Aug 12
Interview with Rob Smyth
Red Rants welcomes Rob Smyth, formerly of the Guardian, who is currently a freelancer. He is also a Manchester United fan, so I took the chance to catch up with him and thank him for taking out time from his busy schedule. This interview was done a week ago so some of the answers may not fit in with the current state of affairs. But here you go:
Red Ranter: Hello Rob. Let’s start with something easy: your thoughts on United’s past season; players that stood out, turning points, tactics etc.
Rob Smyth: The exasperating thing about last season is that we never really got to bask in it: within days of Moscow the Ronaldo nonsense started, and even watching the end-of-season DVD is a slightly weird experience – precisely because, when you appraise the season, you can’t look beyond Ronaldo. Forty-two goals is absurd for a wide forward and, while I actually think he played better in terms of influencing games overall in 2006-07, the fact is that he scored the opening, tone-setting goal in an amazing 18 games. If that’s not a record, I’d be surprised. For all that, I still think the most important factor was the defence: two goals conceded in seven knockout games, and 22 in the league. Without the defence we’d have been out of the title race by mid-October. Statistically and actually, it’s the best defence we’ve ever had. Rio Ferdinand will never be a United legend for off-field reasons, but on it there’s an argument for saying we’ve never had a better centre-half. He is preposterously good. I’m still slightly uneasy with putting so much eggs in our defensive basket, and the tactics away to Barcelona and Chelsea still rankle, but inevitably those aesthetic concerns are dulled by the end result.
The obvious turning point was Carlos Tevez’s goal at Blackburn, without which the title would have gone into Chelsea’s hands. But in terms of the overall narrative I think a big turning point was the introduction of Anderson against Wigan. Before that we had really struggled for goals – nine in 11 games – but then we put four past them in the second half and 20 more in the next six games. That really got the season going. He faded towards the end, as is to be expected, but he was a revelation for the most part, and watching him own Gerrard at Anfield is a personal highlight of the season. Tactically it was the year we grew to love 4-3-3/4-6-0; ironic, then, that it might be sacrificed this season for a return to 4-4-1-1.
RR: Moving on to the obvious question of the summer: what do you make of the whole Ronaldo soap opera? Your thoughts on Ronaldo in general, the slave comments, and Real Madrid. Do you think there is a chance he’ll go to Madrid despite Fergie’s comments to the contrary?
RS: When I first heard Ronaldo wanted to go, I was upset but acceptant: we always knew this would be a holiday romance rather than something everlasting, like with Eric. But since then has behaviour has been astonishingly repugnant and disrespectful to basically everyone. I don’t think he will go this year – I think it has become far too big a point of principle for Ferguson – and that he will probably be allowed to go next summer. I worry about what it might do to the dressing-room but, as we saw in 2006, these things are quickly forgotten, especially when the man in question is man of the match almost every week. And he will be: there are no concerns about Ronaldo’s level of performance once he is fit. His ego is too great for him to allow that to slip.
RR: The Berbatov transfer: Do you think we need a target man, first of all? Is Berbatov the answer. You thoughts on other options if not Berbatov — the likes of Huntelaar, Benzema etc, perhaps? What do you make of the Levy-Ferguson situation, and is there a chance that he might actually sell him off to a club outside England out of spite? Or will we again pay over the odds?
RS: When I first fell in love with Berbatov, around February 2007, my instinct was that, sublime as he was, he was the wrong type of player for United, who work better with a firecracker such as Saha, stretching defenders and offering a different option. But I think Berbatov is such a fantastic footballer, quicker than we think and also very good in the air, that he couldn’t fail to be a good addition – especially as the usual concern, how he will adjust to the Premiership, is not an issue. And he’s so obviously a United player: unbelievably talented, and with a Cantonese swagger that will piss off opposing fans.
I know people think Berbatov’s signing would compromise the 4-6-0 United played towards the end of the season, but I am not so sure. He’s more mobile than many realise, and has the capacity and the game to roam wherever he wants – albeit from a central base – so in that respect I think United have the capacity to play the same way as last season. That said, Ferguson’s recent comments about playing Rooney out of position, and the departure of Queiroz, might well mean a return to Fergie’s old favourite 4-4-1-1. In that case, Rooney and Berbatov look an absolutely superb partnership. Either way I think it’s a good signing: maybe not for £30m, but despite the debt money feels almost irrelevant when United go into the market, because you know they are going to get done on the price.
