Feb 01
Fergie’s Super-Galactico Dream
I don’t know how many of you watched our FA Cup game against Spurs on the BBC. I did, and in between the usual inane banter in the studio and the consistently good commentary of Jonathan Pearce (please retire, Motty, and take Lawrenson with you), was a strong theme. The excellence of Dimitar Berbatov was constantly referred to, with all the usual cliches, and with many a mention of how he is United’s “number one target for the summer”.
This is not the place to debate that move. It’s been done lots, and I don’t have a lot new to say on him at the moment. However, it put me back in mind of a long term strategy which has been in place at United for some time now. It is simultaneously the reason why we will look to buy someone like Berbatov, and the way we will fit that player into our side. It is the Super-Galactico strategy, and its importance is underestimated by nearly all the journalists, pundits and fans who give their views on our beloved club.
A history lesson
Let your mind drift back through the mists of time to 2003. We meet Real Madrid in the quarter finals of the Champions League, when they are at the height of their powers. Their team, to refresh your memory was:
Casillas; Salgado, Hierro, Helguera, Roberto Carlos; Makalele, Conceicao; Zidane, Ronaldo, Figo; Raul.
A reliable keeper. Two full backs who were potent attackers. A solid centre back pairing, but who could play the ball and were a threat at set plays. Two deep lying midfield players, one a tackler who could pass, one a passer who could tackle. Three unbelievably talented free spirits who could play from anywhere, both scoring and creating goals. And a leader of the line, not as spectacular as the others but capable of brilliance, whose job was to score as many as possible from within the 18 yard box.
Sound familiar? See where I’m going? Well, let’s continue our history lesson.
We went to the Bernabeu on 8 April 2003, and were on the receiving end of one of the finest halves of football I have ever witnessed. Madrid were so good it was unfair, such levels of quality should be banned. We couldn’t get the ball, couldn’t even get close. We got out with a 3-1 defeat, and were delighted to still be mathematically in the tie. That’s the only time I can remember a United team being genuinely happy with a 2 goal loss.
Two weeks later, Real came to Old Trafford, and we came from 3-1 down to win an absolutely pulsating game 4-3. It was a stunning game of football, for fans of both sides and for neutrals. We went out of Europe, of course, but the over-riding emotion for Fergie, to judge from interviews he gave after the game in in following weeks, that night was “I want more of this”.
Crystallisation of the dream
And so it began. Strong defensive unit, fullbacks who could be wingers, two complementary central midfielders, three cascading attackers, and a focal point. The blueprint was there…4-2-3-1 is born – and haven’t we all hated it. Queiroz’s corruption; a betrayal of beautiful football; an admission we’re not good enough; over-sophistication…the list of criticisms is endless, and I agreed with most from time to time.
But born it was, and all we needed now was the players. Trouble is, that’s not so easy. I’m not going to go into a lot of detail about Fergie’s Houllier / Benitez phase of buying lots of substandard players. And I’m going to pretend that he never saw Djemba-Djemba and Kleberson as the destructive/creative deep midfield pair, or Forlan as part of the free-roaming attacking trio. It’s been building for a while, now, though.
Two years ago, we had Ruud, complemented by Giggs, Rooney and Ronaldo – not quite good enough, Ronaldo was immature and nothing like the player we see today, Giggs still struggles to operate centrally and Rooney dislikes operating anywhere else. Saha (a perfect fluid forward, at his best), was then and is still injured. Solskjaer (lest anyone forget, the player who was supposed to take over from Becks on the right) – injured, never to be the same again. Keane retired, and his replacements substandard. Bring back 4-4-2, we cried.
And last year, ground down by failure, 4-4-2 came back, and we loved it. At last, Quieroz has been subdued, we laughed. Not so – Fergie had subdued himself. Ruud, seemingly the ideal focal point, had gone, and to replace his goals we needed a more innately attacking system. Two up top, two wingers, attacking central midfielders…we needed our goals back, and Fergie was going to fix it.
At the gates…
But now he can begin to dream again, and I for one finally dream with him, rather than wanting the high-flying fantasies to be tinged with reality. The final piece of his 5-year puzzle is the focal point – but this time someone who has to fit in with our existing excellence, rather than rail against it as Ruud did. Allow me to present Fergie’s dream team:
EVDS (or Foster going forward) – solid keeper capable of match-turning saves.
