Jan 18
United on Top of the league, for now
This is a thread for those finding the older one too sluggish to load. Feel free to add to this thread. I was infected with a mystery illness, right now it’s a case of severe bronchitis, or something. This has made my mobility limited. I should be well by this week though — hopefully. Then I can start posting more regularly. I did read comments from people who were getting disgruntled with this blog more and more. I see your pain and hope to get this rolling soon. But I’ve made my promises far too often now… so I’d rather prove it in action instead of making further excuses. Over to you.
*cough* *cough*
*clearing phlegm*
Related items from Red Rants:
- Valencia’s flying April not enough for stuttering United – Player of the Month April 2012
- Manchester United’s tough, tough April fixtures list
- DeGea has his (safe) hands on the future
Player of the Month, February 2012 - David Gill gets top role
- We’re on the Telegraph’s Top 10 Man Utd Websites
Tags: Site News



get well soon!
Like?
0
0
Vidic, Evans, Ronaldo, Berba and VDS played 3 games in last 8 days. That’s quiet commendable. And get well soon RR
Like?
0
0
Get well soon from me too. I had bronchitis as a kid. Can be really painful. Hope it doesn’t last long. United being top of the table, “for now” should certainly brighten your spirits.
Like?
0
0
Sorry to hear about your illness RR. Take care of yourself and get some rest. The past few months have been pretty stressful and hectic for you and your immune system just crashed. I’ve been there an I can relate. Here’s to a quick return to health. All the best to you mate.
Like?
0
0
Get Well Soon RR
Hope the Blue Side of Merseyside are celbrating tomorrow
Like?
0
0
It’s such a good feeling to be back on top again. I’ve almost forgotten how that felt.
C’mon P Neville!!
I enjoy reading the rants too.
Get well soon..
Like?
0
0
Get well RedRanter. All the best to you…
Now, am I the only one really impressed by Berba since his return from illness in Japan. He got a brilliant assist against Stoke, matchwinner against Boro, Man of the match against Soton, played his best game for us against Chelski of all teams, made the chance for Ronaldo to cross with his ever so perfect pass with the outside of the boot, and on top of it all he is a match winner in the last minute away to Bolton to send us top of the league! How good is that!?
Im drooling over the prospect over how our season is gonna be fromnow on, because I feel the team has now got used to Berba fucking Tov and Dimi has gotten to know the team. He is a complicated player and now we are finally seeing the best of him. 9 goals, and many assists to his name… He may not have the Ronaldo, Anderson or Rooney way of playing, but he definately is in a class of his own! I am starting to fall in love with Berbie! Hi-hi, this is lovely times! Can it be any better? Well, of cource the Scousers could lose to the Tofees, but if God really takse it that far I think I have to pinch myself.
And despite some people claiming that a 1-0 win over Bolton is bad, well let me tell you something. Bolton is a hard place to go to. It was nearly a derby, and you are always up for derbies. Fuck Bolton because they defended with 10 men, but again we created lots of chances and could have had 3 or 4. But the Jussi fella is one of the best goalies in the Prem, and he made some good stops. The Ronaldo free-kick, header, Scholes shot, Tevez chance… And Fletcher was not far away from scoring an overhead kick! But these games wins you Championships, and that is why I think this was a great result. Most people would be happy with a 1-0 win at the moment with the tight scedule we have right now, and I for one wont disagreee.
Like?
0
0
@RedDevilEddy: “He got a brilliant assist against Stoke, matchwinner against Boro, Man of the match against Soton, played his best game for us against Chelski of all teams, made the chance for Ronaldo to cross with his ever so perfect pass with the outside of the boot, and on top of it all he is a match winner in the last minute away to Bolton to send us top of the league!” i guess that is why we bought him.
but i have a funny feeling that he is gonna be more of a prolific assister than goalscorer. and i dont think that is what we need. but i may be wrong.
