively utilise Mata in his squad, he will need to put him right behind the central striker. There is no reason to push out your most talented ball-players out wide to accommodate one individual (in this case, a Wayne Rooney who has been walking the fine line between inspirational and invisible from game to game).

Rooney himself has the energy and tenacity to play on either side of the central attacking midfielder, however he will not be playing in his favoured positions. Either way, someone (Rooney, Kagawa or Mata) is going to be played out of position if, and only if David Moyes attempts to fit all three players together.

A single new midfielder is akin to a band-aid over an open wound; a very expensive band-aid who happens to be one of the best passers of the ball in the attacking third in the world, but a band-aid nonetheless.

MU have far deeper problems that need to be addressed in defence and in midfield still, but this is at the very least a step in the right direction.

With fixtures against Cardiff City, Stoke City and Fulham coming up, Moyes will have an easing-in period for his new signing; let's hope that we will soon have a clearer vision of the Manchester United David Moyes wants for the future. – January 27, 2014.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.