Feb 03
Fergie Happy to Take Second Bite
Thanks for all your responses to my first column, and thanks once again to RR for allowing me to inflict my views on you. Without further ado, here’s number two.
It was so uneventful that it may have passed you by (it nearly did me), but the transfer window closed on Thursday night. And totally underwhelming it was for a United fan, too. We signed Manucho, and then loaned him out.
That’s it.
The arguments about the merits of the January transfer window are well rehearsed, and its dangers illustrated vividly by the lukewarm reception given to (and worse performances given by) Evra and Vidic when they arrived this time two years ago. But I read the rumours, and the quotes, and I’d like to divine some meaning out of events and put them into context.
The first case in point is Hutton, the Rangers right-back. Anyone who watched any of Scotland’s qualifiers (particularly against Italy) can be in no doubt as to his talents, and it seems Fergie’s admiration is well-known. But we made no bid, and were happy to let him go to Spurs. Why, when a right-back is pretty high up our shopping list, and we had a rare chance to buy British?
To answer my rhetorical question, I’m going to throw some names at you, and you can see if you make the link. Carrick, Tevez, Bale, Mascherano, Rio. OK, so it’s not difficult (although Rio may have thrown a few of you). They are players who we could have gone in for when they first became available from their original club, but didn’t. Instead, we waited to see how they developed at a lesser club before deciding whether to act.
Carrick became available from West Ham when they went down (indeed Arsenal were strongly linked). He had shown some flashes for West Ham, but not consistency or maturity. He developed both at Spurs, and we moved in and reaped the benefit.
Tevez was on offer 18 months ago on a dodgy deal after a good World Cup. It would have been a total punt, even if the business side wasn’t so shady. He went to West Ham, took half a season to adapt, was awesome in the last few months of last season, and in we went.
Mascherano was part of the same deal, and I would have loved to have signed him more than anyone. He seemed to be exactly what we needed (we now have Hargreaves). But again, he took a long time to settle, and is only just started to show his true form. OK, so it was Liverpool who benefit this time, having taken a punt in last January’s transfer window, but Fergie avoided wasting time and money by looking before he leapt.
Bale was very strongly linked with us, but was largely unproven at any level (another Southampton wunderkind, like, you know, that one at Arsenal… Walcott, that’s it, isn’t he great?). Fergie chose not to get into a bidding war, knowing that if Bale turned out to be a success, he could move in.
Rio - I threw this one in to show it’s not a new strategy, albeit one that took a break for 2-3 years. Rio was on offer from West Ham, but went to Leeds, where he proved he was capable of playing at the highest level.
The break from this policy was caused by a drop in our attractiveness as a club for the very best to move to. During our years in the wilderness, and with Chelsea at the height of their spending powers, we couldn’t afford to wait and see, safe in the knowledge that we could always lure the player later. We had to be the one taking the punt, and it resulted in the signing of a lot of mediocre players. There was an amusing Guardian article which described Fergie as “an old man stumbling round the dance floor of a club at 2am, trying to pull anything within reach but without much success”. Now our status as one of the most attractive clubs in the world is restored, we can take a more circumspect approach.
No divas, please
We were relentlessly linked to Nicolas Anelka, but ultimately we didn’t even fight Chelsea for him. We all know Fergie’s attitude to people who view themselves as being “above the team” or as having “a right to start” - his half-hearted pursuit of one of the most talented strikers in the country confirms that this consideration is still paramount. For my part, I’d rather Anelka was still at some second tier club, since he and Drogba could form a sensational striking partnership — Chelsea (lucky bastards) are still too close for comfort.
The one that got away
The only genuinely interesting transfer on deadline day was Jermain Defoe. And I’m disappointed he didn’t come to us. We’re short of striking cover, and Defoe has shown that (a) he is a very good player on his day, and (b) that he’s happy being a reserve for long periods. I reckon he would have been a really good addition to the squad, even if not to the first team. I know the main reason he moved was to get more first team football, but surely we could have swayed him with the prospect of lots of medals over the next few seasons. In any case, I think we could have done with a reserve striker, to guard against the Doomsday Scenario - but more of that in my next column.
Related items from Red Rants:- The Doomsday Scenario
- Huntelaar Interest Returns | Gill On Club Finances | Manucho, Anderson and Ronaldo
- Totti Mouths Off Prior to Hammering | Happy Tevez | Happy Ron | Happy Vidic
- Some More Thoughts Ahead of the Scouse Trip
- Nani and Anderson - The Future Gets Brighter
Tags: Opinions/Columns
February 3rd, 2008 at 20:36
I loved your first column and I fully agree with what you said here (you forgot Berbatov). The downside of this strategy is however that the players become more expensive.