If Gerrard/Alonso play tomorrow then i am gonna be gutted. i think about 4 out of the last red card given to the toffees were against Alonso and the other against gerrard. when he fecking dived and made the ref change the card from yellow to red.
im scared bout our finishing though. has been upto scratch. but hopefully that will improve.
THE REDS GO MARCHING ON
Like?
0
0
Get well soon RR!
Like?
0
0
@RedDevilEddy: Actually Berba comes on his own in the later half of the season. That is when he is most devastating. (at least on basis of last 2 seasons) We’ll see the real Berbatov now. EPL be warned
Same is true of Ronny as well. We are in an incredibly strong position to defend both our titles from last year (and perhaps add a couple more)
Like?
0
0
@jos: Hopefully. I remember hearing that some weeks ago, but from what these last weeks have shown that may well be the case. Berbarianotov!
Like?
0
0
@jos, yep mate i have been saying this for weeks and weeks. I never had any doubts that he will do well here and i reckon he is definitely on course for 20 goals this year. Some people will probably expect more but we live in an age now where we do not have many strikers anymore who play like ruud, shearer mould who will bang in 30 goals each and every season. Most strikers these days try to add more to their game and this involves them not just goal hanging in the area but added something else as well. This is like berbatov who has scored 9 goals so far which is pretty respectable but how many assists has he got. Must be atleast 10, so by the end of the year he will probably have about 20 assists and hopefully 20 goals. That means he is responsible for upto 40 goals, brillaint if he can get that. Compare this to a ruud who will get you 30 goals but limited assists and you can see that berbatov adds something extra to our team. I have stood by him all this time and was simply telling people to wait a while to see the best of berbs and he looks like he is getting there.
Maybe not worth the 30million but still an excellent player.We at the minute contain the top 3 players in terms of goals and assists joined together for the last 2 seasons in rooney, ronaldo and berbatov. If these 3 can be responsible for say about 80 goals then we are on target for title number 3, adding to this tevez goals. If only we had a goal scoring midfielder like a lampard we would be unstoppable. Maybe this summer we can address that, or maybe we are just waiting for the players we have to reach this level.
Like?
0
0
@Matthew: Lampard’s don’t grow on trees, mate.
Like?
0
0
Last season Rooney and Tevez’s energy often compensated for the slowness of the midfield. With Berbatov playing, the midfield is totally exposed…but they should be helping him out not vice versa. There is an imbalance, there’s not enough energy…not any cohesion from a constantly changing midfield.
Players not renowned for their energy but for their passing don’t seem who/where to pass it to.
Players renowned for their energy just seem to be running around in circles.
Now the that schedule has calmed down a little bit, I would like to see a settled midfield…one that can at least match the opposing bully boys’ energy levels.
Maybe then we wouldn’t see Berba roaming around the half way line trying to get into the match.
Like?
0
0
It’s so great to see Berbatov begin to come into his own, we all knew he’d take some time to settle into our style and i think a few of us would have preferred more of an immediate impact. But! He is finally proving to us that he is the Berba we all knew he could be (and repaying my faith in him by having him in my Fantasy side for the past few months :-p )
United haven’t played well in the past few games (Chelsea match excluded), but we’ve won all the matches and matched the record for consecutive clean sheets (let’s break it!) so who cares about the performances for the time being. Once we have all our players back fit then hopefully we can go on and step up to the gear we showed against Chelsea, but for the time being i will continue to take tense 1-0′s
Like?
0
0
He’s a class act.
Not many players would come into our team and click straight away and neither has Berbatov but he is getting better as the season has progressed.
Also the shot with the outside of the boot against Wigan that shaved the post was as sublime as it was unlucky.
Like?
0
0
Just out of curiosity, what is everyone’s opinion of Mikel Arteta? I don’t know that he would fit in with a side like ours, as I have a tough time doing apples to oranges comparisons–a player that looks good on Everton could be shit on United. But I’ve always loved watching him play. He’s grown into his position so much over the years, becoming one of my favorite mid-table players. I was just wondering how everyone else rates him?
Like?
0
0
average player to me
Like?
