The 07/08 Season

[Thatslife]

We’ve won the double and been hailed as “outstanding” by most experts and pundits this season. A poor start, only to come back with a series of high scoring wins. Arsenal looked strong early on but fell though as expected when the going got tough, we capitalised and went 5 points clear before throwing away most of it giving Chelsea a chance of catching us, luckily we could finish the job and retain the prem.

The league cup, although, utterly unimportant, was a bit of a disappointment. We did well in the FA cup with a 4-0 trashing of Arsenal before a bitter loss to Portsmouth which still annoys me, hopefully we can do better next year, 3 championship teams in the semis isn’t acceptable. In the CL we’ve been outstanding, there is no doubt that we deserved it on overall performance despite the Finale being an even contest.

Are we as good as the media seems to think? I personally see allot of room for improvement, Fergies comments about it being his best side ever seems more like an attempt to spur the players on than a reflected comparison. I can agree that talent wise we’re immense, we’ve got depth and by far the best defensive/offensive balance in Europe, but these are young unfinished players who has the potential, but I think they need to grow and improve if they want to be the best United side “ever”. The season has been good judged on silverware, but we’ve fell though more than we should in easy games, we can’t do that if we’re gonna win it against even more hungry opposition next year. Hopefully our dominance of the other top 3 will be the same next year.

The new signings have done well in general, It’s time for a good evaluation, what do you think? Is Nani showing promise, or will he never be more then an inconsistent back up? Is Anderson our best signing, or has he fallen though in the season run in? Has Hargreavs played/fought his way into the supporters hearts or is he lacking too much technique and awareness to become more that an “alternative” in big games? Is Tevez an immense addition or are two attacking midfielder who misses too many chances a problem?

What do you people think? Take a second to reflect and give an HONEST opinion, none of that moronic wind up crap or bitter biased anti united ranting please.

[hanuma]

You scored the same amount of goals as Chelsea in the CL and thrashed your bitches Roma on the way to doing it (figuratively speaking), I don't think there is any justification in saying you deserved to win the trophy based on some pre-eminent superiority throughout, or any evidence that you're a better side than Chelsea in a one off game, that's 'bitter biased pro-Utd ranting'.

If you want some dick stroking you aren't going to get it. You can have some respect for making a good side winning the proper double against good competition and it will be remember as one of the better teams and seasons in history.

Your points tally for winning the title wasn't particularly great (relatively speaking in the modern era) and many elements of your play were overrated beyond belief, the basis of your team was three bruising centrehalfs and a quick fullback, two slow playmakers, a ball winner and three wonderful attackers. You played your best stuff by miles on the counterattack and you didn't have much of a plan B, so if the team is going to be regarded as highly as any other there are a couple of players you could do with getting, perhaps if Anderson develops into a top central midfielder you'll get close. It's the games where nobody comes at you where you struggle, because you aren't very good defensively when left open, not nearly in the same way Chelsea or Liverpool are.

Nani is OK, Anderson did more than I thought he would, Tevez is a good compliment to Rooney and Ronaldo in most games, but a fit Saha (or a more reliable alternative) should be a huge benefit over the course of the season. Your chance conversion is very good compared to Chelsea's for example.

[jlae11]

Originally Posted by hanuma

You scored the same amount of goals as Chelsea in the CL and thrashed your bitches Roma on the way to doing it (figuratively speaking), I don't think there is any justification in saying you deserved to win the trophy based on some pre-eminent superiority throughout, or any evidence that you're a better side than Chelsea in a one off game, that's 'bitter biased pro-Utd ranting'.

If you want some dick stroking you aren't going to get it. You can have some respect for making a good side winning the proper double against good competition and it will be remember as one of the better teams and seasons in history.

Your points tally for winning the title wasn't particularly great (relatively speaking in the modern era) and many elements of your play were overrated beyond belief, the basis of your team was three bruising centrehalfs and a quick fullback, two slow playmakers, a ball winner and three wonderful attackers. You played your best stuff by miles on the counterattack and you didn't have much of a plan B, so if the team is going to be regarded as highly as any other there are a couple of players you could do with getting, perhaps if Anderson develops into a top central midfielder you'll get close. It's the games where nobody comes at you where you struggle, because you aren't very good defensively when left open, not nearly in the same way Chelsea or Liverpool are.

