Aug 15
Looking Back and Looking Ahead…
The season kicks off on Monday for us, but let’s use this as an overall preview of the rest of the season as such.
Public perception has been that this summer is quiet on the transfer front. In reality it’s not been quite at all. If you add up signings made during last season and during this summer we’ll realize that the club has in fact spent about £25m on players. True they’ve been spent with the future in mind, but they are signings nonetheless, and what we cannot ignore is that hard cash has been put into players. This is not something that we can write off as pure PR, because money has been spent.
This is not to extricate the Glazers from blame; far from it. We would have spent much more in the presence of a different ownership model—maybe even not had to spend because we’d already have had a better squad, but let’s not fantasize now.
But the question worth asking is: has the money been judiciously spent on signings? To answer that we’d need to go off our hunches, and other suppositions. (“Hernandez already looks a world beater!” “Smalling is a bit raw.” “Bebe? Who? £7.4m? Wha—?”)
Take the case of Bebe. My initial reaction was one of confusion. It’s partly owed to the statement from the official website which had him down as a striker. It’s a bit like Arsenal buying another midget who player behind the striker when what they needed was someone who was more lethal and in the box. But subsequent reports and *sigh* YouTube clips of him showed he was more an attacking midfielder who played either on the wing or behind the striker. Much better, then. Or is it? Well, it’s not really the price that bothered me. But the series of events that led to his signing. He was playing in the Portuguese third division, and signed up by Vitoria Guimares only a couple of months ago. By David Gill and Ferguson’s own admissions they were aware of him only a month ago. Add to that he was a Carlos Queiroz recommendation. His last scouting network find was Manucho, and the one before him Nani and Anderson. But the latter duo were already quite well known in various scouting circles. Manucho and Bebe, less so. Again, Manucho is just one data point, and there’s a significant difference between playing in the Angolan league and being snapped up by a Portuguese top division club. But still, the fact remains that Ferguson moved swiftly to snap up Bebe—paying over the odds in the process—just so others don’t get hold of him is rather odd, considering his recent caution in the transfer market, and his pronouncements about the “lack of value”.
In essence he was splashing over half the value of a star player like Mesut Ozil on an unknown. This is not a criticism of our scouting network, but more about a seeming lack of a plan in the mind of Ferguson. It seems he is as capable of falling to the whims of impulse. Yet he talks about caution and lack of value. They just don’t add up.
I am not calling for us to sign Mesut Ozil. From what I’ve read, and heard from media sources, there has been a solid interest from the club, but the complications arise from the indecision by Ozil himself, Bremen’s quandary over playing him in the upcoming Champions League qualifier (and hence, losing value) or selling their star player at the risk of possible exit from the Champions League qualification stage (and losing millions thereby). Also, there are a host of agents, and assorted hangers-on from his entourage trying to act on behalf of him, often without his or his agent’s knowledge.
I’ve said this earlier: I’d like Ozil to come, but if not, I’d much rather see Cleverley get an extended run. I’d like a more assertive midfielder who has the legs to move forward and help in our attack. Carrick is more composed and less dynamic. Scholes prefers a deep-lying role at his age. And Fletcher is better at mopping up and protecting the defence. If we ever needed to sign a ‘finished product’ I’d want someone in that role. If not, then we move on and look forward to the new season.
Ferguson once again decided to have a pop at the fans. To be honest, this sort of news doesn’t shock me anymore. I cringe when I hear it, or read reports and quotes from Ferguson, but it’s evident that he’s bent upon sucking up to the Glazers and showing contempt for the fans. And from here on, I’ve decided to compartmentalize—block the outrageous nonsense he spouts about fans, and focus on the season and his performance during the matches as and when it happens. It’s not about ignoring the ‘pressing issues’ regarding his attitude towards fans, but every time he opens his mouth about supporters, he isn’t going to be unpredictable. Everything I’ve had to say on him about that has been said. Little value in adding to noise, and redundancies. But every football match is new, every performance—win, loss, draw—is a new experience despite the years, and that is always worth discourse. So talking more about the actual football and less about off-pitch is what I’d like to do more of from now on. (Talking about the actual football—what a novel idea eh?)