I don’t think Levy will sell abroad, mainly because I’m not sure there’s that much interest. If it did fall through Benzema would be perfect – in fact I’d take him over Berbatov – but it seems there is no chance of that. I’m not convinced by Huntelaar, who I’m not sure is mobile enough and seems a bit too much like 04-06 Van Nistelrooy to me. Eto’o seems to carry too much baggage, even though stylistically he is absolutely perfect for this side. So it all comes back to Berbatov; there are worryingly few viable alternatives.
RR: Any other positions that need strengthening?
RS: Right-back is certainly a concern. There is scarcely any precedent for a player of Neville’s age coming back from a long-term injury to play regularly. Brown overachieved last season but is still limited in that position, particularly in possession. And the cover is less than inspiring: Simpson has promise but the first half against Everton suggested he was out of his depth, and O’Shea is no more than mediocre. Hargreaves might be our best back-up there.
The other area in which we are incredibly weak is goalscoring from midfield. I accept that, in part, that is a product of the way we play, with two deep-lying midfielders, but nonetheless a return of eight in 179 games from the five main CMs is appalling for a side with such quality and ambition. You would hope there is scope for Anderson to add this to his game; as we saw with Ronaldo, and also Fabregas last season, goalscoring is often the final frontier for a talented young player, and when they do they come in spades.
Cheers for your time Rob.
I did send him a follow up question regarding Ronaldo’s interview, and his views now on the whole saga. When he does reply, I will add it to the interview. I do hope to do some more interviews during the season with other people (perhaps with Rob again, sometime in the future). So watch this space.
Update: Here’s my follow up question on the Ronaldo interview and his opinion on the Portuguese winger.
RR: Now that Ronaldo has spoken about his intent. What are your thoughts? Do you think the OT faithful will forgive. Will he still be booed by fans to let him know what they think of him. What would it really take for him to win back the affection? Will you forgive?
RS: I think the Megastore Majority will forgive, but the harder core won’t, and I doubt we’ll hear Viva Ronaldo at too many away games. To them I think he will become a footballing fuck-buddy: someone who gives you moments of ecstasy but without any emotional commitment whatsoever. I’d be really amazed if he won back the away support: not because of his desire to go to Madrid, which is fine, but for the way in which he went about it. I think the only possible way it could happen is incrementally, over a period of three or four years in which he doesn’t say anything about Madrid. But that simply isn’t going to happen.
Related items from Red Rants:
- Some reads to while your time…
- Some interesting reads
- Interview with Phillippe Auclair
- Ten minutes of madness, a summer of regrets?
- Manner of United’s Win More Important than three points
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Stephen (454)
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Moscow is my heaven (272)
@Grognard: grognard, i dont think soccernet reports hot news two days later and that the berbatov speculation is just old news. they were one of the first to report the signing of nani and anderson last year, and if you scroll down the article you will also realize that they mentioned david silvas agent declaring that valencia had rejected a bid by united, which was reported by bbc and the guardian just hours ago, infact the same time as in soccernet.
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@Penguin: That’s a great question Penguin, and a very difficult one to answer. First off I think that Fergie would never create a system that would not utilize Ronaldo’s goal scoring abilities. With that said, he should but that’s just me. Berbatov, Rooney and Tevez cannot all start on the field together and still have Ronaldo man a forward wing position. I think Fergie is looking at several formations depending on teams and competitions. I think he like 4-3-3 a lot and he would love to play 4-4-1-1. I see Bebratov being a fixture in every CL game but not Tevez. Tevez would mostly (not always) come off the bench in European matches to give the team that much needed boost of energy and tenacity. Tevez however is very suited to playing quite a few games and taking minutes away from Berbatov and even Rooney in the EPL. He will also be our main man in the FA and League Cups where I think Manucho or Campbell will also feature. We won’t see Rooney or Berbatov in those cup games unless it’s up against a top EPL opponent. With Berbatov Fergie has so many options. In a 4-3-3 I see a lineup like this GK EVDS – Defenders RB Brown/Neville/R Da Silva CB Rio CB Vidic LB Evra/O’Shea/Silvestre – Midfielders RMF Hargreaves/Fletcher/Park CMF Carrick/Anderson/Scholes/Hargreaves LMF Nani/Giggs – Forwards RW Ronaldo ST Berrbatov/Tevez/Rooney LW Rooney/Tevez/Ronaldo. Obviously Tevez can play on the left side, as a second striker or at striker. Rooney can bloody play anywhere. Berbatov is very flexible to but I think Fergie would keep him as a striker exclusively in this formation.
