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Continuing thoughts of UV and JW (See Part 1 of ‘Respect the Club’)

JW:

A couple of questions for you:

a. Who have we got who “respects the club” in the way we’re talking about? I’m just wondering about where the real heart of the time lies, and who is just kind of passing through.

“respects the club”

All the one-club men – Giggs, Scholes, Neville, Fletcher, Brown, O’Shea, Evans

And some we bought in – van der Sar, Evra, Hargreaves, Park

“passing through”

Vidic

Anderson

Nani

Macheda
Don’t know/don’t care

Rio

Berbatov

Rooney

Carrick

Valencia

Owen

Gibson

Too soon to tell

Hernandez

Bebe

Smalling

Obertan

Fabio

Rafael

 
b. In terms of the playing power of the team, where do we need to strengthen? I suppose I’m asking this question with next season in mind, and on the basis that van der Sar, Scholes and Neville are not around after this season, but that we get more one season out of Giggs.
Keeper – er, we desperately need to buy a keeper. Now.

Defence – Rio, Vidic okay in central defence for a bit longer, Evans a reasonable deputy but long-term potential? Too early to tell on Smalling but at least we have invested for the future. Evra great at left-back (one of the relatively few world-class players in the squad), but right-back is a big problem. Neville going, Rafael has potential, fast and great going forward, but not a good tackler. And lastly, Wes Brown – the best right-back of the past few seasons (40 odd matches there in the 2007-2008 Champions League winning season) but he made his first appearance of this season at Stoke yesterday, so where is he in the pecking order?

 
Midfield – the gaping hole, in my opinion. On paper, you can pick a starting midfield four that looks quite impressive – Giggs, Hargreaves, Scholes, Valencia – but two of those are on their way out, and the other two have long-term injuries and are quite likely not to be the players they were before (Hargreaves, I know, may never play again). So our genuine long-term midfielders are Fletcher, Carrick, Nani, Anderson, Park, Gibson and Obertan. In terms of taking the game by the scruff of the neck, the only one of those guys who regularly “steps up” is Fletcher. I have loads of time for Fletcher, and he is possibly still improving, but is he really good enough to anchor our midfield? Carrick has ability but has literally gone backwards over the past season or two – he plays too deep to make his passing effective – Fletcher spends more time ahead of him on the pitch than the other way around. Nani is emerging as an important player, scoring big goals in big games, but it will be interesting to see how he copes this season without Valencia to take some of the burden off his shoulders. Park is effective but not a match winner, but the big, big disappointment of the past few seasons is Anderson – I thought he had the makings of a new Patrick Vieira after his first six months at the club, but he has failed to develop. He had, admittedly, a good game away to Valencia a few weeks back, but Fergie doesn’t really seem to trust him (or Carrick), and prefers Scholes and Fletcher.

 
Attack – Probably the area with the fewest obvious problems. Rooney and Berbatov, and now Hernandez as another option. What we don’t have is the complete forward line carousel we had in 1999 (take Yorke and Cole off and put on Sheringham and Solskjaer) or the breadth of options we had a couple of years ago with Tevez and Ronaldo in the squad. So we kind of need a fourth effective striker, a position we currently have a wide range of players not quite delivering in – Owen, Macheda, plus the various types now out on loan like Welbeck and Diouf.

UV:

I can’t disagree with your classifications of the squad, although there’s a fine line between the categories in some cases . Another few years and I’d hope Valencia would be in the ‘respects the club’ category. I also feel that there’s a touch of the Silvestres about Evra – he could be one stroppy interview away from ‘passing through’. Bit of worry that our club captain is already in that camp…
 
Yes. We need a goalkeeper. I’d like to see a low risk option taken – Paul Robinson? We don’t need the best goalie in the world; we don’t need someone under 30; we just need a goalie who isn’t going to make too many rickets. If we could possibly extract Given that would be ideal.
 