Nani is OK, Anderson did more than I thought he would, Tevez is a good compliment to Rooney and Ronaldo in most games, but a fit Saha (or a more reliable alternative) should be a huge benefit over the course of the season. Your chance conversion is very good compared to Chelsea's for example.

ok... then what you just wrote is "bitter biased anti-united idiocy"

i dont think anyone is saying that united deserved to win ONLY because we were the only side in the CL not to lose a match. i think that is quite an achievement, but i would never say that we deserved to win because of that... united deserved to win because they are the best footballing side in europe, period.

just so you remember, united conceded the fewest goals in the league... no matter how you put it, thats what matters. when you put a qualifier like "when left open" into the sentence, that doesnt make you sound any less ignorant.

i normally think you post intelligently, but this one was far from your standard. im not going to call it dumb, but there was barely a shred of unbiased truth in there. you chose to point out the weaknesses of all the players instead of looking at their strengths... for example, "two slow playmakers"... AKA two wonderful distributors of the ball who control the tempo of matches better than anyone else in the league (bar fabregas probably)

[kyan]

Originally Posted by hanuma

Nani is OK, Anderson did more than I thought he would, Tevez is a good compliment to Rooney and Ronaldo in most games, but a fit Saha (or a more reliable alternative) should be a huge benefit over the course of the season. Your chance conversion is very good compared to Chelsea's for example.

Sorry just to check, was ur last line a typo, did u mean to say the chance conversion rate isn't very good compared to Chelsea's?

Because that I'd definitely agree with, and that's our biggest flaw.

The squad next year will probably be:


Goalkeepers:

Edwin van der Sar
Ben Foster
Tomasz Kuszczak

Defence:

Gary Neville
Patrice Evra
Rio Ferdinand
Wes Brown
Nemanja Vidić
John O'Shea
Jonny Evans (?)
(Danny Simpson)
Mikael Silvestre
Gerard Piqué

Midfield:

Owen Hargreaves
Anderson
Michael Carrick
Paul Scholes
Darren Fletcher
(Darron Gibson)

Wingers:

Cristiano Ronaldo
Ryan Giggs
Park Ji-Sung
Nani
Chris Eagles

Strikers:

Wayne Rooney
Carlos Tévez
Danny Wellbeck
(Manucho)
(Fraizer Campbell)
Louis Saha

I've put players I think will leave in italics, and those who may be recalled from loan in brackets. I think the Brazilian twins at FB (Fabio and Rafael) will be joining in the summer as well.

Sir Alex Ferguson has already said that by the end of next season Scholes and Giggs will have gradually been phased out of the team, but I think that means we'll either be buying or promoting players to either rotate for their spots or as back-up the season after next, rather than this coming one.

So what I think is essential are a striker and a left-back, depending on whether or not Jonny Evans stays, we may need at least one more centre-back as well.

If Silvestre leaves we will definitely need a LB, because otherwise it would be O'Shea there as back-up, which I'm not comfortable with at all... I'm not sure who's on the market at LB for cheap but a young attacking fullback would be nice.

Striker, a clinical one is essential. Manucho is unproven, my friend who supports Panathinaikos tells me he's not very good and has a terrible touch but I've been trying to stay positive... we'll see, either way he's a good aerial option.

Fraizer Campbell, from what I've seen of him, has a lot of potential, bags of pace, good shot (although not overly clinical either) and not the best in the air, although better than our other strikers at heading. I think he definitely deserves a chance though, had a great season with Hull, but I wouldn't be surprised to see him loaned out again.

Wellbeck isn't ready to be 3rd choice striker yet, he might be loaned out as well.

In midfield I think we'll be fine for next season, Anderson is looking like he can be a great player, great passing, great temperament and immensely athletic.

hanuma makes a valid point that Scholes and Carrick are relatively slow, but Anderson and Hargreaves are lightning quick, and are great options to have. Then there's Fletcher, who's always dependable as well. I don't think we'll need another CM until next summer, after Scholes is (probably) no longer in the starting XI.

On the wings, 4 is enough, even though Giggs can't play a full season, Ronaldo will play most games, so 3 players rotating for (generally) 1 spot is fine, especially since they're all completely different players.