In a 4-1-1 I see the same set up in our back four but now the midfield looks a little different. Midfield: RMF RonaldoPark/Fletcher/R. Da Silva CMF Scholes/Carrick/Anderson/Fletcher/Possebon CDMF Hargreaves/Carrick/Anderson/O’Shea LMF Nani/Giggs/Ronaldo/F. Da Silva – Forwards Second Striker Rooney/Tevez/Ronaldo Striker Berbatov/Rooney/Tevez/ Manucho/Campbell
This team has such incredible depth and versatility that no lineup is written in stone and Fergie will go all Rafa on us and rotate like crazy. But unlike Rafa, he can get away with it because of our quality and depth. For me the ultimate starting lineup is as follows in a 4-3-3 formation.
GK – EVDS
RB – BROWN
CB – RIO
CB – VIDIC
LB – EVRA
RM – HARGREAVES
CM – SCHOLES or CARRICK
LM – NANI
SS – ROONEY
ST – BERBATOV
SUBS
GK – FOSTER
RB – R. Da SILVA
CB – EVANS
LB – F. Da Silva
MF – FLETCHER or GIGGS
MF – ANDERSON
ST – TEVEZ
And that lineup is not written in stone. I also think of the quality players who can’t even make my bench on a regular basis like Neville, Kuszcsak, O’Shea, Silvestre, Park, Possebon and even Giggs. Manucho and Campbell I won’t lose sleep over and of course, Saha doesn’t even exist in my books. With Berbatov and a healthy Ronaldo the sky is the limit for this club. When I think of players like Anderson and Carrick not having a starting role because of Hargreaves and Scholes, I think it says everything about our depth in quality and quantity. I wouldn’t mind if we still did buy a very young winger to mold as a backup to both Ronaldo and Nani.
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@Stephen: Yes Huntelaar’s movement is superb, and he is very good at getting himself into space, however his overall link up play for me isn’t good enough for our style in my opinion. I often hear people say that he would finish our mountains off, however if we add Huntelaar into the team, it would mean taking away a creative player (unless we took away a defensive player which is ludicrous) which would mean that there would be less chances to finish. After watching Huntelaar I don’t doubt his ability as a goalscoring centre forward, he is a top class finisher and his ability to find space is sublime, however I think that we require a more complete and dynamic centre forward, which Huntelaar isn’t.
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@Mike: They may very well have been the first to report Nani and Anderson but too many times I have noticed them reporting stuff days after it’s happened. Part of this has got to do with Sports journalism in America having ethics and not reporting anything unless it’s confirmed. Their mainstream news isn’t like that as much anymore, but sports journalism in the USA is not the sleazy tabloid garbage of the UK and Spain. They wait for confirmations before they commit. Thus, we occasionally have delays when it comes to their reporting footy.
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@Stephen: Where’s Evra?
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@Grognard: I have admitted my knobness already mate!!
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@Penguin: But what you are talking about then regarding RVN is not his physical presence and ability in 06 but his bad attitude. When I compare Huntelaar to RVN, obviously I’m not comparing the two personalities, only their skills and strike rates. I think Huntelaar’s predatory style is just what we need when we clearly know that Tevez and Rooney don’t like spending too much time in the box. So don’t force them. Let them play the way they want and lets place a striker in the box to shovel in the garbage and to give us aerial supremacy. And we still have Ronaldo’s foray’s into the box as well. Huntelaar or Berbatov are win win scenario, but with Berbatov, more would still be demanded from Rooney and Tevez when it comes to goals. Berbatov is like Cantona as he is good for around 15 EPL goals a season but he is also capable for that many assists. Huntelaar is good for twice that many goals but hardly any assists. Roles would be different and I think Fergie recognizes that in his mind, he would rather have a prolific play maker at striker who can also score because it will bring more goals out of Rooney and Tevez. I cannot disagree with that logic as it does make our team more multi-dimensional than we would be with Huntelaar. Huntelaar however, would put more fear into defenders which would free up space for the others. So his style wouldn’t hurt us either. As well, he can scoop up rebounds and deflections better and place them into the net.
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@Stephen: Sorry, I scrolled down after I sent it and realized you did.
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@AlexOfMancunia: I think the additions of Tevez, Nani, Hargreaves, Anderson, Carrick and the emergence of Vidic has had more to do with our recent success. RVN would have added more goals to our tally and given us more options against those teams that shut down the offense you like so much by placing ten men behind the ball. His predatory and aerial threat would have freed Rooney and Tevez up even more to go lurking for goals. Central defenders are taught to pay extra special attention to an out and out striker like RVN. Imagine with the players we have what his influence would be now that Ronaldo has emerged into an offensive force that rivals his goal scoring exploits? We scored 80 goals in the EPL last year. The addition of RVN or a Huntelaar could have put us over 100 or very near to it. Above all, a goal scoring striker of the old school does give us different types of possibilities to really confound the opposition.
