What, me worry?
UPDATE: "Sir Alex Ferguson has tipped Tom Cleverley to follow Danny Welbeck into the England squad and confirmed neither player will be leaving Manchester United on loan this season."
Sir Alex Ferguson dismisses suggestion Rooney can replace Scholes - ESPN Soccernet
"We lost five experienced players in the summer. Five players who gave the club great service - Wes Brown, John O'Shea, Edwin van der Sar, Paul Scholes, Gary Neville. At the time, you think it's a big slice out of the cake, but we have replaced them by adding De Gea, Jones and Young, and also bringing back Danny Welbeck and Tom Cleverley, who were on loan.
"We've actually got 12 players aged 22 or under with us now, so it could be an emerging team again. There are also some experienced players who are maturing and will carry the responsibility of performance - Nemanja Vidic, Patrice Evra and Rio Ferdinand have responsible roles, as do Ryan Giggs, Michael Carrick and Michael Owen.
"These are experienced players we've got, and the young players will be desperate to get in their positions, so I think it's a healthy situation we're in."
I think I have my history right in that Sir Alex is credited with building two great Manchester United teams - the late nineties version with a midfield of Keane, Scholes, Giggs and Beckham, and the mid-2000s team with Ronaldo, Rooney, et al.
Now, in the wake of United's record 19th title and their third Champions League final in four years, Sir Alex is going for the hat-trick. And with all the money Chelsea and Manchester City have to spend - and Liverpool have spent - you still have to have United favorites for next season's title.
Here's United's potential line-up. Not their best line-up, which today would include the likes of Ferdinand, Vidic and Evra, but the line-up of young studs that are just entering their primes:
De Gea
Rafael Smalling Jones Fabio
Valencia Cleverley Fletcher Nani
Rooney Hernandez
Bench: Lindegaard, Evans, Gibson, Young, Anderson, Welbeck, Macheda
Rafael Smalling Jones Fabio
Valencia Cleverley Fletcher Nani
Rooney Hernandez
Bench: Lindegaard, Evans, Gibson, Young, Anderson, Welbeck, Macheda
That's a team with Premier League experience, and in most cases, title-winning credentials. And unlike their free-spending rivals, the team structure and ethos is already in place. I know Neal will point to their lack of depth in central midfield, but in a full team they would have the options to play some combination of Giggs, Fletcher, Jones, Gibson, Anderson, Park, Rooney, Cleverley or even Hargreaves(!) for two or three places. Sure it's a mix-and-match game, but if Sir Alex is indeed a tactial anarchist, well... this could be an ideal squad for him.
Responsible + Ferdinand in the same sentence. First time for eveything I suppose.
ReplyDeleteHargreaves was release right?
ReplyDeleteYoung's got to start ahead of Valencia for sure. But you're right: that is a threatening team this coming year, and for years to come.
ReplyDeleteCrap.
Is Berbatov's release such an inevitability?
ReplyDeleteMUFC has definitely re-tooled, but let's not cast this as Barcelona. They have spent more than anyone save maybe Liverpool this summer to achieve this, much more (so far) than the "free-spending rivals".
ReplyDeleteI agree that this is an amazing base to build on given that, as Jeremy says, there is already a lot of title-winning that has gone on with that group and they're still so young.
ReplyDeleteNo apologies for the money they have spent to arrive at this point. City have spent more (not this off-season but over the last few years) as have Chelsea and neither are in close to this good shape going into the next 5 or 6 years. As an added bonus, there aren't many/any players likely to be pining for foreign shores (like Tevez, Cesc, etc.). With the possible exception of Nani this is a group that will probably be more than happy to stay at United for the duration.
If I were SAF, I would like to see one or two more central midfielders added to this mix but he's got plenty of time to address that since the results last season without such depth were more than adequate.
Just a heads up the game is up guys
ReplyDeleteBerbs as water boy?
ReplyDeleteNo Bale, no credibility!
ReplyDeleteLove how Dan C is already complaining, get over it, we all know what Yahoo are like.
ReplyDeleteBale is now on the game as a Midfielder.
Just having a wee joke there, sport.
ReplyDeleteDe Gea
ReplyDeleteRafael Smalling Jones Fabio
Valencia Cleverley Fletcher Nani
Rooney Hernandez
De Gea has been good but unproven in EPL.
Da Silva Brothers, can they do it over an entire season?
Smalling, unproven.
Jones, decent but can he do it "as the man"?
Valencia, great until injured, will he be the same as he was?
Cleverley, more potential than anything.
Fletcher, ordinary.
Nani, decent but will he elevate to C7's level? And will he stay at Man U for years to come?
Rooney has not had a great season (not even good some would argue), how will he perform?
Hernandez, a bit overrated, unproven over a season.
All of the above are decent players, but not close to the level of Man U's two great teams of this past decade, Mourinho's Chelsea or the Invincible.
I would also say if Man U played with this team as core group, they would not win the league. Chelsea, Liverpool and even Man City have more robust squads than this.
GunnerArt
@GunnerArt - I wouldn't really consider that analisys as a fair one. By your assesment above you are pretty much describing the team that won the league last season, with many average/mediocre players(so they say)...but still strong enough to win the league, am I right?
ReplyDelete-Saul
I don't think so mate. Jeremy said that's an ideal squad for Fergie and I disagree. If Man U had the funds, he would replace quite a few of those members.
ReplyDeleteThat squad is also missing four (or 4.5) of the most important players to Man U, VDS, Vidic, Ferdinand, Giggs and Scholes (the 0.5). Without these guys, I find it very hard to believe Man U would have won last year. Look at the spells when Vidic / Ferdinand was injured. Man U's defence looked very ordinary and even leaky at times.
GunnerArt
A closer look at what I actually wrote, please.
ReplyDelete"Here's United's potential line-up. Not their best line-up, which today would include the likes of Ferdinand, Vidic and Evra, but the line-up of young studs that are just entering their primes"
Well I'm just saying that a little touch of SAF's experience and coaching ability can potentialy create a title challenging team out of them. Those players mentioned above are not coming out of nowhere, they have been in the premier league and have tasted victory(excluding Jones and Cleverley). And lets not forget that DeGea has already won the Europa League with Atletico Madrid.
ReplyDeleteSure it looks like an average team, but most of those players are promissing youngsters that when given the oportunity...might surprice and be the next gem. SAF has coped with the absence of Rio and Vidic, having to bring in J.Evans as a back-up and Carrick in central defence. Now he has Jones, Evans, Smalling, Vidic(still young). I think it'll be an interesting season ahead, and strongly looking forward to how the teams develop.
Great Article Jeremy, you guys have brought some interesting topics during this off-season.
-saul
Now that the game is up, lets get some player chat. Who is at value. De Gea sure, Riise probably, Verm seems cheap to me.Taarab if he stays, Gervinho, but was hopelessly wishing yahoo would list him has a mid. Anyone else?
ReplyDeleteI am a bit baffled by what your post was intended to convey. I already said they were decent players and you conceded as much. Then you listed XI and bench and ended the post with "this could be an ideal squad for him".
ReplyDeleteSo which is it? Are they players you listed the ideal squad or did u mean to say that squad + the established players constitute an ideal squad? If it's latter, that's not really saying much at all is it? If it's former, then that's where I disagree with you.
Just sayin'.
GunnerArt