Up top really is where the problem is, it'll be difficult to rotate Tevez, although it'd definitely be him rather than Rooney if a new one were brought in, but it's got to be what's best for the team rather than the individual.

The problem is attracting a top striker who's going to accept being in a rotation, I hope it's not Luis Fabiano, because I don't think he'd tolerate it and I don't think he's overly good. Who will it be... who knows.

[hanuma]

Originally Posted by jlae11

united deserved to win because they are the best footballing side in europe, period.

You didn't show that in the final by any stretch of the imagination, you don't control games like Barcelona and Chelsea, not against the best teams at least, the myth of some unstoppable irrepressible force is over.

just so you remember, united conceded the fewest goals in the league... no matter how you put it, thats what matters. when you put a qualifier like "when left open" into the sentence, that doesnt make you sound any less ignorant.

Do you even know what I meant?

you chose to point out the weaknesses of all the players instead of looking at their strengths... for example, "two slow playmakers"... AKA two wonderful distributors of the ball who control the tempo of matches better than anyone else in the league (bar fabregas probably)

I, as the reader, was asked for criticism by the original poster. I gave it, and I think it goes without saying that they're good at what they do otherwise you wouldn't have won anything. Or perhaps you do need me to point out the obvious.

[hanuma]

Originally Posted by kyan

Sorry just to check, was ur last line a typo, did u mean to say the chance conversion rate isn't very good compared to Chelsea's?

I'll find the stats one day, it's better than ours, certainly in the league. As is your ratio of shots on target, as proven rather succinctly by us having nearly 30 shots Wednesday night with 2 on target.

The difference in the teams couldn't be more clear to me, Utd are stronger from the top down, we're stronger from the bottom up, it's certainly the only explanation for our ability to get close to you this season with only Drogba and occasionally Joe Cole having any sort of consistent form.

[dukeofdavinci]

before i start, well hanuma we are just united, manchester united and not god and jesus to be very very inch perfect in every word that a human being can put.so being human, im glad we have the players we have strong, weak.

ok now then, its been a very very good season for us in many things.silverware, record for the club, players, and history.

we celebrated the 50th anniversary of a tragedy that robbed the whole world of football, we had some record breaking achievements and it all capped by the silverware we've won.

earlier on the season, despite making 4 what i would say major buys/addition we didnt start off wth flying colors of the previous season.we went trough some very rough patch but we manged to smooth and adapt them.at some point during the few early game i personally thought wth the injury/suspension we had, we might just have carried along our bad luck from the previous season and might end up very thin on players.

but we managed to sort them out and to many united faithfuls, our new signings brought more then their skills to the game, the reliability that we needed on that rough times.as the season went on we got back to that steady acceleration but it wasnt easy.we cought up and continued to play catch up wth the gunners who m at that point looked very very formidable.

and then came the pre-holiday and holiday season games wch is the toughest part of the league.wth the experience fergie had combined wth the older lads we had blended in the young ones, we weathered the storm on top of the other clubs and bite off big chunks of the advantage to our favor.i would say thats what have carried us to successfully retaining our cup and at the same time fending off chelsea who manged to reform them self to their very good self back.

as the toughness of the league and europen games start to show, we dropped some of the capital that we gained and almost slipped but some of the key points salvaged here and there coupled wth our other plus wch is our goal difference we stick our self till the end to the top spot.then we wnt to moscow and that night was history.

its not a perfect season but when it is.we do have some problems here and there.mainly i would put on our shortage of forwards.yes we have scored wth the ones we have but in some of the games we have faced this season it would be a really good cushion to have another 1/2 tall strikers.last season it was our mid-field wch required major add ons, and this season its our striking department.

our defense needs a few players just to shore up the experience coupled wth the young ones we have wch in time will replace the others.

just as how we have done in last 2 seasons, by the time for pre-season training the club would have signed the best players to fit in the places we ant then in them club.

[usamu]

Originally Posted by hanuma

Nani is OK, Anderson did more than I thought he would, Tevez is a good compliment to Rooney and Ronaldo in most games, but a fit Saha (or a more reliable alternative) should be a huge benefit over the course of the season. Your chance conversion is very good compared to Chelsea's for example.

Great point about Saha. We would have been a completely different team had he been healthy this season, and would have been far less reliant on our counter attacks. That's exactly why we'll spend big on a 9 this summer.