Neville (or one of our various transfer targets) and Evra – great defenders who offer a lot going forward
Rio and Vidic – superb defensive pairing, capable of marshalling / dealing with an occasional lack of cover from the front 4 (watch how often we go man-for-man at the back compared with most teams).
Hargreaves and Anderson – deep lying midfielders, one more destructive, one more creative.
Rooney, Tevez, Ronaldo – unbelievable attackers capable of creating chances and goals from anywhere on the pitch, all willing to drop deep and swap positions.
The Focal Point (Berbatov, Huntelaar, etc) – aerial threat in the box, good enough on the ground to link in with the passing movements, another 20 goals a season.
One big and one medium signing, and he’s there, in footballing heaven. And, without a ludicrous celebrity culture, an interfering president, managerial instability, so are we.
Related items from Red Rants:
- Fergie Happy to Take Second Bite
- Ronaldo Returns + Fergie’s Optimism Dips + Squad ‘Swells’
- Fergie’s Cleverley About-Face
- Deadline Day Looms…
- 18 Titles, Champions of England — and those are actually facts
Tags: Manchester United News
Opti (541)
RedDevilEddy (459)
Stephen (454)
Craig Mc (344)
Moscow is my heaven (272)
GREAT article, mate… and I wholeheartedly agree. It is finally taking shape and is a beautiful thing to behold.
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agree with the article but i dont understand why
people are still talkin like we need to buy a tall dominant
striker..(aka berbs/ Hunt)…..weve got MANU! He wasnt
bought for kicks you know!
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…one more thing….We NEED M.Richards at right back. He’d
make our defence near inpenetrable! exciting times ahead tho
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Hope you all enjoy the article, and thanks to Red Ranter for allowing me to inflict my views upon you! I’ll try to be as active as possible in the comments section.
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Real Red – Richards would be an awesome signing (even if he is an arrogant ****, have you ever read his BBC column?).
As for Manucho, there is a report in the Times this morning that we’ve loaned him out to Panathanaikos to gain experience until he qualifies for a work permit here. So he’s not a short-term solution, more one for the the 09/10 season, like the Brazilian twins.
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We still need another striker either
of the 2 and a cover on the right
Richard is my 1st choice or Anton
Ferdinand can be turned into a right
back he is good in the air and he
scores goals they are both English
sorry I am not being descriminative
but we do not want to be like Arsenal
UN team)
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fantastic article, gives alot of food for thought. however i believe carrick needs to have a role because on his day he is still one of the best passers in the premiership. Anderson is our future in midfield. Hutton would have been ideal to replace gary, alves/richards could deputise.
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Haven’t seen enough of Manucho, other then his head, to tell if he could fill this position. If not, I think Berbatov or Huntelaar would both be great choices. Or maybe we could snatch Mario Bolatelli from Inter. Looked great against Juve. And don’t forget we apparently made a bid for Benzema already.
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Excellent article. I’m wondering two things however.
1 – How much of last season did we really play standard 4-4-2. Remember Roma 7-1? Of course you do, but think of the formation. Smith, up front on his own, Ronaldo, Rooney and Giggs in your attacking trio. Bolton was similar when we won 4-1
2 – I don’t see the need for a big signing. Currently we have Rooney leading the line with Tevez, Ronaldo and Giggs as the trio. In fact I’d go further and point at a totally fluid attacking four of Rooney, Tevez, Ronaldo and Giggs/Nani. With backup players of the like of Saha/a signing/Manucho/Park.
It’s certainly exciting times.
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Kurt
Interestingly enough, a few years back we tried signing Mario Bolatelli as a 15 year old… Unfortunately the deal never went through due to permit issues.
He certainly looks to have huge potential.
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Excellent article!!!
What would be amazing would be having Drogba as that final piece.
For me an exceptional buy would be Roque Santa Cruz. He’s a really intelligent type of player and a good finisher. Exceptional in the air as well. Plus he’s got bags of experience for his age and also in the Champions League. We could probably get him on the cheap as well.
Benzema looks another great option… Though he’s gona cost a lost.
BTW have you guys seen how brilliant Alexandre Pato is at Milan??? And the comments coming from pundits are just as freaky… The kids only 18!
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We don’t need a big-name signing.
I would like SAF to give Wellbeck a chance.
If he really want to sign another striker, then personally I would want him to sign Rossi back. With Manucho and Saha providing the height in the team, I’m sure we can accomodate Rossi?
Dong also need to be given a fair chance.