Defence: I guess between Rio, Vidic, Evans and Smalling we have back four covered. Much depends on Rio’s back as what we really need is a constant partnership. I think Evans will come good but he needs another year or so. Both full-back positions worry me. It would only take an injury to Evra to expose the lack of cover on the left-side. On the right, JOS, Wes Brown and Neville are vying for the place when Rafael is injured, rested or out of favour. In truth, I’m not convinced by any of them at the moment. So a right-back (say… Philip Lahm!) would be most welcome.
 
Midfield: is a bit of a mess. Too many players not quite good enough. We need to spend big on a Robson/Keane type. I like Fletcher but he is never going to be in that class. I saw Schweinsteiger mooted this morning. I’d be happy with that.
 
Attack: If Owen could stay fit then I think he’d be a decent bet for 4th choice striker. The problem is the pairings don’t work like they did in 1999. You can’t pair Hernandez and Owen, which means you have to play either Rooney or Berbatov all the time. I’d still like to see us sign Torres, just to irritate the scousers.
 
Youth coming through: They usually flatter to deceive but all of these are “highly rated”.
 
David Petrucci is nearly back from injury (“He’s had terrible problems in the groin area, but he was very bright and felt he was coming to the right end of the tunnel“ – MUTV).
Robbie Brandy (The new George Best)
Paul Pogba – he’s better be bloody good after all that fuss with Le Havre
Ravel Morrison – who is widely regarded as one of the country’s most promising teenagers if he can just get past his ‘issues’
 
We’ll see. I’m expecting lots of sound and fury signifying nothing come January.

Rooney Number 10

Sometimes it’s hard to crystallise your own thoughts on something as emotive as the strange incident with Wayne Rooney. I exchanged emails with JW on the subject and I think the exchange said more that I could have come up with in isolation…

JW:
 
Have spent much of the evening reading stuff on Guardian and BBC websites re Rooney saga. Lots of people have a very bitter taste in their mouth and I can’t say I blame them.

No matter that he’ll be pulling on a red shirt again and we’ll find ourselves cheering him on, Rooney’s general behaviour over the past couple of months has been thoroughly appalling – prostitutes, p**sing in the street, and now holding his club to ransom.

Yet Fergie held the door open to him, and now he is staying.

Fergie’s made exceptions before for the exceptionally talented – he went the extra mile to keep Cantona on board, and indulged Giggs much more than he was prepared to indulge Lee Sharpe. But I keep thinking about what you said about Fergie acting in United’s interest first and foremost.

As he said at Tuesday’s press conference, he was disappointed with Rooney’s stance on the club’s ambitions, etc. I think privately he will still be utterly appalled at Rooney’s behaviour, even if publicly he is making conciliatory noises about how big it was of Rooney to say sorry, and how young people make mistakes.

By getting Rooney to sign a new deal, Fergie (and the Glazers) have given themselves more options, and again taken back control. I think Fergie will now, privately, have Rooney’s future under review, on his terms, not Rooney’s. If Rooney pulls his socks up over the remainder of the season, he may see out his contract. If he doesn’t, United can sell him in the much more liquid and lucrative August transfer market (when he won’t be Champions League cup-tied, as he would have been in January), and know they can get a full valuation for him, as he will have four years not one left on his contract.

UV:

When the news of Rooney’s idiocy with the prostitute hit the headlines I consoled myself with the thought that it had been some time since I’d believed that sporting heroes had to be people I might like in real life. Giggs’ transgressions were very minor adolescent stuff and I like to believe that the Ryan Giggs of today is a decent bloke. If, however, a tabloid were to splash a story on the various unpleasant and depraved ways that a member of the United squad is betraying his family I might be disappointed but I wouldn’t be shocked because we can’t really know the truth about these people one way or another.

What I do know is that Giggs has never failed (in SAF’s words) to ‘respect the club’. There has never been a hint from Giggs that he believes his own value to be greater than that of the club.The same goes for Scholes, for Neville, for Solskjaer, even Beckham in his own strange way.

Frankly, what Rooney gets up to with ladies of the night is a problem for him and his family. For me, however, what he and Stretford did last week has undermined his standing more than anything he could have done, short of completing the move to City. I have little doubt that the move to Eastlands was agreed in principle and that it was only the severity of Mancunian reaction (including the disturbing presence of the MEC at his gates) that persuaded him to talk again to United. At that point it was the doubling of his salary and the promise of new recruits to the millionaire’s club that persuaded him that he “cares for the club” enough to stay there.

