Will Manchester United’s big spending get them to fourth or do problems persist?

Manchester United made a real statement of intent in the summer transfer window, spending £150 million on new players in a bid to buy their way back into the top four and possibly even into title contention. The 19 times Premier League champions have spent silly amounts, including £60 million on Angel Di Maria (not to mention his likely £200,000 wages) as well as Radamel Falcao for £6 million (plus £10 million wages). These are marquee signings. But, is this enough to get them to the top?

United have a lot of fire power now and as such can expect to score goals, or at least in Falcao they have a striker capable of taking those half chances and turning them into goals. The individual quality in the team is very high now. Unlike last year they have added two genuine world class talents to their teams. Di Maria in particular would walk into any team. Falcao also might expect Chelsea fans and City fans might argue that Diego Costa and Sergio Aguero respectively are at a similar level.

Anyone who gets FIFA 2015 will be keen to play as United and experiment with new formations given the wealth of top players they have in attack. That being said, there isn’t much optimism from a lot of neutrals about United. In their first three games they have been very poor, picking up just two points. United’s problem has been a lack of imagination. There has been little connect between defence and attack. As such they have averaged 82 long balls per game. The squad is very unbalanced and the 3-4-1-2 doesn’t seem to fit the players that have been signed. United have played with the 3-4-1-2 all summer, so now abandoning it seems strange. This is a formation other teams can get at. United don’t have one top class defender and have looked poor at the back in this formation. They also lack a top wing back. Opposition attacks can definitely exploit United. Their best bet is to then outscore opponents but their attacking build-up hasn’t looked good in the 3-4-1-2 formation. Perhaps pushing Rooney into midfield might help, but he provides little tactical discipline and would leave big gaps.

The individuals in the squad are good but the imbalance means that top four is not a given. There is a lot of competition for the final Champions League spot and other teams such as Arsenal might feel more balanced in their pursuit of it. Failure to get into the top four would be a huge embarrassment for United given the funds spent and the profile of player brought in. If Falcao gets firing though and if United can find some attacking fluency then United could sneak in. There are right now, lots of ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’. Only time will tell