[dukeofdavinci]

That's exactly why we'll spend big on a 9 this summer.

starting wth signing tevez up thats for sure

[russe||]

Originally Posted by Thatslife

Are we as good as the media seems to think? I personally see allot of room for improvement, Fergies comments about it being his best side ever seems more like an attempt to spur the players on than a reflected comparison. I can agree that talent wise we’re immense, we’ve got depth and by far the best defensive/offensive balance in Europe, but these are young unfinished players who has the potential, but I think they need to grow and improve if they want to be the best United side “ever”. The season has been good judged on silverware, but we’ve fell though more than we should in easy games, we can’t do that if we’re gonna win it against even more hungry opposition next year. Hopefully our dominance of the other top 3 will be the same next year.

Yes and no.

This current squad (with the addition of a pacey more direct striker) has the potential to be the best Man Utd squad ever. They I certain one of the most talented groups of players we've ever had. BUT on the evidence of this season they aren't the best MUFC squad Fergie has had. As Hanuma says we didn't exactly set the CL alight and in the end our points result in the league wasn't anything special.

This squad has a lot of room for further improvement and considering they won the League and CL double as it is the fact they can get a lot better is a great position to be in.

Think about it - VDS hasn't had a great season, Wes Brown has done well at right back but that is a position we could (and perhaps will) improve/strengthen. Vidic, Ferdinand, Evra and Ronaldo are probably the only players that have had particularly good seasons. Players like Carrick, Anderson, Hargreaves, Nani, Tevez and Park have done well (relatively) but all have room for improvement (some due to injury problems or lake of proper preseason preparation, some due to inexperience, some just due to not really excelling).

Rooney had a poor season. Giggs worse. Scholes along with VDS and Giggs is notable as being one of the few players who is only going to get worse compared to the season just gone.

Add to the above the limited options we had at right and left back due to Neville's injury and us selling Heinze and then loosing Silvestre for most of the season. Oh and of course the now expected absence of Saha from all but a handful of games.

Originally Posted by Thatslife

The new signings have done well in general, It’s time for a good evaluation, what do you think? Is Nani showing promise, or will he never be more then an inconsistent back up? Is Anderson our best signing, or has he fallen though in the season run in? Has Hargreavs played/fought his way into the supporters hearts or is he lacking too much technique and awareness to become more that an “alternative” in big games? Is Tevez an immense addition or are two attacking midfielder who misses too many chances a problem?

Hargreaves and Tevez had the biggest impact of the 4 new names.

Anderson has bags of potential and had a great first 6 months but did fade towards the end of the season. I don't think that is something that we should be concerned about.

Nani is a very raw talent. Lots of room for improvement there.

Hargreaves season was seriously disrupted (especially in the early parts) by tendinitis so he can have an even bigger impact than he has so far. Despite that he is already becoming a fan favourite. Takes a great freekick, brilliant at penalties, works fucking hard and can play, very well, in about 4 different positions.

Tevez, because of the transfer saga taking so long to sort out, pretty much missed preseason entirely. That was certainly a handicap but he had a great first season nonetheless.

[russe||]

Originally Posted by usamu

Great point about Saha. We would have been a completely different team had he been healthy this season, and would have been far less reliant on our counter attacks. That's exactly why we'll spend big on a 9 this summer.

Depends how highly Fergie rates Manucho. He certainly did very well in the ACN and from what I've read he's impressed on lone in Greece.

[usamu]

Originally Posted by dukeofdavinci

starting wth signing tevez up thats for sure

Tevez isn't a 9. We do need to get him a permanent deal, but that doesn't change the fact that we need a bigger top class striker to lead the line.

[usamu]

Originally Posted by russe||

Depends how highly Fergie rates Manucho. He certainly did very well in the ACN and from what I've read he's impressed on lone in Greece.

Manucho is as unproven as the come. I can't see us going into the season depending on him to come right into the starting XI. I'd put more faith in Campbell coming back and making an impact with the first team than Manucho.

[dukeofdavinci]

I'd put more faith in Campbell coming back and making an impact with the first team than Manucho.

amen to that.i watched the play off game he was impressive.i think if fergie does decides to let manucho have another season on loan campbell should be on the bench and started to be eased in to the first team.he can prove to be more then his worth.