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@Stephen: Thank you for that. So true mate. Huntelaar is not the wooden stiff people seem to think because they see a tall, lanky striker of the old school variety. He is great with both feet, awesome in the air and he even scores a half dozen goals a year from outside the box because he has a cannon for a leg. And I don’t want him tracking back like Rooney. I don’t want Rooney tracking back like Rooney. Well put.
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@Grognard: Also need to tell some people (obviously not from this site) that Nani is not Ronaldo junior, he crosses the ball!!
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@Grognard: Just curious, why not a 4-2-3-1? You say “Berbatov, Rooney and Tevez cannot all start on the field together and still have Ronaldo man a forward wing position.” Wouldn’t a 4-2-3-1 offer the potential of exactly that – all 4 playing. Put Owen and Carrick in front of an already imperious back 4 and your covered defensively (That and no matter what anybody tells them both Roon and Tev are going to track back anyhow
)
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Yea, btw, who the hell is Smyth to decide who becomes a united legend or not? There is actually a very good chance that Rio can and will do so.
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Here’s the link:
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Since when has this site decided to prevent free speech and also stop us posting links?
Rob Smyth needs to be exposed for what he is.
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://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2006/jul/31/sport.comment
Put http in the front of the above. Read this guy’s wonderful insight.
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It is funny how most posters assume that if we buy Berba Rooney should play in preference of Tevez when in my opinion Tevez is a more rounded player and he is currently in the form of his life.
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John (comment 10 and a few others)
I left the Guardian of my own accord; otherwise I wouldn’t still be writing there. Yes, I wrote that bile-filled shite in 2006, the biggest mistake of my career, but I still think some of it was valid, and I wrote an apology after the 4-0 win at Bolton when I realised how good United were. I also predicted RvN’s departure 15 months before it happened (http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2005/mar/11/sport.comment1) and defended Hargreaves when everyone said he was useless in 2006 (http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/worldcup06/2006/06/07/hargreaves_is_a_victim_of_litt.html). Some you get right, some you get wrong. I should have known better than to have a pop at Fergie, but by the same token we cannot suddenly saw everything is perfect because of the success of the last two seasons: I still think, for example, his tactics in Barcelona were absolutely criminal, and nothing will change my mind on that.
I’ll try to reply to some of the other points in due course. Incidentally, for those who might not have heard, Berbatov is at Carrington today and the team photo has been put back to Friday.
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Bob Smith Exposed!
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@frankie: i agree, tevez should partner berbatov, not rooney.
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@ myself Rob Smyth that is..
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John, Moya and others, I am aware of that Guardian article. But I will put that down to tha fact that many of United’s fan following were divided after a barren period. Yes, Rob has regretted making those comments, as he’s said it over here. But again it was his opinion (albeit getting it horribly wrong). He accepts his mistake and for that I applaud him.
He’s a decent guy otherwise, and I must say he’s got a great Manchester United bias even in some of his Guardian MBM: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2007/apr/28/minutebyminute.sport which is good to have once a while.
That link was for the United 4-2 Everton game.
I won’t just interview any random journalist. There are some, Daniel Taylor of the Guardian for instance — who I think is a disgrace — but I think Robbo’s a good guy.
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Actually can’t wait for our new striker to be unveiled… Hopefully soon!
Can’t take the anticipation much longer
I wonder what squad number will be up for grabs… Possibly 14? Or maybe Saha’s 9 would be more appropriate.
Exciting, yet tedious days!
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And since he’s just commented on this board, I will apply rules regarding comment moderation to him too. So any personal attacks won’t be acceptable. Criticizing constructively is fine. But if you make this personal then it will descend to cheapness territory. And for that there is a cooment policy that you are all aware of.
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@Red Ranter: In you we trust
Apologies for perhaps uncalled for remarks
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@Rob Smyth:
Thanks for your reply. I respect you for admitting your mistake and explaining yourself. I apologise for my strongly worded language about you which RedRanter has removed. Hopefully you didn’t see it!
RedRanter,
Why aren’t we allowed to post links? I understand you need to stop the spammers but surely there’s a better way than this, especially for posters who regularly use the site.
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@Rob Smyth: Rob where did you get that info from, that Berba is at Carrington?
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@RedAddict: You are allowed to post links. But sometimes people tend to post 2-3 links and the comment moderating system sometimes tends to go overboard and send it into the spam queue. False negatives, so to speak. I do fish them out and try to retrieve them from time to time, but next time if you see it doesn’t appear do let me know.
