Aug 06
Shallow Squad or an Injury Crisis?
The team we pick to start the first “competitive” game of the season (if you can call the Charity Shield competitive) is going to be pretty threadbare. Prospects aren’t so hot for the Newcastle game either. This has caused a lot of debate here recently about whether our squad leaves us too vulnerable to injury or whether it is an unfortunate run of injuries which we could not have foreseen or provided against.
By the way, I’m going to try out numbering and lettering my paragraphs to make commenting and debating easier. I’m going to touch on a lot of themes here, and so it may help facilitate debate if you can refer simply to paragraph 3a. It may not work, but hey.
1. The squad
First of all, I’m going to set out all the options we have in each position, so that we start this debate by looking objectively at the resources at our disposal.
GK: EVDS, Kuszczak, Foster
RB: Brown, G Neville, O’Shea, Hargreaves, R da Silva, Evans [Simpson is now out on loan, in case you missed that]
CB: Rio, Vidic, Brown, O’Shea, Evans, Silvestre
LB: Evra, Silvestre, O’Shea, Evans, F da Silva
RM / RW: Ronaldo, Nani, Park, Giggs, Hargreaves, Fletcher, Rooney
CM: Scholes, Carrick, Hargreaves, Anderson, Fletcher, Possebon, O’Shea, Giggs
LM / LW: Ronaldo, Nani, Giggs, Park, Evra, Rooney
CF: Rooney, Ronaldo, Tevez, Campbell, Giggs [Manucho is still awaiting a work permit; Welbeck has been mysteriously absent from pre-season games - anyone with info why please post it below]
In short, we have at least 5 genuine options in each position. Yes, you read it right – five. Not two, as Mourinho once advocated, five. Some better than others, but none would disgrace the shirt. Some overlapping, too, but there are thirty distinct players there, not counting Manucho, Welbeck or any other youngsters like Gibson.
2. The striker
a) Let’s also get the striker issue out of the way right here. Yes, we need another one – it is the only area where we have inadequate cover. Yes, it would have been nice to have wrapped up Berbatov already. But should we have gone out and splurged on a striker, any striker, just so we have someone for the start of the season? Definitely not. And yes, a fast start is desirable and a huge advantage, but we hardly got one last year and we coped.
b) It takes a rare combination of skill, temperament and potential to become a United signing. Being good isn’t good enough – you have to be good in the right ways for the team, just ask Seba Veron. Should we have signed Robbie Keane for £20m, just because we could probably have sewn it up by now? Dean Ashton for £17m? Peter Crouch for £12m? Or should we wait for the right guy at the right price?
c) My answers to those questions are please no, good god no, not for that price and yes, in that order. Also, just because we’re not reading stories in the press doesn’t mean that progress isn’t being made. If you’d just been reported for comments made in the media about Berbatov, you’d be pretty stupid to antagonise the selling club by continuing to make comments in the media about Berbatov. This is how we do business these days – quietly, behind the scenes, and not like Real Madrid.
d) I will admit, though, that our lack of interest in Huntelaar is surprising. But then there are a lot of top clubs on the hunt (sorry) for strikers, and none of them have put a concrete offer in for him – so what do they know that we don’t?
3. The injury list
a) Here’s the list, first up:
Ronaldo (ankle, 2 months)
Rooney (virus, first two games)
Nani (suspension, first two PL games)
Anderson (Olympics, August)
Carrick (virus, probably CS only)
Hargreaves (tendinitis, possibly fit from start)
Park (knee, possibly fit from start)
Saha (sniffly nose, the rest of his life)
That’s a pretty brutal spate of injuries – particularly so because it has focused entirely on our midfield and attack. We would happily trade, for example, Evra for Rooney and Brown for Nani, since we could easily absorb those injuries in the defence but would keep some of our attacking potency.
b) To illustrate further, this is what a comparable injury list would be for our rivals:
Chelsea: Drogba, Anelka, Joe Cole, Mikel, Deco, Essien, Malouda, Shevchenko
Liverpool: Torres, Keane, Babel, Mascherano, Alonso, Benayoun, Kuyt, Voronin
Arsenal: van Persie, Adebayor, Nasri, Rosicky, Fabregas, Diaby, Walcott, Bendtner
c) So to criticise United for not being able to absorb the injuries we have suffered without a drop in performance is to criticise the whole league, and probably every other top club in Europe (I don’t know the Barca, Real, AC Milan or Bayern squads quite well enough to do a similar comparison with them – if you do, please do so in the comments). Those teams would be lucky to put eleven players on the field who could beat Hull, let alone who have every chance of keeping us afloat for a few weeks if needed. We should instead be saying how lucky we are to have a few golden oldies and Tevez to reliably fill the void.