Moving on, I have a lot to be optimistic about this bunch, despite my misgivings about the future. The starting XI is as good as any. Rio’s fitness is a worry, but the rise of Evans is important. This is a big season for our right-back Rafael. Neville is a club legend, but I would honestly like him to sit back and mentor Rafael more. Not since Ronaldo have I been as excited about a new signing, as I have with Hernandez. His eye for goal is something and ability to play on the shoulder of the last defender is something we’ve entirely lacked since the departure of Ruud and, to a lesser extent, Louis Saha. Rooney and Tevez always gave effort, often at the cost of not playing like a classic striker. Rooney has steadily improved every season in his goal scoring tally, but there’s something about Hernandez that will hopefully strike fear in opposition defences. He’s also exactly the sort of striker Berbatov would love.
I have my reservations on the midfield, partly because I don’t rate Anderson enough, and partly because I felt Carrick went backwards last season. I hope Carrick returns to his usual steady self, because it’s a damn indictment of our midfield if a 35-year old Scholes is the best we have.
Anyway, onwards and upwards we go. Hopefully the shower at Eastlands keep up the dreadful form they showed against Spurs.
The preview to our opening match will be up tomorrow.
Till then.
Related items from Red Rants:
- Diouf heads out on loan
- New Nike Five Live Advert
- United have unwanted Kompany at the top of the table.
- Aston Villa v Manchester United: Preview/Match thread
- Limping United Seek Lift Against Struggling Wolves
Tags: Manchester United News
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@Owen: of cours you will reveal it when it happens right
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@[OPTI]Madschester United: Exactly.
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Had to change my service provider back to yahoo, and now having problems posting – WHY?
.
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@New one: I have no problem when Sir Alex fails to get a player like say Ozil for example because he prefers another team. But that is not the case as I see it. Yes Ozil did the sales job to Madrid telling them how much he wanted to play for them, but he did the same thing to Barcelona and previously us. The problem I have is when a manager makes a blind purchase like Bebe while not making an intelligent purchase or at least a bid for a player of Ozil’s pedigree. It shows poor business sense in my eyes and tells me that once again, his bias towards German players outweighs his common sense. Trust me when I say that at the end of the day, Ozil at 15 million is a much better and safer buy than Bebe is at 7.5. With Bebe you get four times the risk and more than half the value. I feel like I am watching a remake of ‘Trading Places’ for crying out loud.
But I do get what you are saying mate. No matter what, many of us are into United for life. I just look forward to the the next 20 years being as good as the past 20 without any long stint in the second division aka financial purgatory. This club’s finances our hurting are on field product but the pain isn’t as yet evident to many because the club still has players who can still perform. When those players retire or leave, who will replace them and who will be coming in? Right now our buying policies resemble Wigan. And that does not impress me much.
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@Jeet: Yes sour grapes are a thing we all taste from time to time that is for sure. Player’s motivations these days is a frustrating course in urban economics that just drives me crazy. I’ll never for the life of me understand the allure of Madrid and Barcelona. I have ben a football fan for 40 years and the thought of playing in Spain for me is equal to doing a stint on Devil’s Island as a prisoner. I hate the place with a passion.
Also, players today have got to be the least intelligent athletes being brought up in the world today. Such poor judgmenet and decision making and a mercenary attitude that shows no loyalty, poor judgement and a lack of intelligence that boggles the mind. I think of a player like James Milner for example. He is about to go to Man City which has the depth to field to #1 sides in the Premier League. Yet his ego and arrogance blinds him so deeply that he feels he is good enough to be a starter on this “A Team” at City. No I have strong self esteem and confidence but would I as a player want to go play for a team that has four or five guys who are good enough to compete with me for a few positions? It’s incredibly stupid for any player who is not a Messi, Rooney or Ronaldo to automatically feel they would be a starter for a team like City, Barca or Madrid which are teams stacked with depth.
