Oct 11
Neville to Play Today | Best Central Defence in Europe | Transfer Rumours | Losing Another Young Talent
Hello readers – Red Ranter is away (something about a Page 3 photo-shoot), so I’ll be filling in today. Be nice and leave a lot of comments 
Transfer Gossip
Let’s pick the thread up with the transfer rumours surrounding Manchester United. So far, there’s been talk about the usual raft of ‘young kids’ that Manchester United might pick up, and to be honest I’m pretty sure we don’t need any more young kids at the moment at Old Trafford – if anything, with the old guard phasing out there’s more need of someone experienced (and by ‘experience’ I don’t mean Silvestre).
Let’s see now – we’ve been linked with Sporting Lisbon’s Miguel Veloso, a defender that Arsenal are also after (and possibly need way more than we do, unless he’s like, another Vida or something – can’t have enough Vidas in the team). SL (That’s Sporting Lisbon, not Soccerlens) are adamant that Manchester United don’t own their asses have first option on their asses players, but even then, those ‘sporting’ ties do count for something, don’t they?
Defensively United are rock-solid and well-prepared for the future. The left-back berth is something I’m a ‘bit’ worried about (no reliable backup – yet – to Evra) but with Pique and O’Shea covering and Simpson able to play both flanks (plus Silvestre and those two brothers joining next summer or even in January), that’s not something we need to be worried about right now.
So the Veloso bit is just speculation, I’m afraid.
We’ve also been linked with a couple of strikers (the fact that a team who didn’t win it’s first 3 matches and is still in #2 place in the Premier League and is considered to be ‘struggling’ with goals is a compliment for most teams, par for the course where United is concerned) – Jeremy Menez (20, Monaco) and Macauley Chrisantus (17, Nigeria) are the targets, the former also under Liverpool’s scrutiny (what, they haven’t loaned out enough players?) and the later a part of Nigeria’s Under-17 squad. Not convinced how either could be better than Giuseppe Rossi?
Best Defenders In Europe
What is the strongest defensive pairing in Europe currently? Go ahead – find me a two-some as reliable and defiant as Manchester United’s Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic. I’m biased, I admit, but as an exercise, let’s list other central defensive pairings who might be able to do better. Not Gallas and Toure, not on current form. Terry and Carvalho are too injured and without Makelele’s covering they’re more vulnerable (and even fit, I wouldn’t rate them above this pair – equal perhaps). Agger and Carragher are helped way too much by their defensive midfield. United’s midfield have been a complete mess, but they still boast a fantastic defensive record (so far, I probably shouldn’t push it too much, eh?).
What about elsewhere in Europe?
Gibson off to Wolves till January
Carrick’s injured. Hargreaves is injured. Fletcher is injured. Park is injured.
United have Scholes and Anderson as their only fit central midfielders – and while this pairing might have worked against Wigan at Old Trafford, it won’t work elsewhere. O’Shea is an able deputy but not someone I want playing regularly. That leaves us with promoting someone from within the ranks, the first name on the list is Darron Gibson.
Sure, he has a toe injury (or something), but hopefully he should be fit before the end of the month and at the very least, he could be eased into the squad the way Pique is being eased in at the moment. No Carling Cup probably means that a lot of the kids are going to go out, but somehow I feel we could have used some young legs in midfield, especially seeing how long Hargo has been out with injury.
However, Gibson is off to Wolves – hopefully he won’t go the way of David Jones.
Lee Martin has already left, Evans is on the radar for several clubs and Chris Eagles, like Simpson and Pique, looks like he’s going to stay.
I wonder what they’ll do with Dong?
Neville to play for Reserves today
The skipper is supposed to take part in a reserves game today to get some match practice under his belt. Don’t see how he’ll improve the team at the moment to be honest (in playing terms) because Brown is an able deputy and Rio has grown as a leader on the pitch. Nev is still a top player and professional and it would be good to have him back in the squad.
Fifa World Player Of The Year Awards
Tevez, Rooney and Ronaldo have been nominated from the Manchester United camp. Ronaldo has the best chance of them all, although I think Kaka will probably pip him to it (just because of the CL and the whole ‘diving’ thing). Some big names aren’t in the list, although from United’s ranks the only other person I would’ve nominated would’ve been Rio.