February 3rd, 2008 at 20:48
I’m not sure how happy Defoe would be as a back up striker for a second time, is that not partly the reason he’s moved clubs - I know he was probably pushed aswell.
February 3rd, 2008 at 21:05
Fergie’s baffling decisions cost us 3 points yesterday I
honestly believe!. Anderson has proved, as he did when
he came on yesterday against Spurs, THAT HE IS A GREAT
COMBATANT - HOME OR AWAY!. In a match Fergie knew was
going to be fiercely fought, he played a slow returning
Paul Scholes, not match fit yet, and Giggs who gives the
ball away so often in away matches. The game only changed
when Anderson, Nani came on, and Rooney got more freedom in
midfield and forward spaces. I can’t work Fergie’s mind
out sometimes. So no, I am not surprised he does
not go in for players when he can get them at reasonable
expense, but waits until we have to pay 3 times for them,
and become targets of ridicule and criticism from opposing
fans, crowing about us BUYING OUR TEAM AT PHENOMINAL COST
AND ARE NOT AS GOOD AS WENGER WHO BUYS EARLY AND DEVELOPS
THEM HIMSELF. So although I see the sentiment of your
article, I just think we miss out because we are so slow
at United in getting things moving. That’s how we lost
Ronaldinho, he wanted to come to us, but didn’t feel enough
effort and speediness of Utd to get him signed up.
February 3rd, 2008 at 21:31
c’mon, dont change this into an old guards v new guards debate, stick to the article. nice 1 pg, he’s taking a more cautious approach to signings, we were lucky with evra and vida(they were almost flops) i think bellion and forlan were winter sales, we know what happend there although we did try for walcot, would imagine we will try and sign a top flight proven player in the summer. i dont expect any hefty big name signings tho, just a right-back and it seems bosingwa is what we’re looking at.
craig, thats not the reason dinho didnt join us, he wasnt allowed to join us tho he was a man utd player for a few hours, if you like what arsen is doing so much go support him, we do things are way at manchester, and it seems are way works if we have 9 premier league titles and chasing another.
February 3rd, 2008 at 21:35
It is not a bad transfer policy. OK we spend big, but the days of expensive mistakes have ended.
Wenger is an exception, because his scouts and contacts mean he is able to buy up all the French talent before anyone else. We are only in a position to do that in the Portuguese market which has a smaller pool of talent.
But all the other top European clubs buy big, and we get as good value as anyone. Take our last big signings:
Anderson-bought for around 10 million with incentives making the eventual figure around 17 million. But has already produced some brilliant displays and has everything needed to become a world class midfielder
Nani-similar figure to Anderson. Raw and has nowhere near Anderson’s potential. Perhaps paying a little over the odds but he is young and good wingers are hard to find.
Hargreaves-around 17 million, I’m worried about his injury problems, but if he stays fit he will be good value because he has lots of Champions League experience with Bayern and gives us the vital anchorman player we’ve sorely missed in European encounters
Tevez-I’m unsure of the final figure but I imagine the total fee we will end up playing will be around 30 million. Which is a lot of money but he is a world class player and that is the price you pay.
Vidic-bought for about £6 million, finally provided a capable partner for Ferdinand and is a big reason why our defence is so amazing.
Evra-bought for around £5 million, now one of the best left backs in the world. Came to us with Champions League experience.
Perhaps we do not buy players as raw as Wenger does and therefore have to pay higher fees. But the players we buy are either world class or have the potential to be world class soooner rather than later.
As for the names mentioned:
Hutton overpriced at 9 million and no doubt Ferguson already has someone in mind for the summer as Neville’s eventual replacement. Someone who will have experience playing in a much better league and probably with a lot more Champions League experience.
Defoe overpriced at 9 million and there is a reason he was only a back up striker at Tottenham and cannot make the England squad. I imagine a Saha replacement will be bought this summer and he will be better and most likely cheaper than Defoe.
I imagine a big reason we did not buy anyone is because the sort of players we would be interested in are already cup-tied.
February 3rd, 2008 at 21:38
Nice article.
Though I really don’t think Defoe is anything what we looking for if you compare him tol what we already have… He’s a good finisher, but he’s tiny. We already have Rooney and Tevez… To me he wouldn’t really give much different.
A really crafty bit of business for me would have been if we moved for someone like Roque Santa Cruz… Now that’s a thaught.
February 3rd, 2008 at 21:47
i think with the signing of manucho and the loaned strikers influenced safs thoughts on a striker signing, then when welbeck played at arabia that ensured him he has cover.
February 3rd, 2008 at 21:47
if reports in certain media outlets today are true, Portos Bosingwa would seem to be be SAFs preffered option and this will only take place in the summer.