If I were them, I would prefer to look around and search for a team that not only wants me but has a spot picked out for me in their starting eleven. That makes so much more sense and it then is up to me to take that position, make it mine and hold on to it. Michael Ballack is a perfect example. He had his chance to come here and be an instant starter but instead the money and allure of London life was too much and it took over his common sense because had I been him, I would have thought twice about going to a team that already had Lampard and Deco for that one position. And it cost him big time because he was always second banana there. Greed is one problem but most of these players suffer from delusions of grandeur and hubris that is really misplaced because no player is really safe from competition.
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@PissedOffRed: Good point. The fact is we are all “United for Life”, whether some of us are questioned on that or not. We all love the club, it’s history and what it stands for and this is why some of us like myself are taking such a passionate lead against the ownership because we don’t want that to change.
The club is something that bonds us all but it also has become something that creates great rifts as loyalty can be measured in many different ways as can being misguided. I for one live for the club but am sickened by the present state of affairs and further horrified of what may happen in four years time when those loans are demanded.
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@EduardoDaVinci4: Spare us with the Norwegian mate. No offence but none of us can read it so it’s a bit irritating.
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@colver: That is my point and contention too mate. If the kid legitimately turned us down after making a fair offer, then fine, I have no problem. But no offer was made for fear the kid would accept it. And I won’t even go with the old excuse that we are broke. Sure we may not have a lot of money to play with but if we can afford a street urchin for 7.5 million, then doubling to get a gem like Ozil should not have been to difficult. It’s the lack of effort and mystery that pisses me off.
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@Owen: Jesus Christ it’s the same thing with you mate. NEWSFLASH! It’s not funny, it’s actually irritating. But we still love you anyway
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http://www.sport.co.uk/news/Football/42358/Spanish_press_Mourinho_openly_questions_Benzema_worth_.aspx
This is code from Mourinho to Fergie to come and get him if you are serious about him.
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@EduardoDaVinci4: Har du hørt om verktøy kalt Google oversette?
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@Grognard: i agree that another 5mil would have bought proven class but what are his wages compared to the kid we give a bed and 3square meals to
jk but seriously he cannot be on 1/4 of what real are paying ozil.
if real and citeh want to spend let them spend and they will be done spending in 2-3 yrs. we dont have to keep up with the joneses. roman got tired of big spending and so will these clowns.
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@AndyCR7:
Google Translate is really quite amazing and rather accurate
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@Grognard: Ummm.. we must sell Berba and Owen for that Transfer to go trhough, right?
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Sos RR but Scholes is the one of the if not the best midfielder in the world, he doesnt have long left but when he and giggs hang their boots it will be a sad day for football. The are simply a dieing breed, you wont find that anymore.
Fergie hasnt ruled out his summer spending though and I wouldve loved us to sign Ozil just to give us that extra bit of insurance in the middle- however I have to agree with the post overall there is certainly alot to look foward to this season.
Me watching the footie in HD is just one of them lol!
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@Don: Park’s final ball is poor.
So is Evra’s. Heinze was a terrible, terrible crosser of the ball.
Its not a matter of teaching old dog new tricks really. Some players learn new tricks till past their thirties. Zidane had a poor left foot to start with and at 27 could still not shoot properly with it. By the end of his career he could shoot nearly as well with his left than with his right.
I hope that I’m wrong but I can’t see valencia becoming a “good” crosser of the ball, by good I mean that he doesn’t necessarily need to run past his marker and square back the usual cross.
As for Obertan I think he’s stuck between a rock and a hard place. He has a youthful selfishness which makes him not look for a pass when he should, but he needs to realise that as a winger at United you need to do that, but he also seems to be weak-willed.
Ronaldo made his decision early on to be his own player and he had the ego and will to make that happen, but players like obertan will have to adapt to the team, not the other way round.
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NicoQB how can you say that Valencia is a bad crosser of the ball? He may lack variety but he can definitely deliver a great final ball as Rooney will attest to having got on the end of many of Valencia’s pinpoint crosses. Practically every winger in the world beats his man before delivering the cross. That is how the game is played. Maybe Beckham didn’t need to do that, but then Beckham couldn’t beat a man so he had to learn instead to float them in from a much deeper position.
It annoys me when people keep underplaying Valencia’s contributions. He was one of our best players last season and that is impressive consdiering he was a new signing making a huge leap.