Presumably his desire to see such players as can deliver the crosses and trophies to sate his ambition does not extend to the prospect of a putative galactico being paid more than him?

Henry Winter wrote on Saturday about how Rooney now needs to demonstrate contrition in order to win back the fans and specifically about how he needs to put community work ahead of commercial dealings. He cites as his exemplar Rio Ferdinand:

“Rooney needs to talk to Rio Ferdinand. When people think of Ferdinand off the pitch they think of his campaigns against knife crime, his work with underprivileged children in Nigeria, as well as owning restaurants and making films. Ferdinand enjoys a respect that Rooney doesn’t.”

Maybe that really is how non-United fans think of Rio. I think of Rio in classically split ways: on the pitch, as one of Europe’s finest central defenders and, on his day, the very finest; and off the pitch, as the guy who had himself videotaped enjoying a roasting session with Kieron Dyer and Frank Lampard, who organised the orgiastic Christmas party that ended up with Johnny Evans being accused of rape, and who refused to sign a contract for 16 months after the club had paid him throughout his self-inflicted absence for failing to attend a drugs test. So actually maybe Rio is the last person Rooney should be talking to and he should talk to Gary Neville instead.

I’m glad we held on to Rooney. He’s a great player and his departure would have sent all the wrong signal to better players we want to stay at United and those we wish to attract. Right now though, in all honesty, I’d far rather that young Javier Hernandez keeps finding the back of the net (with the back of the head!) than that Wayne gets an early chance to re-build his image (rights). Of course, one goal in the derby game and I dare say my attitude will begin to shift.

JW:

Sentiments I very much share, mate.

Every club has its tossers, I suppose (he said philosophically) and we have had our down the years. Ronaldo disrespected the club by talking about wanting to move to Madrid all the time, but he never got the same stick as Rooney is now getting. I guess he wasn’t saying that he was bigger than United, just that Madrid were.

Read the second and concluding part of ‘Respect the club’ here.

Watched the game last night (the first 60 minutes in the company of my oldest who is beginning to take a more serious interest in United beyond regular requests for branded merchandise). We looked good; although Newcastle looked weak. What a game Scholes had. I remember moaning at the tail end of the 2005/6 season that the departures of Beckham and Veron combined with Scholes’ lay-off with double vision had left us with no one who could play the long diagonal pass and land it on a sixpence. He did it time and again last night – just a fantastic display that compounded my concerns about what happens when he retires (end of this season?). Whatever the qualities of Anderson, Gibson and Fletcher, none of them can do that. Carrick should be able to but somehow… doesn’t.

Berbatov looked sharp; Chicharito super quick; Rooney… improving.

One game down; no points dropped. Not always the case with United.

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United’s 25 Man Squad

Found myself worying about the 25 man squad rule for the premier league this year and its possible impacts on United. Rather than allow it to keep me up all night I decided to have a bash at cobbling the potential squadlist together.

The rule is that you have to name your 25 man squad and stick to it for the Premier League. 8 of them must be ‘home-grown players’, meaning that they were registered with English clubs for a total of 3 years between the ages of 16 and 21 (we have no worries here).To complicate matters, you are allowed as many under 21s as you want in addition to the named 25 man squad.

Reassuringly, I think we’re OK on the 25 man rule (SAF will be relieved to hear this). Here’s what could be 24 of our 25 man squad:

Strikers Berbatov
  Owen
  Rooney
  Chicharito
   
Midfielders Giggs
  Scholes
  Fletcher
  Carrick
  Nani
  Valencia
  Anderson
  Park
  Gibson
  Obertan
  Cleverly (21 on 12th
August)
   
Defenders Vidic
  Ferdinand
  Brown
  O’Shea
  Evra
  Neville
  Evans
   
Goalkeepers Van der Sar
  Kuszczak

Add to this the following Under 21s:

Strikers Macheda
(19)
   
