Posts Tagged ‘Manchester United’
Replacing Paul Scholes: The Contenders
Paul Scholes is, to many Manchester United fans, our most influential player of the last 20 years. There are the usual shouts for Cantona, and Ryan Giggs is of course up there too, but for sheer ability, durability and respectablility there is absolutely only one winner.
Whilst it was grudgingly expected by almost everyone, it was no less affecting when Scholsey brought the curtain down on his glittering career in the summer. In typical Scholes fashion he wanted to slip quietly out the door with no fuss and, one potentially star-studded testimonial against the New York Cosmos aside, he got his wish.
Of course, the big question is now the identity of the man tasked with replacing Paul as our midfield lynchpin. It’s not easy to find a player with such a unique range of talents, so who are we looking at, and who should we be getting most excited about?
Manchester United First and Second XI 2011/12: Thoughts?
We’ve had a busy summer by our standards, bringing in Ashley Young, Phil Jones and David de Gea, with Danny Welbeck and Tom Cleverley returning from loan spells and potentially a midfield signing to come. Given all that, what do you think our starting XI next season is going to be, and who will be in our fringe team?
The huge assumption I’m making here is that Wesley Sneijder signs for us. If he doesn’t, I’m sure someone similar will do. I’m also assuming that we change formation to accomodate him, as it seems we must.
So what have I gone for?
Poll Results: Sneijder Most Desirable, But Fans Turned Off By Nasri
Three weeks ago we asked our readers which player they would kidnap and force to join Manchester United, were such an option both legal and morally sound. The results are in, and they make for very interesting reading.
Pastore and Cavani: Utter Fantasy Signings
Yesterday I was moved to write about our midfield balance, given the way that names were being indiscriminately tossed around by our fans in the hope of somehow piecing together an all-star midfield jigsaw featuring none of our current central midfielders.
Not only that, the signings we have made have been dismissed out of hand by the most spoiled section of our support, plebs who are gutted that we haven’t brought Ronaldo back from Real Madrid and will hold it against Ashely Young.
Time To Forget About Luka Modric
Given the noises being made by Luka Modric, Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea, it’s time to write off any hope of signing the little Croatian, no matter how perfect a fit he would be for our midfied.
Firstly, Tottenham do not want to sell one of their two prized assets. Spurs are going to be going after Champions League qualification once more, and you’d think Gareth Bale and Modric would be absolutely integral to that. They’re not struggling for cash, or lacking of ambition, so why would they willingly sell? We’d have to absolutely break the bank to bring him in, and that leads us to the next problem.
Is Wesley Sneijder Right for Manchester United?
Every god forsaken day I log on to NewsNow and see some website or other reporting an “exclusive” that we’re about to sign Wesley Sneijder for £xx million and I bang my head against my desk in a slow, yet firm manner as I let the stupidity of it all wash over me.
Fortunately, Sir Alex Ferguson is a wise man, who will leave the signing of Wesley to the Football Manager addicts of this world before pursuing more sensible, more relevant targets. We don’t need someone who’s just going to tread on Wayne Rooney’s toes and force us to entirely change our system overnight. We fucked up with that when we signed Veron.
Michael Owen New Deal: Winners and Losers
The news has emerged today that Michael Owen has been offered a new one year deal at the club and, as one would expect, has bitten Sir Alex’s hand off. Of course, one would assume that if he’s a success next season, his contract would again be extended.
Whilst it’s always good to have natural goalscorers on the clubs books, Michael Owen divides opinion amongst United fans. Whilst none are foolish enough to doubt his pedigree or ability when fit, there are question marks that surround both his ability to stay fit for extended periods and what this means for the young players at the club.
Barcelona Fall-Out: Where do Manchester United Go From Here?
It’s the nightmare scenario; we’ve built this side to conquer Europe, and on Saturday we were given an absolute thumping by Barcelona. We haven’t quite managed it.
We’ve spent years trying to figure out European football. Who can forget the years toiling under the three foreigners rule (Giggs being classed as foreign), followed by near miss after near miss, punctuated only by the glory of 1999? Let’s not forget, but for a miraculous grandstand finish, we’d only have 2008 to dine out on, back when Cristiano Ronaldo was winning games single handedly for us. Read the rest of this entry »
David De Gea: What is Going On?
Sir Alex Ferguson doesn’t announce signings until they are pretty much done. I can’t remember the last time he was caught with his pants around his ankles without Ronaldo in the room, so what’s he doing announcing that we’ve pretty much done a deal for David De Gea if, as David’s lawyer is to be believed, we haven’t?
This could mean one of four things. The player’s agent is being a dick, Atletico are trying to spark off an auction, the player is having second thoughts, or we have messed up.
It’s David De Gea: Atletico Madrid Keeper Agrees to Join
Fergie has revealed that we have pretty much wrapped up a deal for the best young goalkeeper in the world, David De Gea, from Atletico Madrid. A figure of about £18m is being bandied about, which is approximately the same as we spent on all of the goalkeepers we tried between Schmeichel and Edwin van der Sar.
This is absolutely excellent news, and wrapping up our business in the early part of the transfer window is turning out to be an absolutely excellent habit to be in.
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