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.