Defenders Raphael (20)
  Fabio (20)
  Smalling (20 – 21 on
22nd November)
  Cory Evans (20)
   
Goalkeepers Amos (20)

I’ve made it a 24 man squad in order to allow room for Herr Ozil – however optimistic that may seem. When we don’t recruit him there is room for one of the following: Hargreaves, Possebon or De Laet. My bet would be De Laet, given that Hargreaves seems crocked semi-permanently and Possebon is so far out of favour he has no squad number. I’m assuming that Smalling is OK as an Under 21 as he doesn’t turn 21 until after the squad registration date on 1st Sept. There are obviously a few other promising youth team players (Petrucci, Pogba, etc.) who may get the chance in the event of an injury crisis.

Yes… I know, I know. Thanks for pointing out my inactivity… all of you! I will be updating it shortly. I promise!!!

In the meantime, those of you who said you’d like to write something for the site, now is your chance. Get in touch if you want to contribute.

Thanks

UV

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I’m back. Real life, in the form of a shiny new infant, having intervened over the last few weeks.

Anway, as the headline says ‘United will win the next 10 games’!

Ok that’s not actually my opinion. That’s the opinion of Sir Ryan Giggs (just a matter of time, surely). Specifically, he said,”It was a tough start for us, but we know we didn’t play well at the beginning of the season… But this team is capable of going on a winning run of ten games, so hopefully that has started against Boro and we can carry it on against Bolton on Saturday.”

Sir Ryan - care of Manu United on Flickr

Sir Ryan - care of Manu United on Flickr

So what are the games he has in mind? They are…

1.  Manchester United   v   Bolton Wanderers
2.  Blackburn Rovers   v   Manchester United
3.  Manchester United   v   West Bromwich Albion
4.  Everton   v   Manchester United
5.  Manchester United   v   West Ham United
6.  Manchester United   v   Hull City
7.  Arsenal   v   Manchester United
8.  Manchester United   v   Stoke City
9.  Aston Villa   v   Manchester United
10. Manchester City   v   Manchester United

Well, of course, they’re all winnable (any game should be winnable for United) but 30 points out of 30 looks a tall order especially when you throw in a visit to the Emirates and a derby game at the City of Mcr.

Personally, I think we need a minimum 25 points from these 10 games to stay in contention for the title. I’m predicting that we’ll get 26 points in the following way:

Bolton (h) 3 points
Blackburn (a) 3 points
WBA (h) 3 points
Everton (a) 3 points
West Ham (h) 3 points
Hull City (h) 3 points
Arsenal (a) 1 point
Stoke (h) 3 points
Villa (a) 3 points
City (a) 1 point

Of course, we may slip up against any number of sides in there. Everton and Villa away should be challenging games. Our recent record against West Ham and city suggests that 4 points from these two fixtures might be a bit optimistic. However, there were signs against Chelsea last weekend and against Middlesbrough in the week that United are finally out of pre-season mode.

One last thought on Sir Ryan’s prediction. The games that follow that tenth game against City are Sunderland (h), Spurs (a), Wigan (h), Stoke (a) and Middlesbrough (a). Do you think it was fear of upsetting Royston Keane that stopped him from predicting a 15 match winning streak?

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Oh dear. Not the end to the summer that Sir Alex would have wished for. 

The silver lining to England’s failure to qualify for the European Championship was that it reduced the risk of injury to a United squad that draws more on the talents of the home countries than most others in the Premiership. 

It’s an exaggeration to say that one money-spinnning pre-season visit to Africa has undermined all of the competitive advantage that Steve McLaren so generously bestowed on us but it’s certainly looking poor value for the £1.5M that United reputedly earned from the Nigeria-based dress rehearsal for the Charity Shield. 

In case you hadn’t heard, Wayne Rooney is the latest to join a lengthy list of absentees, having picked up a nasty (non-malarian) virus while in Nigeria. I’m now worried about the health of JW, not to mention the journalist Wayne allegedly spat at

It does seem extraordinary that United are so sophisticated in their approach to the health of their players that they have their own laboratory at Carrington but no one thought to say ‘Hey! Isn’t there the danger that some of us might pick up a nasty bug if we go to West africa?’ 