0
0
Arteta is nice but maybe a little inconsistent for me, he is reaaalllly good at set pieces imo, but not united calibre everton is his level or aston villa. i just hope liverpool fuck all tomorrow
Like?
0
0
patrick, yeah i know mate, there arent too many lampards around in the world, i just meant that if we needed anything extra i feel a midfielder like a frank lampard would be good becos i think every1 who supports united can see that we hardly score any from the middle of midfield. Just to bring it into perspective as you said yesterday our top scorer from central midfield is none other than darren fletcher, how depressing is that.
You are right when you say lampards dont grow on trees, but a few players i think that could become as good as him and play similarly are diego of werder bremen, riquelme (excellent player, love the guy) and possibly maxi rodriguez who i rate highly. Theres also a hell of a player at napoli i think called hamsik or some1 who looks quality and maybe the best of the lot potentially is joao moutinho who just looks so much like scholes its unbelivable. We do tho however have llajac who i guess is being brought in for that role even tho he wont be ready for a few years yet and we do have a lot of midfielders in the middle. I just feel we lack a goal scoring midfielder in there as you can hardly say any out of fletcher, scholes, giggs, carrick, anderson or hargreaves when fit will score more than 5 goals for us. Not since scholes in his prime have we had a central midfielder who scores alot of goals for us, this is where i feel we are weaker than the other top 3 teams. Fabregas, gerrard and lampard can get at least 10 goals a season and whilst we compensate for this with ronaldos goals if we had 1 of these types of players in our team we could score even more. Just my thoughts.
Like?
0
0
@Patrick: i want him at united and playing for england.
thats how i feel about him.
Like?
0
0
@Patrick: Wherever it is I’m sure it’s evil.
Like?
0
0
@Patrick: Arteta is a fine player but what bugs me of late is he seems to be the flavor of the week with many. Nobody mentioned his name last year or the year before but this season he seems to be on many supporters minds. Like I said, a fine player but I think because many of us are able to see Everton a lot, we lose sight of the fact that there are actually many Arteta’s playing in Europe who are more than capable of offering what he does. Now if we are talking about players like Lampard, that’s a different story. There’s not too many of his kind around. I ask everybody to consider this, if Fergie was really high on Arteta, would he not have gone for him already? The player has been with Everton for a long while now and Fergie is more than aggressive with local teams if he wants a player. Just ask Spurs. Perhaps Fergie doesn’t rate him as high as some and I would tend to agree with that, if true. I find him a little hot and cold. When he’s on his game he is outstanding, but I have also seen him disappear completely from a game too. What is seductive however about him is his free kicks which often tends to overrate a lot of players beyond what they deserve because a well taken free kick stays in one’s memory longer. For the money he would cost to pry away from Everton, I much prefer Diego, DeRossi, Palacios or even old man Senna.
Like?
0
0
@john freakin’ o’shea: I agree mate. I just don’t see him as United class. Although presently, we have some players on our roster that I don’t see as United class either.
Like?
0
0
Yet another calling card from Sergio Aguero to sir Alex. Not the first, yet not the last I’m sure. This player bleeds Red Devil red and I know in my heart he wants to play for us. Now if Fergie would chase him instead of that moody prick Benzema, this would be a perfect world.
Aguero rates the Reds
Atletico Madrid striker Sergio Aguero is one of the most exciting young players in the world, but when he’s looking for his own footballing thrills he turns to the Reds.
The prodigious Argentinian has selected his team of 2008 and it includes three United players instrumental in last year’s Champions League triumph. First pick is Rio Ferdinand, paired with Chelsea’s Ricardo Carvalho in Aguero’s XI.
“Ferdinand is the rock in Manchester United’s defence,” he commented. “He’s great in the air and his personality is strong too.”
Alongside Rio is Patrice Evra, Aguero’s favourite left-back in Europe.
“I like the attacking side of his game,” he says. “He is good in the air and has lots of power. He gives my team security.”
And no European team of the year would be complete without Cristiano Ronaldo.
