Ran across another in-depth Man U article in today’s Daily Mirror that you have probably already seen at this point. By the end of the article I was absolutely positive (not to sound too over confident) that this could potentially be the best year Old Trafford has ever seen in terms of our ability to challenge on all four fronts.
David McDonnell’s article presented the concept of Fergie’s potential ability to field two completely different starting 11’s and thus finally having the strength in depth to challenge on all four fronts. No wonder we only won last year’s prem as opposed to the previous three- we had no strength in depth then and a lack of creativity up front in exchange for a relative goal machine (RVN). This past year we still didn’t have that strength in depth, but we compensated with a huge amount of attacking flair. Strength in depth can help you eek out a lot of victories 1-0 or 2-1, but strength-in-depth isn’t what beats Roma 7-1.
It almost makes me wish that Premiership squads were able to field B Teams like they do in La Liga. I know Mourinho was whining about this a few months ago as a way to keep his reserve players actually playing somewhat competitive matches. I think it would be a great idea for Premier League teams but a shitty idea for the nationwide league itself (kinda like including Rangers and Celtic in the Premiership- good for the big teams, bad for everybody else).
How’s this for two separate line-ups.
Vander Sar
Neville- Ferdinand- Vidic- Evra
Nani-Hargreaves- Giggs
Rooney
Ronaldo-Tevez
Foster
Brown-Pique-Silvestre-Heinze
Fletcher-Scholes-O’Shea-Park
Anderson- Saha
The first squad would win you the Premier League and that second side would doubtlessly be challenging for a UEFA Cup spot if they were playing in the Premiership. Here’s hoping that the Tevez deal comes through above board… It’s gonna be a hot season, I can tell already.
July 11, 2007 at 9:11 pm
You don’t put Anderson in the first team? But put Nani in?
Are you off your trolley? Anderson is not a striker, he is THE creative midfielder.
July 11, 2007 at 9:16 pm
True, I guess I’m going on the Football Manager evaluation that Anderson was a striker. He’s listed as a forward in the game, but I definitely think you’re right James- he looks like the creative midfield type. I guess maybe it’s because all the video footage I’ve seen of Anderson has him scoring goals- you can’t help but associate him with finishing.
I do think Anderson has the potential to make a big splash, but I don’t see him challenging Scholes for a place just yet… although I’m really hoping he does!
July 11, 2007 at 9:59 pm
I’m a Porto fan.
We’ve lost / going to lose nearly half our team again, much as when Mourinho left, when we lost Deco, Ricardo Carvalho, Paulo Ferreira, Pedro Mendes, etc…. Misery again…. And this time around we were looking promising for the European campaign too.
Anderson is the player with the most potential I have ever seen – and Portugal has plenty of exciting young midfielders… He was taken out shamelessly by a Benfica player (6 months out) when we were thrashing them 2-0 after half an hour. Broke his leg, didn’t even get a yellow. He was playing well: he seems to enjoy the limelight. At 19 (is he 20 yet?) and if he doesn’t crash and burn, I would say that ManU has made one of its best purchases ever. He may rise to the level of Ronaldinho – different, but equally brilliant.
On the other hand, Nani is not Cristiano Ronaldo. He is fairly good, but nowhere near that level. I’m not saying he won’t improve, but at the moment he doesn’t have what it takes to make it in England.
Also Anderson is a nice kid who works hard all game, Nani is stuck up as hell, thinks he’s a star. He’ll need to have the attitude probs addressed.
Regards.
July 24, 2007 at 12:53 am
i agree with James, Ive been following Anderson since he was 16 with Gremio. He has the most potential to be the biggest football star. My lineups will be:
Van der Sar
G.Neville Ferdinand Vidic Evra
Ronaldo Hargreaves Scholes Giggs
(Carrick) (Anderson) (Nani)
Rooney Tevez(if he goes)
(Saha)
I hope Pique doesnt go on loan, he is unbelievabley good..our next Ferdindnd… in the future Anderson will take scholes posistion
Comment if u like…
July 24, 2007 at 1:31 am
Anderson’s chances definitely look better now that Scholes is out injured for a bit. The big key here, I think, is the fact that Fergie has paired Ronaldo and Rooney up front… If for some reason we don’t land Tevez, I think this will become a regular occurence. The cool part about that is that it opens up an extra slot in the midfield because Nani can play across the entire midfield so we would probably line up Giggs-Hargreaves-Carrick-and either Nani or Anderson filling in somewhere. Anderson definitely looks the long-term replacement for Scholes but he seems to replace British grit and guile with Portuguese flair and trickery. To be honest, I think it’s a great compliment to the new style of football that Man U are playing. Let’s face it, we don’t play like the Old Manchester United anymore… We play a slick, counter-attacking one-touch game that becomes more and more fluid each time we play. The best part about it is that we aren’t all build-up- we have guys who finish playing in pretty much every single position. Shit, even Gary Neville scores once a year or so.
August 7, 2007 at 6:59 am
good
September 6, 2007 at 9:21 pm
hey yo man utd kill there time on tevez they better sign a best striker from europe and also sir alex made a big mistake by giving up smith he better give up on saha and tevez
January 9, 2008 at 12:18 pm
Manchester is the best soccer team. Also Chelsey is not bad now
(after abramovich bought them) but manchester is the best!
July 28, 2008 at 1:07 pm
Are you dumb
thia is the best formation for machester united.
Van Der Sar
G.Neville Ferdinand Vidic Evra
Anderson Hargreaves
Ronaldo Nani
Tevez Rooney
Sub: Manucho, Giggs, Carrick, Scholes, Brown
Key Players: Ronaldo, Rooney, Tevez, Nani, Anderson, Manucho