4. Should we have more cover?
However, to take our own squad in isolation and knowing Ronaldo was out for the first two months, would it be optimal for us to have signed more players? The answer to this remains no. There is a roadblock practical reason for this, and an objection in principle.
a) The problem is that you are trying to attract players when they know full well they have no chance of playing if the squad is anywhere near fully fit. This immediately rules out players who are really good right now or likely to become really good in the next year, leaving us with two types of player: youngsters for the future and oldies who might have an Indian summer. We already have the oldies, thanks, barring a miracle loan signing akin to Larsson. Equally, youngsters who are over a season away from being good are probably no better than what we can cobble together internally.
Therefore, the pool of players who will sign for us knowing that they will only get regular first team football if we have an horrific injury crisis and who are good enough to play for us even on a part-time basis is pretty small. The only name I came up with was Eidur Gudjohnsen, but there we go.
There is a third category of players, those who are in it for the money and a quiet life. Step forward, Carlo Cudicini (the best keeper in the Premiership when Cech was bought) and Wayne Bridge (only Evra and Clichy are better). But then is greed and lack of ambition a combination of qualities you want in a United player, even if we could afford them?
b) Whilst I’m here, I want to touch on Aaron Ramsey, who has attracted a lot of inches on this blog. A commonly-held belief is that the reason he went to Arsenal is because Fergie couldn’t be bothered to go and meet him. Whilst this doesn’t look very good (particularly set against fireside games of snooker with a young David Beckham, etc), it is wrong to say that this cost us Ramsey’s signature.
What cost us Ramsey’s signature was that we wanted to buy him and loan him back to Cardiff for a season. Arsenal, on the other hand, wanted to take him straight into the first team squad and offered him a shot at Premier League football. He (understandably, in my view), preferred the latter option. This isn’t speculation or my interpretation of things – this is what Cardiff chairman Peter Ridsdale said in an interview with the BBC.
So to use this as a stick to beat United and Fergie over the head with seems a bit silly. We didn’t need him for this season, but tried to secure him in the long term – he’s not so wonderfully amazing that he had to be signed immediately like we did with Nani and Anderson. Ramsey was thinking short term – end of.
c) The objection on principle is that I don’t want to return to the era of utility players. You all remember it – Djemba-Djemba, Kleberson, Phil Neville, Quinton Fortune, Diego Forlan all as integral members of the first team squad. Good enough to be in the squad, but not good enough for the first team. Fergie splintered our transfer budget, signing lots of bit part players rather than one big name. Would you have him spend £10-15m of our summer transfer budget on a fourth reserve player, or save it and secure the player we have identified as The One? I’ll leave that one as rhetorical.
5. I’d like to say one more thing before I throw this open for what I imagine and hope will be a fairly heated debate. I’m not a “loyalist”, I’m not supporting United for the sake of it, and I don’t believe the sun shines out of Fergie’s arse. Everything I’ve offered above is, in my opinion, closely reasoned and supported by facts. So if and when you disagree with me in the comments, please try to make your responses the same.
In summary – our team is going to be badly under strength for the first two games of the season. That does not make our squad defective and does not mean we should spend millions of pounds willy nilly on squad players to compensate.
Related items from Red Rants:
- The Effects of the Injury Crisis
- Manchester United vs Vfl Wolfsburg: Preview
- Manchester United vs Everton: Preview
- Can Chris Eagles be everything Kieran Richardson is not?
- Why We Love John O’Shea
Tags: Manchester United News
Opti (89)
Craig Mc (26)
Ian (18)
@Tomas: I agree, what I was saying the payments are standard to any contract hence why he won’t put in a tranfer request.
He is not here because he loves the club, he is here because he has been told he will not be allowed to move, simple.
I accept that he has always wanted to play for Real, fair enough, but their are better ways of conducting ones self than the route he chose to go down this summer.
I want players who want to play for United not ones who have to. He is a great player no doubt, but not a great person.