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@Shera: Er, when did I say he was bad?
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@NicoQB: But i think Old fashioned wingers are meant to beat his man with speed and put the cross in box.Valencia is great in that sense and if you have any doubt,consult Rooney.
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@colver: Agreed, I’ve noticed that too. Valencia was excellent for us last season, but because he’s not CR7 he doesn’t get the proper credit he deserves.
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@Grognard: I was being tongue in cheek mate.
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@Johnsom33: Valencia was chosen in the Team of the Year in PL and was chosen for special praise by Rooney when he received the player of the season award.So he gets the credit by persons whose opinions really maters.
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Valencia will prove to be one of the best buys we have ever made. He has done the impossible, he replaced Ronaldo. No, not in goals scored, but no other RM in history has got near Ronnies level.
Technically Valencia has replaced Beckham. He stays wide, stretches the game, beats his man 9 times out of 10 (usually more than once a run, for a laugh) and that other 1 time he gets a cross in without going past them.
I don’t think anyone other than Rooney has had a first season at United that was as good. That includes Ronaldo.
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I don’t know enough about Raul Meireles to take a stance on whether we need him or not, or what type of player he is, but there are some things in the time line of this rumour that fit.
A week or so ago places started reporting he was our fall-back for Ozil. Ozil goes to Madrid. A Portuguese United fan-site claims our representatives are talking to his clubs. He is then left out of their Champions League squad.
The money talked about though is £15mil. Ozil at 21 just went for £12mil. Raul Meireles is 27. Doesn’t sound like us really.
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In short we can say that :
Valencia is the best player in the world.
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@gator: So we pay Ozil more than a homeless person who we give free shelter and meals too. How big of us. I personally feel that as a fan who used to contribute towards the team through licensed product purchasing, I would like to think my money went towards paying a quality to player to entertain me, and not feed and cloth a homeless project. I give to charity in my home town, I don’t need to help United become the ‘United Way’
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@Traverse: And you said nothing about Valencia’s defensive abilities.He is great in tracking back and winning the ball.
Raul Meireles is a complete box to box midfield player.Even Chelsea and Madrid were interested in him.But due to Alonso,Mourinho opted for Khediera who is much more defensive and Chelsea chose Ramires due to his younger age.
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@Traverse: And the minute Fergie decides Hargo’s career is over,the next minute he will bid for Meireles.
By the way Trav,what is the problem with Hargo.He never played after getting fit last season.He even fought Fergie to allow him to go to World Cup.Then what is the problem now?
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@Traverse: He’s a good box to box player and he will win the International tattooed Footballer Award as he dethrones Beckham. The guy is littered with tats. I hate tattoos. It tells me about people’s poor personal judgment. Just the way I feel.
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@colver: @Johnsom33: Valencia always seems to cross after beating a man, and running by the side line.
A good crosser of the ball would be able to do that, but also cross from other positions as well, after cutting inside, nearing the edge of the box…
My main worry with him is that he is maybe the most predictable of all of our attacking players. His physicality and athleticism allows him to get away with that but when he’ll near 30, I really hope he develops other aspects to his game.
Don’t you all get me wrong, he was really good last year, I just hope that he’ll turn out better. I KNOW for a fact that players like Nani or Hernandez have great potential and can thus reach great heights. Valencia on the other hand is consistently good. I want him to be better than that!
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@Grognard: more tats than hamsik speaking of wonder if were still interested in him?
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@colver: Just for the information, Beckham COULD beat a man! In his twenties he did it often, though much less gracefully than Giggs (Becks always ran by plodding hard).
Its just that he preferred crossing the ball. It is amazing the number of people who remember Beckham only as the player in his latter days.
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@NicoQB: But most of United fans think Berbatov is the most predictable of our attackers.He will always slow the game and will never score against Top sides.
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@Traverse: As good a first season?
I’m thinking Van Nistelrooy, Yorke, Stam, Cantona, Schmeichel…
But yeah, in recent times he had the best debut season.
I also think that Ronaldo was very much shielded by Fergie in his first season, being a teen and all- remember he shared the right wing with fletcher!. If he played normal amounts of minutes he’d have definitely had good stats, despite the step overs.