Want to write about Manchester United?
Just a heads up for potential bloggers here – if you’d like to write about Manchester United on a semi-regular basis, please head over to ‘this page‘ and send in your entry. There are four days left and if anyone from here does well, then they might get a shot at a regular (non-paying) gig either on Soccerlens or here on Red Rants.
Besides…what else are you going to do during the international break?
Related items from Red Rants:
- Scholes & Co. Stomp All Over Sailorboys
- The Official Word on Heinze | Rooting for Real
- Transfer Rumours: Bardsley to Everton/Ibrahimovic
- Quiet Monday Roundup
- All Smoke, Little Fire on the Transfer Front
Tags: Manchester United News
Opti (542)
Stephen (493)
RedDevilEddy (462)
Craig Mc (349)
Moscow is my heaven (272)
Cristantus was part of nigeria WORLD CUP winning squad n
finished the comp as Golden boot wit 8 goals or somit
(following in the footsteps of cesc n anderson) 4 a 17 yr
old hes a physical presence and is rapid…like the look
of the fella
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rossi doesnt have the physical presence.. he cant head the ball if he has a 6+ decent defender beside him. But this Cristantus guy is 6ft+
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kaka is saying on the skysports website tht if he would ever want to leave milan which looks like a certain probability he would rather play for manutd or arsenal in exactlythat order!! considering milans current poor poor form this could be a major possibiility by nxt season imagin!!!!
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tall mofo, eh? How tall is Dong btw?
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apparently now neville isn’t playing tonight?? was reading it on a website earlier, anyone else heard anything?
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We don’t need any strikers at all. We’ll be top of the League on the 3rd of November and we’ll stay there until May. UNITED!
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yea, heard that nev’s not playing…bummer.
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1) I am not sure if Dong is 6ft +
2) Even if he is … he is shite
3) The 17 year old nigerian striker has just wont he award for the best player in the youth world cup.. cesc, anderson… does it ring any bells?
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buy Kaka and play the diamond hehe
we would have to sell some great players to make room and i love the young guys we have now and i think
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crisantus didnt win the golden ball (for the best player), that went to Toni Kroos from bayern munich……. this nigerian kid won the golden shoe(top scorer with 7 goals) and the silver ball (second best player)…..
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Yea i dont really care which striker united get any1 will be fine for now.2 strikers aint enough.dong,cambell need to be offloaded.silvestre,and although i didnt want it to come to this….saha needs to leave too.i feel sorry for him but its in the best interests of the club.hope he recovers but not a single part of me believes he can.never heard of any of these players.veloso looks ok.i didnt see anyfin special in him really.cant see where hel fit in.although we need another grafter in the midfield as we only have mr hargreaves who i think……never mind.
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I agree with Red Ranter about Rio and Vidic being the best central defending tandem in the game today however, let me throw another one at you right now that may be as good and seems to be improving. Bayern Munich’s pair of Lucio and Martin Demichelis has become an impenetrable wall in Germany and in the UEFA Cup. Bayern have concede two goals all season and they were both from outside the box. These guys are just not letting anything through. They are quick and excellent in the air and Demichelis is also very physical too. Nevertheless, Rio and Vidic rule.
Let me say this though, that although our two boys are the best, we are not by any shadow of a doubt the best defensive team, despite our record. Roma and Birmingham both exploited and opened our defenses pretty badly and if not for our keepers and some good luck they could have scored several goals against us. We need a healthy Neville and Hargreaves back to prevent that kind of stuff from happening.
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I think a lot of fans of other teams forget Gary Neville is even out because how well the team is defending at the moment.
I agree that it is a shame to have seen Gibson go out on loan while we have a few injuries in his position as he looks to be a good prospect – very Carrick-esque I would say.
As for strikers then I don’t think we can look far past Anelka or Huntelaar to provide a Louis Saha style option but they are more reliable on a fitness basis and guarantee goals.
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A bit off topic folks but international weeks are normally a bit quiet on the news front. Please see a surprisingly well written and insightful article on Steven Gerrard (with a couple of bits pertinent to Beckham and Keane). Thoughts?
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/sport/2007/10/11/time_for_benitez_to_give_gerra.html
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Ahmed u would have only added rio? what about scholsey? giggs? AND VIDIC?