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@MoYa
couldnt agree nore mate! cannot wait for the signing because i think it will make us stronger than we were last year which is big. I wish i could know already.
i dont care how we play him, cos i totally am in favour of fergies judgement.
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@Rob Smyth: Well Rob, being a journalist, you might have your sources so I’ll take your word, on Berbatov being at Carrington, for it. But you’d better be right about this or a lot of people’s hearts on this thread are going to break.
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yea rob, im sure everyone is happy to have you here, but i would really like to know about the berbatov business!!
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@edi:
Yeah definately have faith in Fergie!
Gonna be mouthwatering to see us improve from last season hey…
As soon as we know who it is… Gonna be imagining how he’s gonna fit into the team and absolutely can’t wait for kick off this weekend.
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@MoYa: Dont be too optimistic!
You never know!
In reality there is still a fair chance that we might now get someone till kickoff at OT!
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@Red Diablo:
Yeah possibly, but then even if we get an exciting player before the closing of this transfer window… That’s fine by me and worth waiting for.
Although we haven’t made any signings (bar Petrucci) it’s still exciting seeing the youngsters and the signings we made a while back such as Possebon, Rafael and Fabio.
It’s amazing that back in Brazil Possebon was pretty much an unknown and not rated highly.
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check this out…. berba in united colours
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@Rob Smyth: rob .. details or link about berba being at carrington.. PLEASE!!!!!
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@MoYa: Yeah i GUESS! But still I WANT BERBA! Berfore the 17th of this month that is!
Grognard! No huntelaar! YES!!!!
DIABLOFIED!!!!
@Mike: I agree mate! These days i am not believing anything without a link or a picture!
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BERBA!!!!!
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@Mike: My, my! Someone’s been furiously refreshing Newsnow all this while
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@Mike:
if its true, mouth watering times ahead !!!
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@Red Ranter: hahaha.. I just hope that this time its actually true!!
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Berbatov deal is done apparently check this out
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/sport/article-23531469-details/article.do?ito=newsnow
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done it again.
someones beaten me to it sorry
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@Eric the Red: A 4-2-3-1 Is almost definitely what they will use in the CL but not so much in the Prem. I still think it’s rather negative with 2 CDM’s but it does offer flexibility certainly.
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@RedAddict: RR has gone way out of his way to bring an knowledgeable guest to this site to help create more interest and so he is not about to allow us to severely criticize that guest. At least that is how I see it. If this was my blog I’d say fuck free speech. I wouldn’t allow any comments that insulted my guest. Not unless they were worded in a friendly manner not designed to insult or provoke. If hosts allowed for the bashing of guests to a radio show, podcast, blog etc, nobody would ever offer their knowledge to the specific groups. Lets be fair here. Regardless of what Rob Smyth’s views are, he claims to be a United fan so he should be questioned but not insulted.
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@Grognard: Hey! Grognard!
Take that!
NO MORE HUNTELAAR!
YES YES!
Anyone! Me going to sleep!
Hope that the news is official when i Wake up!
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@Rob Smyth: I’d like to personally thank you for your insight and let you know that none of us have perfected our analysis of the great game and commenting and understanding the game and it’s managers is certainly not an exact science. I personally love Fergie but I have criticized many of his moves. Trust me, I receive a lot of grief for it when I do. So no need to apologize mate. We all make mistakes and we often get it right to. That part and parcel of loving a sport that turns your insides out. Cheers and hope to hear more from you in the future.
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@R…: What is this mate, an inquisition? The man admitted to having made a mistake so lets move on and be a little more respectful to one of RR’s guests. It’s not like he is a Scouser, Gooners or Chelski fan. We are all wrong and we all make errors in judgment. Lets try being polite for a change.
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Red Addict:
To be honest, I really didn’t notice that comment of yours where the link didn’t show up. And I am not trying to control free speech, although I do have the right to do it in my own site. Because at the end of the day this site is not on tax payer’s money. That said I will post that article you were pointing out to:
Guardian link
And I am aware of that article very much and Ahmed of Soccerlens even bashed him for it well before the 06/07 season. However, he has been man enough to admit his mistake later.
Anyway, I posted the link, as have several others above in this thread. As long as you don’t get personal and indulge in constructive questioning I don’t have a problem with it. Either way, I don’t expect him to necessarily find time to sift through the comment thread and answer all your questions.
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@Red Ranter: I for one read at the Daily Mail. How good a source they are I’m not that sure. The fact it’s not being reported by the Sun is good news though because they only like to report garbage and lies.
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