As for the merits of january purchases, I see no problem with them as long as they are not expected to perform at a consistently high level from the moment they waik through the door. If there is adequate players in that position and there is no pressure on the new recruit to immediately perform, the period between january and the end of the season can be a good settling in period, meaning the player can hit the ground running at the start of the next season, eg{Evra and Vidic}.
As for SAF waiting for potential recruits to prove themselves at other clubs, Im not so sure. If the transfer targets that we are being linked with are true, (Benzema, Lahm, Huntelaar, Bosingwa, Jovetic, Quagiarella, Veloso etc etc), plus our activity last summer,this would indicate to me that SAF is on the look out for best young foriegn talent to shape and mould and the option to let these players sign for someone else before we sign them does not exist. If the above players sign for Madrid, Barcelona, Inter or AC and become a success, our chances of signing them are gone. Taking a chance on the top foriegn kids before they have made it big is way forward and I hope last summers activities are repeated this summer with Lahm or Bosingwa and Benzema or Huntelaar my preffered options.
February 4th, 2008 at 5:17
If we win this season…we are in great shape in the summer. If we somehow falter then we have reason to bolster in the summer….**BUT**
THE GIANTS WON!!!
That was improbable, its also a difficult road for Obama, just as our road has robust obstacles (Arsenal, Lyon, the rest of the league, etc).
Its one down two to go on my list!! A guy is still dreaming. GO OBAMA!! and Glory glory Man United!!
February 4th, 2008 at 5:29
Boswinga would be a great addition…
Manucho looks good…
Love the wenger comment Dan, and i think the summer addition will be berbatov giving us 4 top strikers although i don’t know how much tevez would wanna chill on the bench for him.. and i’d prefer tevez and rooney as a combo anyway
February 4th, 2008 at 6:20
Fergie did not go after Hutton because he has 2 Brazilian kids waiting in the wings + Neville taking that spot for at least one more season + the reason we wanted Brown to stay at the club.
I did some interesting research regarding our defeat at White Hart Lane and found these :
1)We have not yet lost a match where ANDERSON has played the entire 90 mins
..
U can check it anywhere .. In the Arsenal match he was substituted , came as sub against Bolton West Ham etc and did not play against City .. We won at our second Home Anfield where the great Kid played for the entire 90 mins …
So i still cant find a reason why Anderson is being brought in as a sub and that too in a away match against some big teams like West Ham Tottenham etc…
2) I found extremely annoying as well as astonishing why we seem to do extremely bad in places like Bolton Fulham WestHam Pompey New Castle etc…
( Red Ranter this if u could write a article as to the reason why we suffer in our game play , it would be great)
These are the pitch sizes of epl teams starting from 12th place to 20 …
If u look at the sizes especially the last 3 West Ham , Bolton , Tottenham ..
…
We were terrible and took 1 point against possible 9 this season .. We drew against New Castle last season , lost to West Ham both last and this season . Remember Fulham? We were down and out literally and then a inspired comeback lead by ronaldo helped us win last season ..
In this list we seem to do well against Chelski and Liverpool.
We seem to do extremely well and kill matches in bigger pitches like Blackburn Everton Villa Emirates City etc..
I think as pitch size seems to decrease the lack of target man seems to affect us .. Anyways i may be right or in the other hand cynical
Cant wait to trash City with Nani Anderson Hargo etc. in the starting 11 !
February 4th, 2008 at 9:17
Possibly i have just to comment on how our
how players are most likely depending
on the fixture.Let i not sound as if
am trying to give directions to our couch
Sir.Alex but please let him bear with
me as a die hard-fan of Manchester united
football club.
main problems remaining now are,how we
shall pair our midfielders aginst any
fixture,and have good results-attacking
and defending midfielders.I personally
would request you to put concideration
to such players like anderson and
carrick on hard fixtures.Am due to such
decision because of their performances
against Tottenam.I repeat that my views
are just guarateed if only they get concideration
ideration and honour from you.
February 4th, 2008 at 10:12
@rick -spot on mate ! u have a point there
coming to article i cannot agree to some of the points ! those are gone days where we had the luxury to buy all good talents and allow them to mature and then see if they are good enough ! these days every fans expects an instant success…but if its exceptional we take a calculated risk t hem eg : ronaldo , anderson,rooney
yup wenger is an expection in handling the tranfers but he also have got failures there.but since he takes the raw talent and then allow to develop make him go un noticed as they are kids !
defoe discusson sorry i wudnt want him in united hirt as we already have have roo and tevez adn wud welcome somebdy who can offer a bit different from bench.now we have Manucho and i guess bebrtv will be in united next summer…did any one notice fergies reaction to poyet post final whistle…he was (acting ??) very friendly to him and i have never seen fergie doing like this very soon after the final whistle..just hoping that he is putting that extra perfume thats required to pull berbs from spurs
February 4th, 2008 at 10:53
I think we’ve bough enough BIG and should now start developing.
