Season Preview - Manchester United

Quick Reminder, Real Life

A record breaking 19th league title and a Champions League Final appearance. Sort of speaks for itself, doesn’t it? These are even more impressive accomplishments since a lot of neutral observers would agree that it happened in something of a transition year for United. Their central midfield lacked an above-average talent (which Barca made abundantly clear in the Champions League final) and they featured a lot of very young (Rafael, Fabio, Smalling, and Chicharito) and very old players (Scholes, Giggs, and EvdS) all over the pitch in regular roles. The breakout star of the season and likely the difference between winning the title and not, was Mexican forward Javier Hernandez. Chicharito’s gift for efficient scoring saw him displace Dimitar Berbatov, the league’s joint top-scorer, as a starter. The only downside other than the loss in the final to Barca was a frustrating and non-Ferguson-like tendency to lose leads late on the road. “Fergie Time” just wasn’t quite the same when the Red Devils left Old Trafford last season. Still, with the title in the bag, that’s really just nitpicking isn’t it?

Quick Reminder, Fantasy

Nani was a fantasy stud for the first half of the season but ended it as only a part-time starter. Berbatov had matches where he was incredible followed by long barren stretches that caused fantasy managers to pull out the hair Rooney ultimately had transplanted in. Vidic was excellent but expensive. Park was incredibly effective for the price in limited duty. After a disasterous first half of the season, Rooney came back and had at least a pretty good second half (although still not up to his standards or price). Chris Smalling had a very nice run of production for a cheap price as injuries sidelined Ferdinand.

Summer Changes

Manchester United Sets Line-Up for Blackpool

English roundup-Ferguson set to ring the changes - Yahoo! Eurosport

"There are players who need a game anyway. Darren Fletcher, Paul Scholes and Anderson will all play. So will (Dimitar) Berbatov, (Patrice) Evra and (Edwin) Van der Sar."

Other news at the link. And do yourself a favor and read, and follow, Fantasy Football Scout on Twitter. They're killing it today!

From the ManYoo Locker Room

It is unclear at this time but rumors are circulating in the greater-Blackpool metropolitan area that rather than using his time-tested methods for inspiring his team at halftime (see dryer, hair and yelling...lots) Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson used yesterday's blog post on this very site to inspire his charges.  With his side looking listless and his Bulgarian hitman particularly ineffective the team went into the dressing room down 2-0 to their 12th place hosts. A Scottish-Ranting-to-English interpreter overheard what happened next:

In Praise of the Friday Trade that Never Happened

Jeremy Spitzberg: drogba/gyan?
Jeremy Spitzberg: how about dbent/berba king?

That would have been a 30-point mistake and I would still be in a horrible mood this morning.

Hmm, Nice Gossip But Hardly Seems Realistic

Football365 | All The News | Football News | UNITED PREPARING TO SELL BERBATOV

News in this feature that SAF will offload Berbs (not unrealistic) and spend big dollars on Benzema and Villa (wouldn't be surprised if it they ended up with one of the two).  Elsewhere in the feature it indicates that Fergie has asked for 60MM to spend on new recruits.  Something doesn't add up if you estimate the cost of those two at 60MM, the "return" on Berbs as 20MM.  That would leave only 20MM to reconstitute the midfield that has been non-existent for most of the season and potentially shore up the back line (although Smalling has already been purchased, you hardly get the sense that he's ready to be half of one of the top two or three central defensive pairings in the league since he doesn't start for Fulham). 

If you're a United supporter, you shouldn't take these rumors too seriously and you should be MUCH happier if some central midfield help finds its way to OT in the summer.  Heck, maybe Berbs would be more useful if he had more help from players not named Rooney when attacking.

Just some food for thought as I digest Chelsea's 1-0 win over Bolton and Drogba's mediocre day in that win.  Hopefully, we'll see better from Verm, Bale, and Bendtner tomorrow.

Cheers - Neal

Dyer to cost West Ham £30m

This is how most fans will remember the Dyer era at West Ham.

West Ham's Kieron Dyer will have cost the club £30 million by the time his contract is up, even though he has started only five games for the club.

The Hammers bought the injury-prone midfielder on a four-year contract from Newcastle for £7 million in August 2007, and handed him a £70,000-a-week despite the club's medical team expressing concerns at time.

West Ham also had to pay £1m in agents' fees to push the deal through, which means that with wages and bonuses included the entire deal will cost the Hammers around £30m.

I guess Berbatov and Robinho can rest easy now.  This is clearly the worst £30 million plus transfer ever.

Early Doors

Happier times.

We're just weeks into the new year and it's already time for many happy returns.

Spurs seal Bent deal

Tottenham have confirmed the signing of Darren Bent from relegated Charlton for a club record fee. The England international arrives at White Hart Lane on a six-year £16.5million deal, beating the £11million paid for Sergei Rebrov.

No need to bang on Rebrov.

This deal has been in the works for a while now, and it is a doozy! Berbatov and Bent are a tantalizing strike-force. Berba King's skill, vision, and ability to link play paired with Bent's speed... and both good finishers! Spurs are going to be fun to watch, and a nightmare to play against.

The only problem for fantasy manager is that both are likely to be expensive come the new season.