So Rooney is out, and we already know about Ronaldo. Who else is unavailable? Well here’s the full list: 

Rooney – Virus
Ronaldo – Ankle
Nani – Suspended (2 games)
Anderson – Olympics
Saha – Knee
Park – Knee
Hargreaves – Tendinitis
(Carrick – Virus)
(Neville – calf strain) 

Carrick was struck down by the same virus as Rooney but seems to have recovered enough to be back in traning and Sir Alex reckons he’s well enough to take some part in the traditional curtain-raiser (I love that expression). Neville, meanwhile, is apparently recovered from a recent calf strain but has hardly played for a year and a half. 

All this puts us in an interesting position for the Charity Shield. What kind of team will we actually be able to field, given that at least 5 of the 14 players who took part in the CL final in Moscow are unavailable? 

Here’s my best guess. 

Van der Sar | Brown | Ferdinand | Vidic | Evra | Fletcher | Carrick | Scholes | Giggs | Tevez |

Just My Best Guess

 

I guess the big headline there is Campbell’s inclusion. It’s the logical choice. If he doesn’t play in these circumstances when will he play? Still I wouldn’t be surprised to see him on the bench. Ferguson is notoriously reticent when it comes to home-grown strikers (even Giuseppe Rossi struggled for games) and if he can squeeze another player into midfield (JOS, most likely) then Tevez may well be ploughing a lone furrow. 

Of course, there are lots of other permutations. Carrick may not be well enough to start, in which case life gets more interesting. From the meagre stocks left at his disposal again O’Shea would be his instinctive choice to deputise but it would be nice to see Possebon given a chance to show what he can do at this level. 

A more creative solution might be to play O’Shea at left back with Evra pushed forward on to the left wing and Giggs operating down the right, as he has done occasionally throughout his career. You could also say the same about Lee Martin (the last of the “next David Beckham”s following Eagles’ departure) as Campbell. If he doesn’t play in these circumstances then when? 

I suppose we should be grateful that the defence is miraculously untouched, thus far. In any case, Portsmouth are welcome to the Charity Shield. 3 points against Newcastle are a far more significant prize. So just cross your fingers and hope that the laboratory at Carrington comes up with something to get Rooney up-and-about again.

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Had a very pleasant night out on Tuesday.

Not normally the sort of thing that UV reports, I’ll grant you, but bear with me. Having enjoyed the evening and being a man of weighty parental responsibilities, I passed up the offer of ‘one for the road’ with JW and HJD and headed off home, leaving them to their expensive nightcaps at the Charlotte Street Hotel. Half an hour later I get a call from JW to let me know that he’s just had a cosy little chat and a photograph with a celebrity. Guess who? No, not Tessa Sanderson as it turns out but Wayne Rooney.

Wayne Bloody Rooney! To say I was a ‘bit’ disappointed is like saying Stephen Gerrard’s hairline is a ‘bit’ odd. Now I don’t know what JW said to our Wayne but whatever it was was enough to send him into a rage with anyone with a camera!

What Wayne may have looked like to JW - Picture from birdbath on Flickr

What Wayne may have looked like to JWPicture from birdbath on Flickr

Anyway, I guess this kind of report goes with the territory for Rooney, which is a great shame. I just pray we don’t get too much of it this year, though. I think this will be a definitive season in Rooney’s United career. Whether Ronaldo can be persuaded to stick around for another season or not, United relied on the Portugeezer’s goals heavily last year and neither his presence nor his commitment can be taken for granted in the future. Wayne, on the other hand, you feel may be with United for life now.

I’m a long-standing defender of Rooney. Many last year were calling for him to be dropped but even when Rooney is having a truly terrible game he still manages to ocupy the attentions of two defenders. Also, like Tevez, with his work rate he raises the game for the rest of the team (yes, I mean you, Rio). I have no doubt as to his value to the club and think he was worth every penny of the £30M he cost us.

However, he should score goals. I know he lead the charts for English players in terms of goals (and assists) last season but he has, in all honesty, not produced what we expected. Thinking back to Portugal 2004 or his debut against Fenerbahçe he was a force of nature in the same way as Tyson or Nadal. He looked unstoppable. He doesn’t look that way any more.