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@Stephen: I don’t know why you refuse to believe the words that have come from Ronaldo himself. He loves our club… that’s what he says. Why the need to create this negative abuse of him?
Yes, he could probably have conducted himself better, but what was he supposed to do? He couldn’t say that he wanted to stay at OT, because at some point over the summer, he wanted to go. He’s just being honest.
I want players who bring us titles, because that’s what it’s all about. Of course, I’d like the players to love being at the club, and I’m sure, they do – and so does Ronaldo. But I’m not being overly sentimental and expecting players to love the club like I do. The game has changed, and therefore I’ve come to accept that the players are more subject to moves based on money than they were earlier. But most players would love to play for our club, and as he said, he came here by choice, when he could have chosen so many other clubs (including Real Madrid). It was a choice he made, knowing that eventually some day, he’d make his dream move to Real Madrid.
We should just be happy that we’re at the top of the food chain and able to attract players like Ronaldo in the first place. Most clubs never have that chance, and I’m proud he chose us, when he was 17. We can always be proud that our club made him the player he is, and Ronaldo knows this.
And a point where we certainly differ is the thing about his person. I simply cannot fathom, how you can claim that he’s not a great person. None of us know him for anything but his abilities on the field. We may think, we do based on what we read, but most of what we read is fabricated. And then, when he comes out and actually sounds honest, you completely disregard the interview claiming that he’s only saying these things, because he’s not allowed to move?
I don’t get it, but it’s fine with me that you choose to believe in the bad of people – I’m just not that way.
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F*CK O’sHea
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let’s sign Phil Younghusband.
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@Tomas: “The Bad people” What!?
You are so naive mate, but that is up to you, plus I have never abused him!
I can just see through the propaganda he splirts out, maybe you should take off your Ronaldo tinted glasses. If you think he is a great person the way he has conducted himself this summer, then thats up to you. We also chose him, I support United not Ronaldo FC.
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@Stephen: You have chosen to see Ronaldo as a bad person, I’ve chosen to believe in him.
It’s got nothing to do with being naive. You probably sit back home now and think, you see the bigger picture, but that’s not the case. The case is that I simply see it differently and choose not to think negatively. Naivity is far from the same.
“Naive” is the easiest word to throw about, but that doesn’t necessarily make people so.
Your view on Ronaldo is negative, because you feel, you as a fan has been wronged by him – my view is possitive, because it’d take a hell lot more for him to wrong me than what he’s done.
We came after him, and he chose us among other clubs.
I’m not claiming, he’s a great person – only that I would like to think, he is. But I would certainly never have the nerve to judge his personality or character, uness I actually met the guy. I have Ronaldo tinted glasses on, because I only judge him by his performances on the pitch. I would never ever judge his personality, because I simply don’t know him. All I can say is that in the interview he sounds honest and like a good boy.
I think, you’re being negative for the sake of being negative.
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@Tomas: Trust me I am not being negative for the sake of it mate, posibley cynical, but there is no point arguing matey, he is staying and lets hope for the both of us he delivers next season, because looking @ the lack of transfer activity going on, we will need him!
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@Tomas: Sorry for the late response. You probably already found or are reading RR’s latest post. It was in the Guardian.
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@jos: No, I just think they are over pricing him and they are putting up unreasonable obstacles. I also think that the teams who have been looking for a striker are looking for a different type of striker rather than the old school RVN type. Barca use a fast flowing interchanging style. They may see Huntelaar as too slow for their system. United may also feel that same way. It’s not about his quality. He is a clinical assassin with the ball. A great striker, but if you don’t play a style to accommodate his strengths then what you probably will end up doing is bringing out his weaknesses. His poacher ability and aerial mastery should be just what United need to better balance their offensive style and approach. But, Fergie is obsessed with Berbatov and nobody else. I think the Dutch league and it’s lack of quality in the eyes of many is also hurting him and that’s a shame because he can score anywhere and he has proven that with Holland. I think the best thing for him is to take a step up in class and go play for a top team in Germany. A year or two there and there will be a lot of teams knocking on his door when he 26.
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Hi everyone, new poster here.
What’s exciting about the Da Silva twins is that Fabio Da Silva is meant to be the better prospect! Fabio was captain of Brazil U-17s at the U-17s World Cup and scored about 7 goals.
Possebon also looks class with his close control and passing.