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I do agree, we already have Manucho and i saw the game against Tunisia last night and was impressed with him. I saw the total 90mins and he did well. He played somewhat like Dogbar, Berba. He was the focal point of the whole attack. I think he would not buy Berba or Hunterlaar coz this guy Manu is quite good from what i saw last night.
Anyways, i think SAF realizes we need a big,tall heading striker and in Manu he sees it.
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A few points:
Neither Rooney or Tevez is able to effectively “lead the line” which is why they operate best as a pair up front. We do not need a focal point for our attack because we have rooney, tevez, ronaldo….all capable forwards able to overlap and move into space. 4-4-2 is not an accurate descripton of how we play as we do not have genuine wingers (Giggs iss the closest but has lost his pace), and Ronaldo loves to cut inside.
A focal point approach 4-2-3-1 would be an interesting approach and would suit us well for Europe, and as mentioned has been deployed already. But Rooney has not stepped up to an out-and-out striker, and Saha is always injured.
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we have an exceelent team playin beautifully now, bringing in klaas or berba, would in in my opinion make us unstoppable, this is a fantastic article as it outlines the future of this club and a route we, well may take. if we were to get a big centre foward it would be great, if we did not i still would not mind, the future for us is definitely mouth watering. furthermore we have a great defence, a superb attackin threat and brilliant depth, we already have the replacements for the old guard here, with anderson nani being excellent prospects and carrick and hargreaves setting the balance in tone. 1 possibly major worry for me would be if we could keep this team together, loyalty seems to be a thing of the past when you talk about foreigners coming to the english game. Will ronaldo stay with us atleast untill he is 26,27 and will we be able to hold onto tevez?? big questions are alredy bein asked, but 1 comfort i see in all this is that for at least the nxt 2,3 seasons we will have such a potent threat that the world will be terrified of us, and yes even barcelona
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You nailed it, man. A few relevant caveats, if I might, though. This system of Ronaldo, Rooney and Tevez in a sort of whirling dervish triangle is pretty much going to eventually wear down any defence, short of using Svengoolie’s tactics at City of simply clogging up up the midfield. I’m not convinced that, especially for 40M quid, Berbatov is going to be a happy diva if he’s only entering big games for the last 15 minutes. Huntelaar has a lot of latent talent, but he’s both physically and mentally slow. This whole batch of Dutch talent, save Van Der Vaart, looks athletically brilliant but mentally vacant. IF the Gaffer is going to spend over 30M, and if this Angolan kid disappoints in Greece, we ought to go for Karim Benzema in the summer. I worry about Hargreaves’ reliablity over the years as much as the aging of Neville, Giggs and Scholes. Just how damaged is our relationship with Sporting Lisbon, anyway? Miguel Veloso is a natural and seems to want to play at the same club as Ronaldo. I’d like to see more of Danny Simpson out there, too, because Wes Brown does not cross the ball too well and gets caught out of position way too often. Lastly, I keep reading that Stephen Appiah wants to play for us. He’s a tough tackle-and-pass merchant. Very impressive on the goggle box, to be sure. Does anybody know why Juve chose to let him loose? Hard to see why they sold him, all the more so now that Rainieri pissed away so much dosh on the vicious, capricious Momo Sissoko.
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you said it Karl- The bolatelli boy looks immence but young
danny welbeck is near nuf to a carbon copy. same age, same
height etc. Think welbeck is gona be beyond! what does every
body think of sulley muntari??
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Just to draw some points together from the comments:
1. I agree that we are playing 4-2-3-1 at the moment, just with Rooney up top and Giggs in the attacking 3. Our true 4-4-2 hasn’t really been seen since Saha lost fitness/form and Larsson left. In the long run, Rooney is more influential when he can come deeper, and he is not tall enough to be a true leader of the line. Someone like Berbatov can do that, and on top of everything else he adds will give us some incentive to cross the ball again.
2. Relax about Manucho. He’s going on loan to Greece, he is not relevant for next season even if he has potential in the long term.
3. We wouldn’t be buying a front man to play the odd game – we’d be buying him to be the focal point week-in-week-out, leaving Tevez, Rooney and Ronaldo to play from deep.
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great article RR.Iwonder why everyone is so obsessed with richards of city.first iwould say he is not that intelligent in game reading.you saw that against arsenal when he was the weak link.fabregas scored in his face,and he brought a penalty.against a tricky and passing team,he is lost.i know he is good going foward and fast and strong,thats all there is to his game.i would be glad if we give simmo a chance he could be better in years
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I suppose the one thing that hasn’t been suggested is that Ronaldo could be the focal point of an attack. He’s big, strong has a great first touch and can finish. Would his pace be wasted?