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Grognard – that was Ahmed Bilal (me), not Red Ranter, who wrote this. Apology accepted in advance
Lucio and Demichelis are a good pairing, and on form they probably rival Rio and Vida. Not so sure if Bayern are facing the same quality of opposition as United are, but don’t let that get in the way of our mindbending bias.
You’re right about the need of midfield cover – Carrick should get back to playing holding instead of covering the whole of midfield for Scholesy’s lack of pace. Hargo’s return will help too.
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eid mubarak to ahmed bilal
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redsnake, a lot of west africans lie about their age, where they say they are younger than they actually are (im east african btw)look at freddy adu, does he really look 19, or even martins, and yakubu hes 23, but looks 28
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adil alhinai, I watched the Nigerian Under 17s in action and whilst you can never rule out foul play, you can never say that “a lot of west africans lie about their age”. His face said he was 17, his stature whilst tall is more lanky and lacking of the bulk that you’d attribute to a powerhouse striker a la Luca Toni, Vieri, Viduka et al, so again, your point about the age factor doesn’t wash with me. As for him coming to United? Think it’s a possibility and good news if he does come, if he’s a better proposition than Rossi? Maybe on the European nights where opposition defences will trip over themselves coping with his height, finishing and pace. Regardless, I believe the current arrangement with Villareal and Rossi is more of a loan deal than anything else, Fergie made sure of that with the first refusal inserted into the contract, so if Rossi continues to light it up expect to see him back at old trafford, if he splutters then au revoir and best of luck to the guy, thoroughly decent young man and footballer that he is.
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If I had seen the young nigerian kid and not known his age i’d have said he was at least 20…. Even then he is still young so snap him up!! I’d say Kanu is close to 40 going by the theorys!!
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Sorry about that Ahmed. I suffered from a brain drain. I personally think Lucio and Demichelis would be awesome in the Prem because to be quite frank, all teams are more adventurous in the Bundesliga than in the Prem where half the teams put up a fortress and just defend. Some of the lower clubs in the German league occasionally suffer from delusions of grandeur and actually come forward. Nevertheless, the Bayern duo are not as good as Rio and Vidic. And I won’t bring up the Chelski duo for fear of retaliation. I hate the buggers but they are good.
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haha im west african too blood- NAIJA MAN through n through. appreciate the age thing thing but
who cares really!! hah the boy plays for abuja FC – ma dads seen him play a bit n supposedly this
time he is ACTUALLY 17! who knows tho…..looks a player to me (Kanu/Henry combo!)
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I’m from Nigeria and I can confirm that a large number of African players (and South Americans) lie about their age in order to maximise earnings from their playing careers. Birth certificates and passports are extremely easy to procure in many third world countries and you can literally pick any year of birth give or take about three years. This is why many South Americans and Africans tend to be prodigius when they are ‘young’ but burn out before they get to “30″. I give you Okocha, Rivaldo, Ronaldinho, Veron, Kanu, etc Players who shined when they were supposedly young but started displaying the fitness and inconsistency of thirty year olds when they really should have been at their peak.
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Mario Gomez anyone?
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im sorry if i offended you zamunda and redsnake, but i just had to point it out, if he is that good, then we should definately buy him
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Buy Kaka!!(next summer) Play him wherever you like CM or CF he’ll do the job for us!! We need a DC/LB in the vein of Heinze to cover for both positions be cause if something happens to anyone….
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We will not go after Kaka because of two reasons-
1) He will be very expensive(with chelsea madrid interested then he will go for at least 40m )
2) We dont need him!!!!
Rumour has it Ferguson is also casting an eye over the situation with Dos Santos at Barcelona.
I think next summer we will see a new striker come in whether it be Huntalaar or this nigerian fella and also a defender. Maybe a goalkeeper also?? Who would you guys like to see between the sticks? I’d like to see Foster make a good recovery and show us what he can do……
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I can’t see us buying Kaka either. We already have AM/F type players in Rooney, Tevez and in a few years Anderson. If Kaka goes anywhere it will be to Real Madrid or Chelsea.
Id like to see Man U buy a Neville replacement, a target man to give us another option when the Tevez/Rooney partnership does not break down defences, and perhaps another winger as cover for Ronaldo and Nani seeing as giggs is on the way out.
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