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@Owen: blah blah blah
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@NicoQB: 30 million dollar Man Utd striker scoring 9 goals a season.It also never happened in the History.
Ngog come here.
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On another note. Did you hear that KP Boateng has been sold to Genoa from Portsmouth and was then immediately loaned out to AC Milan because Milan cannot afford new players on the balance sheet and Genoa are looking to make a healthy profit if Milan sign Boateng next year on a permanent basis (according to Genoa’s president).
How is this legal? Milan using Genoa as a holding company by promising Genoa extra money if they want to sign him after this season?
More details: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/p/portsmouth/8925775.stm
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Chicharito: “I am living the dream that I had when I was 10 years old when I loved this team and these players like Giggs and Scholes…”
More at RoM : http://therepublikofmancunia.com/chicharito-ive-loved-united-since-i-was-kid-watching-cantona/
Chicharito. Legend.
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@Grognard: Rumors have it that Meireles goes to Liverpool with Mascherano going to Inter.
Actualy, I lied and completely made up this logical hypothesis
PS: Mascherano is left out of Liverpool’s Euro squad for this week.
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@gator: Would like to see Hamsik in Red of Manchester.
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Wow poor Huntelar! milan are trying to offload him and bring in Ibrahimoflop.
well if they are using or more likely being used by genoa then why cant we get the glazers greasy lawyers to get hunter here on a free somehow. 
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=815498&sec=transfers&cc=5901
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@gator: Another striker?
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@Owen:
Please no…I don’t fancy this tatood no skill having portuguese…Rodwell is who we want if we’re looking for defensive ball-playing mids!
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@Owen:
well obviously he wasn’t as fit as he thought..he had a “Setback”..man i was watching youtube videos of hargo back in the day and man was he fast, tenacious and skilful..the one thing i didn’t like about him is that he liked carrying (dribbling) a little too much even though that’s not his strength
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@Traverse: Yeah, just read a piece on the Telegraph’s website saying Anderson is nearing a return, meaning we’re going to let Gibson go to Stoke till January. It also mentions that Fergie is coming to grips with the fact that Hargreaves is done. This would tie in with the Merieles talk.
@Owen: My guessing is he broke down again. His injury is as such that it cannot be cured, and he will always play with pain in his knees. My guessing is it is too much pain to be manageable, and his recovery time between matches will be too much. It’s a shame, because he is a lovely guy and was on hell of a footballer.
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@NicoQB:
Ronaldo’s problem was that he didn’t recognize when to pass and went to dribble…he used to thik every moment he had the ball was an opportunity to do a million stepovers..when he realized he didn’t need to do that, is when he became a much more effective player…I put that down to instruction rather than him being his own man.i remember clearly RVN, Rooney and the likes cursing as he would often times lose the ball trying to dribble 3 guys when he had an easy cross….Obertan just isn’t technically good at crossing yet…but he has similar tools to Ronaldo albeit he does not have as much control and mentally he just isn’t quite tactically aware…I don’t think i’ve seen him head a ball despite his height….I think Valencia is a very good crosser of the ball..he is just very predictable and one dimensional…but when he can cross he puts it right on the money…I’m surprised you say he isn’t…
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@[OPTI]Madschester United:
wait till his dreams turn to him wearing a white RM jersey in a few years..ha ha…I hope not but you know its coming…
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@Don: Valencia may be ‘predictable’, but even though defenders know what he’s going to do they rarely stop him doing it!
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@Don: Apparently Chelsea are showing strong interest in Rodwell so we can forget ever getting him now as there is no way we can beat Chelsea in a bidding war. Fergie had his chance and was asleep at the wheel as usual.
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@Don: Are we actually putting down a player who when he was playing for us was considered the best player in the world and who scored 42 goals in a single season for us. We actually have the gall to criticize his style of play? Come on mate, you lost me with that bit of crap. Ronaldo was perfection. I could care less about the step overs because the man delivered for us so many times that to actually criticize his play makes me just shake my head in sheer frustration. The only fault Ronaldo had as a player was his desire to leave United for Madrid. Other than that he was sheer perfection.
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