Now that we have a great, established squad, I feel Fergie should follow either West Ham’s appoach of developing our won (ala Beckham, Scholes, Nevills, etc) or follow Wenger’s approach of buying very young, very cheap and develop them ourselves. (ala Cesc, Rossi, Pique, etc).
February 4th, 2008 at 14:22
Dan(u-o.l, just because someone has a different opinion to you mate, why do we have to change club. I am Salford born and bread, and all my family have always been fanatical Manu, so I can not agree with everything Fergie does if I want to. So give your comments like that a rest mate. Thankyou!.
February 4th, 2008 at 17:12
what ever.
February 5th, 2008 at 9:55
(To Colver)
I have been to home and away matches for 15 years and although i agree Evra is an outstanding full back i just feel he is not good enough defensively, especially away from home. Don’t get me wrong he is probably the best left back going forward in the league but i just feel he gets caught upfield and out of position too many times. The goal on saturday was another incident of this. I just feel to win the title, like we did last season you need defenders to defend and attackers to attack especially away. And then if need be ring him off the bench. His pace will make him a tremendouns impact player against tiring legs. Anyone agree?
February 5th, 2008 at 10:14
nope…. evra has improved drastically in his defending abilities.. our defence has conceded 12 goal this entire season… evra has had a bad few matches lately.. but he isnt a bad defender…
February 5th, 2008 at 12:09
Jacko: Evra’s biggest problem at the minute is probably fatigue. I would have thought his style of play is extremely energy sapping and without Silvestre he has been forced to play virtually every game. And I disagree on the point that you need defenders to defend and attackers to attack. It is a very old school view of football. In the modern game, the attacking role of full backs has become ever more important. In tight games, against well drilled defenses, a full back is often the only free man when you are attacking. Having a full back with good attacking capabilities is a major bonus and can be critical to success during the course of a season.
Anyway if Evra is caught up the field, isn’t that what the much heralded defensive midfielders (that we have paid £18m a pop for) are there to cover? Perhaps we should also look at Ronaldo and Giggs who have provided very little in the way of defensive cover in recent games. Any defender left one on one with Lennon will probably have a difficult time of it.
February 5th, 2008 at 12:51
well we have taken a big risk with manucho…and he looks a decent signing already.
February 5th, 2008 at 15:09
Its really an interesting dilema. Spend cheap and risk it or spend big on proven players. I think there needs to be a balance. Yes Wenger takes risks in developing young and unproven players, Clichy as an example but others, like cesc was robbery. He stole him from Barcas youth system (but so did we with Pique). I think he will have to start to alter this strategy as Arsenal are really starting to become a big club. They have always been a ‘big’ club, but now are a global club, so expectations will become larger, thus money will have to be spent. Man Utd has to rely on prestige to draw top players away from their clubs, which across Europe isnt always as effective as we would like. But the question is how many top class players can we fesiably entertain in our squad(by top class players I mean world superstars)??
Youth need time on the pitch in the grandest occasions to develop, but being Utd we cant afford to continually blood prospects on these days. So what can we do? Buy finished products no matter cost, unfortunately that means we have to suffer at the turnstiles… A real circle of quesions.
Rick - I had no idea but you definately might have something there.
JB - Totally agre with you on Evra. Did you see how on Tottenhams goal it was Haregreaves shoot that was blocked and he was the one challenging on the touch line, finally Utd have got another one of those hardworking box to box defense players who also offer something up front.
February 5th, 2008 at 22:42
Evra - seems to commit himself way too easily in tackles;
unlike the king of non-commitment, Gary Neville.
This might be the reason that we seem to concede more goals coming from our left side (or the opponent’s right side) Else it might also be because there are more talented right footed players than left footed ones in general, I guess.
Oh, Evra is still an amazing full back, but he developed with the rock Vida, so I just wonder how he would have fared with another lesser centre back (Mika or Wes) playing regularly with him.
Defoe? Good pace, decent finishing, but does not I think have the instinct characteristic of a true striker which we seem to lack. Remember how Andrew Cole was not the best finisher in the game (especially compared to Ole) yet compensated with amazing movement and instinct.
Current transfer policy - Yea, have to agree with Penguin, better safe than sorry.
But we are bound to miss out on some talents , if the “transit” team in question refuses to sell, especially looking at Spurs who can sometimes afford the luxury of refusing some of our offers.
Btw. Bellion is 2nd top scorer of the French league now I think!