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@Craig Mc: Yes I kind of sickened myself when I realized I had warm sweet center. I feel like a puff pastry. Ronaldo did a lot of things wrong and he deserved everything he got from me but let not be said, that I am not fair and capable of forgiveness. But like the quote on the Jewish monument regarding the Holocaust say’s, “FORGIVE BUT NEVER FORGET”, I too live by that motto.
I’ll let it slide but in the back of my mind I realize that his naive schoolboy antics deprived all of us of two months of sheer bliss. We’ll never get that back unless he helps us to back to back doubles this season. His naiveties really drives me crazy. How on Earth he thinks a lot of money would be a fair trade off and help us forget him is just totally insane. All the money from the Beijing Olympics could not replace a player of his quality. Still, he is young and he certainly doesn’t have life experience, a higher education and the common sense of someone who is a little more grounded by the realities of life. Oh to be so lucky eh?
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@Stephen: I think, we’ll do just fine, as long as the injured return in not too long
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@Stephen: Stephen you and I are usually in agreement on this topic but I have to say as the loudest and most vicious of all the Ronaldo critics even I have to believe in the sincerity of Ronaldo’s words. One of my jobs as Executive Assistant to the Minister of Labor in my former province was to be his speech writer. Although he wrote many of his speeches, i would go through many and he would ask me to write many of the ones he didn’t want to bother with. I was trained on how to tow the company line and exactly how to answer questions to the point that a trained ear can tell when he is being fed a lot of bull. Trust me when I say that Ronaldo’s interview responses were not words that come from a rehearsed speech. These were words that felt very honest and heart felt. Yes he does want to go to Madrid and yes he did a lot of things wrong and you know mate, he admitted to them and to the responsibility upon himself for a lot of the shite that went down. Had I been Ronaldo and Fergie or Gill came to me with a can full of answers to give that towed the United line I would have said to stick it. Especially when it comes to the difficult questions where he humbled himself. He did that willingly and of his own accord. Nobody could have made him say those things under duress. His sincerity and honesty were truly a revelation to me and I am no pushover nor am I naive.
I can’t blame you for your caution and in fact I admire the fact you are sticking to your guns on this because there is always a chance you could end up being right, but I personally think the boy was being honest and sincere. My only issue with him is he still felt it necessary to protect his future employers by claiming that he was fully to blame for this fiasco and not Real Madrid. Not true by a long shot and certainly not honest on that account but oh so understandable. He still wants to play there one day and he is not about to burn that bridge as it’s the bridge to his ultimate dream. As for the rest, I reluctantly accept it as heartfelt apology and although my jury is still in deliberation, I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt because after all, if Fergie is OK with him at this stage, who am I to go against the wishes of the Boss? But stick to your gundsif you honestly don’t feel convinced. That’s your right and I certainly understand it and respect it.
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@Grognard: AHA!!!
Grog was a former speech writer for politicians!
No we know where the prose and “verbal charisma” (ack I know there’s an actual word for it but I can’t quite pinpoint it – hey i’m not you) comes from…
That goes some way to explain how even at times I can’t seem to agree with your points, you manage to argument your case until i’m nearly agreeing with your views, nearly..
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We simply don’t have enough strikers period! Welbeck is a reserve, Manucho won’t be getting a work permit and Saha is never fit. We obviously need a 4th forward with some experience to be back up along with Campbell.
We also need a 4th winger
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@ Penguin Welbeck is currently injured
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@Nico QB: Politics taught me the art of bullshit. If you think that’s hard to do you should see me when I try to speak from both sides of my mouth. Ahh, the things you learn in politics.
And I wouldn’t call myself a speech writer although that did end up becoming a part of my job description. But that was years ago and now I have the hardest time some days piecing a sentence together and even getting the spelling right. As you age the mind starts to go I guess.
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I sincerely respect everyones views on this site, but I will stick to my guns on this one, this doesn’t take away the contribution he made not only last season but the season previous.
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@Stephen: You stubborn SOB
Nah, it’s perfectly allright my friend… I just hope that you forgive him over the course of the season. Or next season.
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@Tomas: Another 42 goals and a contract extension to 2015 should do the trick!!
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@Stephen: I knew, you were easy to please
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EVDS
Brown Vidic Ferdinand Evra
R.DaSilva Fletcher Scholes Giggs
Tevez Campbell
Subs: Kuz, Evans, Possebon, Gibson, Neville
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