“It is a pleasure to watch him play. Anyone who pays to go and watch him will be rewarded by his dazzling skills. He’s an exceptional player.”
And who would Aguero pick to coach his stellar selection? Who do you think…
“I revere Sir Alex,” said the 20-year-old. “He is a true gentleman at all times. He never loses direction and, according to my team-mates that have played under him, he always has just the right words to order the team when they’re on the pitch.”
Like?
0
0
Grognard I would LOVE it if we bought Aguero. I haven’t watched him play an awful lot but do you have any idea how we would fit him into a team with Berbatov and Rooney? A boy like Aguero won’t want to warm the bench and I do not think Ferguson is able to rotate strikers because he always plays his favourites and Rooney and Berbatov are definitely his favourites.
Like?
0
0
it would ve mad to buy the kun tbh. unless he’s happy to sit on the bench/rotate for about 1-2 years. if he is, fuck off tevez, hello aguero!
Like?
0
0
@Grognard: spurs and manchester are hardly local
Like?
0
0
Here’s a brilliant article dissecting United’s performances this season. It does say things we already know about the team, however it manages to encompass every aspect and is quite a good read.
Why United’s Attack Is Failing
It looks like the attacking prowess showed against Chelsea was only temporary. United returned to their previous goal-shy ways against Wigan and it is now a real concern for the champions.
Fergie blamed it on missed chances but in all honesty, United do not create too much. Since beating Stoke 5-0 on November 15 United never scored more than one goal in a league game, the exception is of course the victory over Chelsea.
We dominated most of these games but failed to create many clear-cut chances and simply ended up pressing without any penetration. Against Wigan, we didn’t even dominate. We had more chances than the opposition but they kept us on the edge in the way Boro or City failed… and it is worrying because apart from the defence, not one part of the team seems to be working properly.
We cannot complain about the results though – after all, our last nine league games yielded seven wins and two draws, without conceding a single goal. I’m merely saying that sooner or later United will have to stop relying on the defence and start banging in the goals because 33 scored in 20 games is not a very good record…
The reason? Hard to find. The most obvious would be to blame the attackers and true, they must shoulder some of it. They are not sharp enough in front of goal, especially Carlos Tevez whose first touch let him down badly once again against Wigan when he could have put the game beyond doubt in the first half. Dimitar Berbatov is doing fine as a link-man but should be encouraged to shoot more, to go forward, to be a striker, not an attacking midfielder. Wayne Rooney, when controls his temper, plays very well this season but he’s out with injury right now which only makes the situation more difficult.
However, the real problems are Cristiano Ronaldo and the midfield. Ronaldo can’t be accused with lack of trying but his form is nowhere near last season’s and it looks like that the team is struggling to come to terms with the fact that they can’t always rely on him to pull everyone else out of trouble. His role has also changed slightly, he’s more of a traditional winger this season – and he doesn’t relish it, that’s why he frequently drifts inside though no doubt there’s a tactical side to that trend.
And there is the midfield. In 2006/07, our football was, for the biggest part of the season, fantastic. We took teams apart and created countless chances. It was down to the excellent chemistry and cohesion in the midfield: Giggs was rejuvenated along with the consistently brilliant Scholes, Carrick played with quiet authority while Ronaldo exploded in November and never ceased to dazzle everyone afterwards.
Last season, United’s approach was different. We created fewer chances and were less cavalier, partly because Fergie constantly had to chop and change in midfield because of the decline of Giggs and Scholes and the addition of Hargreaves and Anderson. The unusual pairings, the constant changes undermined the team slightly, we found it more difficult to dominate sides. Yet this was compensated for by an absolutely unbreachable defence and the superhuman work of Cristiano Ronaldo who simply turned into a goal machine, thriving on the selfless work of Rooney and Tevez.