As JW said (although not I suspect to the Wayne) ‘My gripe is that he doesn’t score enough goals — overelaborates, decorates matches with sumptious, defender-outwitting first touch and control, but then can’t provide the finish such skill deserves.’

I just hope that Fergie has a word with Wayne to say, ‘Stop being so bloody selfless. Stop setting Ronaldo up with goals. Stop tracking back to our own 18 yard box (we have Owen to do this for us these days). Just concentrate on blasting that ball at the goal. Feel free to rip the goalies head off with it.’

So come on Wayne. Time to step up. ‘Perfect Moment’ time, as Martine McCutcheon might have said.

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It’s long been apparent that the job of football journalist on a national newspaper is these days limited, at least during the summer months, to checking out the ‘Top Stories’ on NewsNow and regurgitating them as fact the following day.

Confirmation arrived today with The Star picking up the ludicrous story, previously pedalled by 4thegame, that Thierry Henry could be the subject of a bid from United. The problem with these stories is that there is just enough sense in them for you to roll them around in your mind (Along the lines of “I suppose Manchester United could do with a new striker… and I guess that Thierry Henry is actually a striker so, well, maybe… NO! What am I thinking???). Then before you know it your lunch hour has passed and you haven’t even updated your status on facebook.

So I’m going to have a go this game. Who’s the striker we’re least likely to sign? Torres? Van Nistelrooy? Drogba? No, I’ve got it… Adebayor. Why not? If Henry’s on the list then why not Emmanuel too? There is no way that Wenger would sell him to us. No one has even suggested that we might be interested in him and the player probably wouldn’t come even if we were. It’s really really not going to happen.

Picture of Adebayor from Wonker on Flickr

Picture of Adebayor from Wonker on Flickr

So that’s it. Adebayor to United! A completely unsubstantiated UnitedViews exclusive! You heard this lie here first!!

Mind you, once you start to think about it…

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I should say now that I realise what I’m about to suggest is a direct contradiction of my previous posts(s) on the subject of Mr Berbatov but… United face the very real prospect of signing absolutely no one in this summer’s transfer window. OK, it’s called hedging.

After the Fleet Street’s traditional pursuit of linking United with absolutely everyone on the grounds that some of it must be true, it’s all starting to go a bit quiet. In fact, even the outlandish lies gossip that usually fuels everyone’s favourite page on the BBC seem to be drying up.

We seem to have come full circle with the laughable Thierry Henry story but it’s really just fulfilling the barrel-scraping role that stories about Paddy Viera and little Michael Owen have fulfilled in the past – i.e. a famous name to a famous club with no requirement for a genuine connection between the two.

Thierry Henry - probably not looking to escape Barcelona, actually (Image from mediafury on Flickr)

Thierry Henry - probably not looking to escape Barcelona, actually (Image from mediafury on Flickr)

It does seem that in reality all our eggs are now firmly in the one basket and with Spurs apparently happy to take a £5M hit to sell Dimitar abroad rather than send him up to Old Trafford that particular basket is looking none too stable (although much depends on Berbatov’s own preferences).

So, when was the last time United signed absolutely no one at all? Well… I don’t actually know…sorry. Anyone out there able to tell me? I do know that in 2000 we only signed Fabien Barthez. I guess that could be a good sign, given that we went on to win the league by 10 points in spite of losing the last 3 games of the season (I seem to remember Luke Chadwick featuring a lot…).

However, what followed that season was a loss of momentum that it arguably took Ferguson until 2006/7 to regain. Dangerously, and for the first time ever, Ferguson seemed happy with his squad and didn’t look to improve from a position of strength.

Now, this year we know we need a striker. Whatever the outcome of Ronaldo’s dalliance with Real, we can’t expect him to replicate the scoring feats of last season. It’s just not realistic.

So there are two possibilities: either United know something we don’t (look at how they pulled off the Anderson/Nani double swoop last year); or… Frazier Campbell and Manucho can expect to be getting some quality time with the first team this season.

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