I’m not even going to comment on Sunday’s match against City. All I can say is that we are rapidly looking more and more like a shitty version of Arsenal with plenty of possession, a range of fabulous one-touch passing and absolutely no way to finish off a move. Instead of bitching and yipping and saying that it’s all over maybe we’ll be in the UEFA Cup next year, I’m going to offer my solutions to the problem.
1- Sign Crouch: What we’re lacking is a target man who can knock the ball down and bring others into play. Crouch isn’t really a prolific striker of the ball (still, good feet for a big man) but what he does do is unsettle teams and attract a lot of attention. This is what we need instead of passing the ball around in front of the 18-yard box and then laying off a first-time shot from Scholes or Carrick that goes high and wide every single time except once. We are so far 1 for 60 doing this and basically, we need the big man. Imagine having him up front to knock the ball down for Ronaldo or to draw defenders into a channel and then play a header back into the box for an onrushing midfielder to finish. It seems like teams are ready for us these days and they organize themselves accordingly, Crouch comes on to cause problems that either result in him scoring or in somebody else being able to strike the ball because the defenders were having a whale of a time trying to keep Crouch in line. Also, I believe that Heinze could be used in a straight swap for Crouchy. I’d say they’re both worth about the same and it certainly nullifies the fact that Fergie won’t sell to a rival if the rival also agrees to sell a needed player to us. Nobody wants Heinze around anymore anyway after his stupid prattling.
2- Revert to 4-4-2: Playing an isolated striker up front means that you will probably draw or lose a Premier league game unless your opponents are particularly shit. Even when they started playing Theirry Henry up front alone, Arsenal started to lose. We need either Rooney/Tevez or Rooney/Saha up front. No more of this Giggs playing off the central striker business.
3- Play Anderson as the second striker or light a fire under Nani’s ass: Two of our new signings looked great against Asian teams and second division Scottish squads, but Nani has looked pretty goddamn terrible so far against Premiership caliber defenses. Aside from a few nice crosses and a few runs at defenders, his shooting is piss-poor and he has a tendency to underhit the ball on a pass and give it up to the opposition. We either need to give Anderson a run out there or Fergie needs to let Nani know that he has to start producing.
4- Give Hargreaves a free role: Not only can Hargreaves offer laser-guided tackles and some neat link-up play, he is also adept at long-range finishes. If we are playing four at the back, Hargreaves should be able to get forward much more often and possibly take the shots himself. We all remember him absolutely burning that Portuguese defender when we lost that World Cup quarter final. I want to see that in the Premier league and the way that Fergie had him playing in the last game doesn’t compliment his style, in my opinion anyway.
