Why Starting Ryan Giggs Against Boyhood Club Cardiff On Sunday Could Come Back To Bite Moyes

Born in Cardiff, Ryan Giggs will naturally want to be involved with Manchester United's clash with the Welsh outfit on Sunday. The 39-year-old has managed to rack up a tally of 951 games for United in his 23 and a bit seasons with the Old Trafford outfit, but he has never had a run out against the club based in the city of his birth, but this could change at the weekend.

With Michael Carrick out of action due to injury and Marouane Fellaini preparing to undergo surgery on a wrist problem, Giggs is likely to partner Tom Cleverley in the middle of the park.

Despite Moyes having little choice but to hand the Welshman a start, I think it also hands Cardiff a bit of initiative to come bite United on the backside.

Giggs is past his best, we know that, and while his legs continue to age his performances continue to drop. On the wing players are somewhat expected to be dispossessed a lot of the time as there's only so much jinking you can do and tricks you can pull out of the bag. In the wider areas, also, you have a full-back to support you, but that's not always the case in the middle of the pitch.

Giggs' ball retention is atrocious this season from his five appearances. He has completed just 73%of his passes, which is worse than any other outfield player at the club right now.

He has won just 2/8 of his take ons, 1/4 of his headers and 2/5 of his tackles. Put frankly, Giggs is not a central midfielder. David Beckham tucked in from the right in his latter stages of his career and the likes of Paul Scholes ripened with age, but with Giggs his displays are falling apart at a significant rate.

Cardiff should be confident of overrunning the United midfield on Sunday, and if they do that then there is no reason why they can't get anything out of the game.

stats via Squawka