David Moyes explains his use of Anderson and Wilfried Zaha

Anderson

Published on December 9th, 2013 | by samp

3vid Moyes brought on Anderson and Wilfried Zaha against Newcastle United at the weekend when Manchester United were chasing the game and felt that the substitutions showed the depth of our squad.

Zaha was finally given his Premier League debut by Moyes and Anderson, who featured prominently during the pre-season, came back into the side having been frozen out for a number of weeks.

Neither player was able to influence the game enough to inspire a turnaround as United slumped to a second straight defeat at Old Trafford but Moyes believes the fact he was able to bring on two players like Anderson and Zaha is a testament to the strength of the squad.

“I do think the squad has got the depth and that’s why I played them [Anderson and Zaha] – to show the depth of the squad,” he said according to The Mirror.
“I felt that we’ve had a lot of games and those boys were worthy of inclusion and that’s why we’ve involved them.”


Fans had eagerly anticipated the debut of 20-year-old Zaha and the fact that Moyes was willing to throw him on at such a crucial time in the game was a real show of faith in the youngster considering Ashley Young and Danny Welbeck was on the bench.
As for Anderson, it was also a sign that maybe not all is lost for the Brazilian who is still finding it hard to game time even in the absence of Michael Carrick through injury.

However, as much as it is a positive that United have some good players on the bench, we currently don’t have a strong starting XI let alone a bench. In certain positions we are spoilt for options but in equal measure we are worryingly thin in others, notably the midfield.

The squad Moyes inherited may have won the Premier League last year but without Sir Alex Ferguson acting as the glue to keep it all together, the cracks have appeared and United have suffered as a consequence.
Moyes knows he needs to strengthen in the right areas in January if United are to mount a title challenge this season and he will be hoping that the squad can turn it around during this festive period to make sure that they are still in the title hunt from January onwards.