This season saw a return to 4-4-2 which was barely used during the previous campaign and it gave a bigger responsibility to central midfielders. Tevez and Rooney are working as hard as ever but Tevez’s limitations (technique- and pacewise) and the fact that neither is a clinical finisher came into sharper focus with Ronaldo’s slight dip in form and slight change in role. Berbatov’s arrival complicated things: he needed and still needs time to settle in and the others need time to grasp his way of thinking. He’s got a sharp brain, a brilliant first touch and wonderful passing ability which singles him out as the link man but too often, there’s nobody to finish off the moves.
Why? Because Rooney is heavily marked and still finds it difficult to resist the temptation to roam all over the field, because Ronaldo’s role changed and they still double up on him, because the other winger is not up to it (Park, for example, is frequently getting into very good positions but his finishing is awful while Nani is simply not intelligent enough to fill the gaps). And the central midfielders are too defensive.
This latter reason is easy to see. Giggs, Scholes – neither has the stamina to make Lampard-style bursts into the penalty area. When Carrick plays he usually tries to get forward but he doesn’t have the pace for the job while Anderson is having a second season syndrome: he’s looking a bit lost on the pitch at times even though I think his performances are nowhere near as bad as many United fans reckon – it’s just that last season he was all the more impressive, dominating players like Fabregas and Gerrard.
It explains why we play our best football when Fletcher and Park both play. They have enough intelligence AND stamina AND pace AND workrate to track back, provide cover and contribute to the attacks at the same time. They provide the most balance even though skill-wise they are not in the same league as Scholes and Giggs.
Of course it’s not merely about tactics and abilities. The players are human beings therefore mental approach is also very important and as I have stated on several occasions, this United side still haven’t recovered from winning the European Cup. The signs are there though: the concentration levels of the defence became marvellous but if you recall the first two or three months they were just as culpable as the attack (Hull City home, Emirates away). And now when the big game came around the whole team could pull themselves together and gave a masterclass of 90-minute focus and concentration – unlike early in the season when we had to face our more committed rivals.
United are in a very good position right now. A win over a Bolton side that’s almost in freefall would put us top and put the pressure on Liverpool before their derby. It’s an enviable position, really. But sooner or later we need to stop overrelying on the defence. I think that with Rooney’s injury, the best we can do is to return to the modern age’s fashionable tactic, the 4-2-3-1, with Fletcher and Carrick playing behind a trio of Park, Giggs/Anderson and Ronaldo and of course Berbatov would be the lone forward. This would be a balanced side with crisp passing – in theory. However, it is merely a suggestion and it might be that I’m woefully wrong and that Fergie will come up with something better. I’m looking forward to it very much.
Like?
0
0
Thank you, fellas. I figured he wasn’t of United class for the reason Grognard mentioned: If he was, Fergie would have made an effort to attain him. I’ve liked him for a few years now and has always been the most enjoyable part of watching Everton matches for me. While I’m sure aspects of his game are lacking, he has a class and presence about him that can really sparkle in the right conditions. Just curious as to what you all thought. Thanks.
Like?
0
0
Grognard, just one problem with aguero tho mate, hes a liverpool fan, and probably 3 years down the line he will be sulking for a move to the scousers. Nah, just joking he probably wouldnt wanna leave us, but it is true tho apparently that he is a liverpool fan tho. Good thing about this kid is that he has said that he will never play for real madrid, so if he comes to us and did a good job he would never leave us to join that lot which is good, shame you cannot say the same about benzema.
I dont think it would matter that hes a pool fan as he would probably come to us and then end up loving us much like rio did. Also lets not forget, dont know if you know this but ole gunnar was a pool fan as a kid, look at him hes a legend for us so i guess all this “i loved them as a kid” crap means nothing.
I do feel though that if tevez is to leave in the summer i cannot see ferguson stumping up 40+ million for benzema no matter how much he rates him. I wouldnt be surprised if we brought in another winger, and maybe an experienced cheapish striker like an owen type of player. He may also just play the kids with wellbeck and campbell getting a couple of games. If i had to choose a player who i would love to come in it would be luca toni cos he is an excellent goal scorer, i dunno how happy he wud be getting rotated tho and im sure bayern wud milk us for every penny we have tho.
