How do Manchester United best utilise their attacking force?

Seemingly having the luxury of several top class strikers at their disposal, it’s not always the easiest of jobs for Sir Alex Ferguson to accommodate them in his title-contending team. A number of combinations have been seen this season, with varying success, and the opportunity for players to demonstrate and develop other areas of their game.

The obvious surprise in recent weeks was probably the inclusion of Wayne Rooney in central midfield, of which much media fuss and hype has been made of. He impressed in the role, but after a couple of games, its hardly time to start touting him as the answer to Man United’s supposed midfield dilemma. Having your top striker drop back into midfield isn’t necessarily going to help the long term balance and consistency of the team on the pitch. Ferguson appears reluctant to decide on the best formation and striking partnership and stick with it for a while. If you look at other form teams, you can see consistentcy with strikers like Van Persie at Arsenal, Van der Vaart and Adebayor at Spurs, even Ba and Best at Newcastle.

At the start of the season, we saw Wayne Rooney alongside Danny Welbeck, which seemed to be flourishing into a fine combination, before Welbeck was ruled out due to injury. The confidence and form of the strikers was clear to see, with goals flowing and the system working well. The decision to go without last season’s goal machine Dimitar Berbatov raised eyebrows, but seemed like the right move at the time. Berbatov’s recent lack of game time and form appear to have damaged his hopes of many first team appearances, and when he has played, he’s looked largely unenthusiastic and off the boil.

I think Dimitar benefits from first of all having a willing strike partner like Rooney who can do some legwork and support him, and also wingers who can put dangerous crosses into great areas in the box. Last season he built up momentum and got into the goalscoring groove creating a rapport with the first team, getting into good positions and being on a wavelength with the players around him, after consistently being in the starting eleven. This season may be different as he’s going to find it very difficult to build up form, which seems to be a big part of his success, and might not suit the cameo style appearances. When the team is on top and dominating games, it may well be players like Hernandez and Welbeck that benefit more this season.

Ferguson has also experimented with one striker, like a lot of Premiership sides these days. It helps to have pacey and attacking wingers, like Young and Nani who get get in dangerous positions, and a prolific goalscorer in the middle. Javier Hernandez appears a prime candidate for this role, but needs the support from team mates in attacking situations. Danny Welbeck may well be best deployed in an attacking midfield, on the wing, particularly if Ashley Young is out of the line-up.

Man United are capable of using this 4-3-2-1 tactic effectively and seem suited to it but with the inclusion of Rooney as a direct front man, with his ability to hold the ball up and use his strength and power when necessary. I think the main issue at the moment is that United just don’t have the strength in depth in midfield to sacrifice a man upfront for a three man central midfield. The best option for me is playing two strikers, say Rooney and Hernendez, because the extra man in midfield may well be wasted particularly if Rooney drops deep.

With the addition of fringe players like Michael Owen and Diouf, it seems that Ferguson can have the luxury of rotating his squad, particularly in cup competitions. However, now might be the time to fix a permanent striking system for the majority of games and cement players in their attacking roles to try and build up a more consistent attack. Although not completely underwhelmed in the goal department at the minute, with 7 in 6 Premiership games, you can certainly notice a difference from the start of the season.

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