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Beachryan – yes, definitely. Whilst he could do it, Ronaldo’s exceptional talent lies in running at defenders, not playing with his back to goal.
Donibrasco – I wrote this article, not RR!! ;D
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Are you lot forgetting nani? He wasnt bought for no reason, where does he fit into this vision?
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Whilst you could play Ronaldo right up front, it’s a bit like having Keane at centre-back. He could do the job, but you’d miss what he’s really great at.
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Richards is not at all what United need. He’s far from the finished article and looks much more relaxed at centre-back next to Dunne.
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Berbatov is like tevez and rooney. All three are forwards who like to drift about. Berbatov is also similar to henry – he is happy to drift about at the edge of the box, not really a goalscorer. He is a class player, but not really the kind of player who will play right up top and score goals in the six-yard box. However, berba, rooney and tevez are all forwards, they are not midfielders.
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With Evra wanting high wages and the question marks over Brown (has he re-signed?) and Neville, we could be after two first team full back’s/wing backs. I also think we need something different to what we already have (or something similar to Saha, apart from being alot fitter), Im not wholly sure Berba would have the pace for our counter-attacking style to really fit in, but also in a general comment brilliant article but you have seemingly put Rooney or Tevez on the opposite wing to Ronaldo which is a complete waste imo.
Nani may be the answer in a year or so (maybe by 08/09 he will be automatic choice, but more likely 09/10 season) great prospect but not really there yet.
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I couldn’t disagree more.
1. Reals formation was result of Galactoco idea. What I am trying to say is that they didn’t form formation and then bought player, but vice versa they bought players and then created a formation that would allow them to play all of them.
2. The Fergi-s best year was 99-00 and he was playing 4-4-2 with two wingers. Now he is trying to do the same thing with upgrades. Nani and Ronaldo on flanks and Rooney and Tevez in the center, while all of them being 100% interchangable. You comparing us to Real is totally wrong. If you believe that we will buy a 3rd sticker (Berba or Hunt or anybody else) and start all of them you are wrong, even if we buy one, which I doubt, he would be as a sub nothing more.
I can’t believ that so many people actually agree with this post.
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Hello guys.
Ive just discovered Redrants and been reading it regularly for the past month and just now am about to give some of my humble opinions.
Excellent article.
I have to point out though that I don’t quite agree with the galactico ideal.
I’ve never liked the madrid style (at least at the time of those galacticos) because I thought they were not so much of a team than people would think. Ourselves, Arsenal (though overreliant on Mr Henry), and even Barca played better team football at the time execpt for the fact that Real relied often on individual moments of brillance by their magic trio(Raul was already starting to wane). I remember the final of Real vs. Leverkusen where Bayer outplayed them in every department except that Mr ZZ came up with an unreal goal to crucify them.
To compare this current team with them would not do this United team justice as the boys are playing much better as a team than those galacticos would let one think.
The one detail where Real(then) were a much better team than this united team is in the finishing. We all know that we should be winning some games with a much higher scoreline than some actual results would suggest. And this has been a problem that I can remember was there 5 years ago. As such, all of Real’s attacking minded players were better finishers than Utd’s (except of course for our Ronaldo)
Also I don’t agree with your opinion of Berbatov being the solution for forward strengh and height. I might be wrong but i think that other than he having a certain amount of class and touch, he does tend to drift out of games. And those who criticize Saha on the same grounds could be dissapointed in his style of play, having been accustomed to the energetic approach of Carlitos and Roo.
Karim Benzema of course is a definite winner. Actually Lyon are underperforming a little bit compared to the standards they set themselves during previous years of French domination and their only player who is really shining is Benzema.
Btw what do you guys think of Bobo Vieri?
He’s a proven goalscorer, strong, good in the air…
Might be on the decline but remember the performance of 35-or-so year olds Larsson and Sheringham…
He might be happy to be part of a strong team, and give time for Manu to develop.. Oh I’m just dreaming I guess…
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taron….. i agree with you that real didnt change fergi’s way of managing his team….. but they did show him something that he thinks he can use to great effect here at united…… while united will always play a 4-4-2 system under him, he has moved to a less rigid version now……
he gives more players the freedom to move about as opposed to the 99 team where u only saw scholes drift into various parts of the pitch with everyone else more or less moving in fixed pockets or before that when cantona was the only free spirit in the side…. this idea he got from real of 2003…..
one more thing i agree with you is the fact that a big man isnt gonna walk into the first team anymore…. if manucho doesnt work out, fergi will get some one for his bench, as an added option, a different dimension, only to be used in games when the opposition is proving hard to break down….