Like?
0
0
@Grognard: he is a player i have always rated highly. can play as a CAM or CDM and also on the right. i would go as far to say i would prefer him over palacios(who i also rate highly)
Like?
0
0
@Patrick: it means nothing if saf hasnt gone after him, saf hasnt gone after young, barry, agbonlahor, given, owen, yakubu etc, all capable of playing for united.
Like?
0
0
Dan you forgot to mention Bentley and Lennon
Like?
0
0
@Ishaq Vally: lennon, maybe, bentley, hell no!
was that meant to be a joke?
Like?
0
0
@dan(u-ol): Barry would be a fantastic buy for United, and what a slap in the face for the scousers who couldn’t afford him. He is a great player and FULL of passion.
Like?
0
0
@magno: IMO mate, I don’t believe we have anyone I would call a great midfielder. Hargo was brilliant and very aggressive and passionate, and that was at only 60% fitness levels because of wis knee problems. Imagine a totally fit Hargo – he would be even more immense. I don’t rate any of our other midfields. They have very poor goal scoring input. No real pace for my liking anyway, and cannot find a decent thru ball that unlocks a defence amongst the lot of them. If they have any of these things, we have not seen them but on very rare occasion this whole season so far. I hate our midfield, with a very great hatred. But please don’t hate me for is
.
Like?
0
0
@dan(u-ol): Yeah but we would be buying Palacios for a reason, because he offers something the side is lacking. Arteta, while arguably a better footballer, would just be more of the same with our squad.
Like?
0
0
@dan(u-ol): Arteta can play defensive mid? Bollocks he can. And we don’t play with an attacking mid, unless you just mean a centre mid(which then confuses me because why not just call them all centre mids) and he’s been poor for Rangers and Everton whenever he’s played in the centre, lets the game pass by him.
An average player IMO.
@dan(u-ol): Agbonlahor’s got a while to go before proving he’s good enough for this team, Yakubu’s never been good enough for us and Owen doesn’t suit our team at all. I’ve never understood the hype about Given – fantastic reflexes and all that but you have to put some of the blame on how poor their defence is down to him, a keeper plays a big part in organising the defence and he rarely communicates with the team, not good enough IMO. Young just seems to be getting hyped up to the extent Lennon was two or three years ago, before fading massively, and the same thing might happen again. Besides that, he thrives from playing in a team built around crosses and pace, we don’t at all. Doesn’t suit the team. Barry’s no better than Carrick so why would we have gone in for him?
Like?
0
0
@Conor: Barry’s a million MILES better than Carrick Bro. For a start he tackles better, scores more goals and MOVES with more pace. I want Barry
.
Like?
0
0
@Craig Mc: Carrick played two magnificent through balls against Bolton just yesterday, and he’s brilliant at doing that if given the options in front of him. It’s not his fault that Berbatov and Park don’t threaten in behind and Ronaldo’s been average this season at all parts of his game.
There’s more to being a midfielder than just running around a lot like Hargreaves, Carrick’s shown himself to be a much better player up until now. I know we’ll not agree on that so there’s no point in arguing over it though.
Carrick and Hargreaves are both quality midfielders, Anderson has the potential to do so and I can’t see the point in bringing Barry in.
Like?
0
0
@Craig Mc: Tackles better? The stats most likely say otherwise I’d assume.
Barry scores more than half of his goals from the penalty spot, that’s a fact. Take those goals away and they’re quite even.
He’s not faster, if that’s what you’re getting at. If you’re saying he runs around more, then that’s probably true. Our midfielders aren’t there for running around like Barry though, he only has the licence to do that because he plays in a three man midfield, in a two man midfield you have to move intelligently and Carrick does that without doubt. He consistently runs more than any other player in our team week in, week out.
Like?
0
0
What about Inter everyone? 3-0 down to Atalanta, a midtable team at best, at half-time and it finished 3-1.
They’re not as strong as they first seemed and we’ll easily beat them.
Like?
0
0
@Craig Mc: I agree, while I’d state that some of them have performances where I say, “Yes, that’s what we’ve been missing.” But those performances are few and far between. Aside from Hargo, Anderson is the only player we have who seems capable of reaching those levels and he has been sorely lacking this season. He’s got the pace and the aggression necessary to fulfill both the offensive and defensive obligations of a CM. However, it’s plain as day that he’s carrying extra weight and is one of the least fit players in the side. If there were a line graph to illustrate his workrate throughout the course of a match it would start in the middle, work its way up to an 8 or 9, then dive bomb at around the 70th minute. I simply don’t understand how you can lack fitness at this point in the season. It must be either genetic or dietary, because I assume that all the lads are on very similar fitness regimens.
Carrick is too passive, Fletcher is too unskilled, Giggs too old, Scholes the same. I’m starting to believe that outstanding CM’s are the hardest thing to come by. Our lack of one steadfast, complete CM makes what we have accomplished and are accomplishing all the more amazing. This weakness has only been softened by the fact that if you combine all of our midfielders you would have a great one. Within the side we have all the ingredients required to create a perfect midfielder; but it just so happens than none of them individually possess all of them. So we’ve had to play a balancing act of strengths and weakness or strength/strength to fit whatever was required against a certain opponent. It has been this way for quite some time, probably since Roy Keane began diminishing. So for all the questioning of Fergie’s tactical prowess, he has been able, with the assistance of CQ, Phelan and others, to compensate for a glaring tactical weakness in the center of the pitch.
Like?
0
0
@Conor: Agbonlahor may not be ready for United in the real world, but in FIFA 09 he can unlock defenses like no one else. The boy’s got pace!
Like?
0
0
@Conor: I hope you knocked on wood, mate.
Like?
0
0
@Patrick: That’s ridiculously unfair on Fletcher, unskilled my arse.
Our midfield works brilliantly as a part of the team and great midfielders don’t necessarily make a great midfield. Look at Chelsea’s – awful considering the amount of quality in it.
The midfielder of the season last year in the Premier League was Flamini, by a distance, and yet he’s struggling to get a game ahead of a fairly average player in Ambrosini. That in itself just shows that great midfields can be formed with average midfielders.
That’s ignoring the fact that Carrick is ridiculously good at what he does, which people on here seem to be missing.
Like?
0
0
@Patrick: Don’t need to, they’re fucking shite.
Don’t defend the wings well enough, especially their left wing so Ronaldo is in line for a good match, and we’ll bet them with ease in all likelihood.
Like?
0
0
@Grognard: We talked about him during the summer. We know he is a red devil! For him, United is what Liverpool was to Torres. You remember the armband? Aguero is a United fan, and this is not something I am making up simply because there is not any reason for it. I would love Kun at our club, simply love it. For me, he would probably be the best signing we could ever make along with either Kaka or Messi(but they are nearly UNBUYABLE!). Thing is that we have Rooney. We have Berbatov. And we have Tevez. Of cource there is also Campbell, Welbeck and Man(ACHOOOOO!!! Sorry, had to sneeze
). I dont think he would settle for a place on the bench. But there is one thing Aguero has that Tevez dont. That is the Solskjaer, esque finishing. He is a masterclass finisher, with both feet. Like Ive said, I am partly an Atletico Madrid fan. And I still dont know which foot is his strongest! Is it his right, his left? He is that good! I can say such. Would he settle for a bench spot for a little less than 20 games during the season. Yeah, he would. Im sure of that. He has age on his side, along with patience. Tevez fights to get in the Argentina team, and Im not saying Aguero doesnt but he seems more patient to wait for his chance. I really would like it if Aguero joined us, but I honestly cant see it happen. But I do hope I am wrong!
Like?
0
0
@Grognard: Can’t really see how him picking Sir Alex as manager of the year means much, Messi did the same but it doesn’t mean it’s a calling card.
Self-professed Liverpool fan and all that, along with us having Rooney and Berbatov here already, means it’s nothing more than a pipe dream.
Like?
0
0