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good article, good points but really why fix something thats not broken, that normally breaks the thing when it was working already, we’re getting goals, are goal difference proves that, are team is gelling, overall everyone looks confident in their positions, we have the most goals without a target man, we are getting a target man in manu and welbeck and in the un-named stiker, we dont need to reshuffle and change are system, are system is working, we’re not conceding, we are scoring, are system is near perfect why try and fix perfect?
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samg you summed up all my points. When I said “with upgrades” and “interchangable” I ment the freedom that our players will have. I am not sure about learning it from Real, because only this year we understand that it’s possible (Tevez and Nani were just bought) and Ronaldo started to be effective only from last year. Even Sr. Alex said that he didn’t saw his scoring potential when he bought him and he bought him only as a winger
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Evra cant play against City next saturday, but if Rooney gets a yellow card tomorrow, he cant play either! And if he gets one against City, he cant play against Arse! You better watch it Wayne!
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Great article! Haven’t really though about this point of view but after reading this I somehow think you’re spot on! Despite the gain of confidence from recent success mainly due to some thirdish-in-the-world-ranked-portuguese, I’ve never seen the resemblance with this decades strongest side.. Anyhow, interesting interpretation..
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Brilliantly written article.I do think though that our formation will always be 4-4-2 under our coach.I remember some time back when we had saha,ruud and rooney,sir alex was asked why doesnt he play all three and he answered ” that wont happen” or something like that.I also agree with dan.Our formation/system is working really well.Its entertaining,fluent,hard to breakdown…so I dont think theres a need to develop a new formation.Maybe for champions league football?
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If rooney gets a card its should be tomorrow,man city will be easy.They are now shite.drew with derby?!we need wayne for arsenal,for some reason he always plays well against the arse.
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yea, what we should have done is make rooney get a yellow at pompey, it’s a bit corupted but not against the rules, he got a card at pompey, misses the spurs match and plays at city and arseholes. smart yet evil me lol.
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when will the yellow cards thing reset? im sure theres a point where it resets and he has a clean slate again
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To add something else; if Quieroz becomes manager in a few years we will probably be seeing this formation again. It is obviously the formation he favors above all others.
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but we dont know if CQ will be manager tho
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my prefered team for 2day:
VDS
simmo/peeks
rio
vida
sheasey(evra suspended?)
ronny
hargo
andy
nani
roo
no.32
i am starting to think whats the point of us doing are prefered starting line-up when we know its not going to be that?
just read the fixtures for this month, its going to be tough, if we pull through without dropping points or getting knockedout, i’ll be a happy man.
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Dan to tell you the truth, it’s more often than not only you who does their preferred line-up haha. But Evra isn’t suspended and I think Pique is injured, and it’d be a big surprise if Nani starts this game, he hasn’t started 2 games in a row often.
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lol i was expecting that, but i have seen others, just that i do it the most!!
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i now begin to understand y SAF will never buy richards….absolutely rubbish positioning leading to both arsenal goals……
also. the way city are playing, i wonder how many we will be able to put past them…more than 2 for sure….
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bugger it’s half time and the arse are leading 2-1
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eduardo was offside for pete’s sake ,are these linesmen blind
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Anyone have a stream for the game? I found one but it’s not in English.
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i ginuinely beleive that young nani should start the day. The boys itchin to play!
He brings so much more energy, invention n penetration to our play. It far out weighs the
occasional display of class/experience that giggs provides! PLUS- look at every corner nani hits,
90% of the time it provides a goal! Hes an essential part to our new style
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I reckon in central midfield we will see Scholes and Carrick playing, as Carrick plays best with Scholes and raises his game when he plays his old club. Scholes can then be replaced by Hargreaves or Anderson depending on how the game is going
Nani and Ronaldo should be on the wings, although if Hutton is playing we should go for giggs as hutton is capable of neutralising nani.
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I think Giggs will play. This is a big game and Fergie prefers experience in big games.
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Team News:
VDS
Brown
Ferdinand
Vidic
Evra
Ronaldo
Scholes
Hargreaves
Giggs
Rooney
Tevez
Subs: PIG, O’Shea, Anderson, Carrick, Nani
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