We can forget about replacing Keano. There's no other player like him out there. What you can do however is get 2 players who would bring the same quality that Keano did for us. We have that in Carrick, Fletcher and Hargreaves..

Nani's first season.. still remember? He was ahead of Park(although injured a lot) then. If given regular games, I'm sure he would cement one of the wing spot.

Last 3-4 seasons our midfielder weren't allowed to go forward that much. Only the wingers would have the freedom to attack and go into advance position, while the CMs generally sit deep. That's why we don't see them score that much, although to be fair none of our midfielders have that mentality/ability to score consistently(for CMs). We'll see how we set the team up with Ronaldo now gone. They might be given license to bomb forward a lot more.

Given their history.. I doubt that. Also would Ruud be happy with a squad tag. That's one of the reason he left, because he was behind Saha and Rooney. We need to find someone happy being a squad player. Tevez doesn't like that role, so we can forget about getting someone of similar caliber. We need another Saha(Fulham days), someone not yet regarded as world class/on the same level with other top strikers..

It's not about muscle.. Barca had 3 guys who are hardly monsters playing against us in midfield, and even with their superior passing, we did well enough to hold onto the ball to make it almost even possession wise. It's what we do with the possession which was disappointing. But if we want to counter other powerful midfield, just play Hargreaves/Fletcher.

Hargreaves/Fletcher/Anderson/Carrick.. are good enough, although neither of them at this moment in time can be viewed on the same level as the other top midfielders. They're a level or two below, but play any 3 of those, they are more than a match for any midfield.

We don't need another star striker here, just need someone good enough to be our 3rd striker and is happy to fight it out/rotate with Roo and Berba. SAF already said Welbeck will have a chance of joining England's squad in the World Cup. That must mean he will feature for us a bit next season. He along with Macheda will be our 4th choice striker..

He will go, unless RM offer him far lower than what he gets with us right now.

Why is his name on that page?
Surely Real ain't that stupid to just sell off one of the best GK around?

http://www.manutd.com/publish.sps?pagegid=...file&bioid=4015

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Added on June 20, 2009, 1:31 pmWe're getting Vito Baia
http://www.manutd.com/publish.sps?pagegid=...file&bioid=4013

This post has been edited by Wan: Jun 20 2009, 01:31 PM

It's not so much about the money for Tevez, although maybe Kia have a bit of say in that and he wants a lot more, but for Tevez it's more about being a regular, which for us he wasn't. Good luck to him. I'm relieved to see that I have to say. Not because I don't think he's crap or anything, just don't believe he's worth that much and we need another type of striker in the side.

Ribery + Vucinic/Huntelaar will do for me.

We have the best squad in years. Quality 1st 11, quality covers for each position. Have a mix of youth, experience and players coming into/already their prime. Almost perfect. We will lose Ronaldo, and looks like Tevez as well. Ronaldo need replacing IMO. I hope for a Ribery to play on one side, with Nani cementing his place on the other side. With Park and Tosic as covers. Center of midfield would be fine with Ando, Carrick and Fletcher able to match against any midfield. With Hargreaves, Scholes, Giggs and the youngsters providing backup. People talk about Scholes fading and arguing we need to replace him to match up with other top midfields, but IMO last 3 seasons we've done better without him in the side against those teams. Sure the middle of the park look lacking a bit against the other top team's midfield, but play any 3 of those first four, they would match any midfield as shown the last 3 seasons.

Rooney and Berba will score more I bet now Ronaldo's gone. The others would too with us changing the way we play to suit the players we have rather than focusing on Ronaldo getting on the end of things. Tevez is easily replaceable. 19+15 goals last 2 seasons ain't that much. Berba could easily surpass that himself and if we bring in a new striker, along with Macheda and Welbeck would easily get that 15 goals if given similar minutes. Nani will score around 10 if given regular starts. That new winger and the other midfielders will chip in a few. If we get back to something like in the 06/07 season, we would be far more dangerous that we've been last 2 seasons.

Less than a month away huh? Can't wait for that.

Midfield aggressor who have a good passing range and would score? Other than De Rossi out there, who else is not yet at a top club? Even he would be hard to get. There's basically none out there that is available.. those kind hardly existed anymore. Either they're good at defending or attacking, and the ones that can do both roles well, doesn't do each role as well as the other specialist.

We dominated Chelsea in the first half on that final, and this season we were on top no doubt against them. Only Liverpool one was a blip, and as for Barca, not many team would dominate them. We just got hit with a sucker punch and didn't know what to do after that. We badly miss the likes of Fletcher and Hargreaves IMO who could have brought much needed energy and running in midfield.

Last season attacking wise we didn't hit it off consistently for a number of reasons. Ronaldo finding it hard to get into form, Rooney and Berba didn't really had a consistent run of games together, Ando and Nani 2nd syndrome, Scholes and Tevez badly off form.. basically our whole attacking unit. We always had that extra gear we can use but due to the above couldn't find it. Also have to remember we played almost the same way for the last 3-4 seasons, team might have found a way to counter us.

Apart from the off form players, midfield was fine IMO for the majority of last season, with Park, Carrick and Fletcher delivered consistent performance. It's the attacking side which let us down a bit. Surely you don't believe we're a one man team. Sure Ronaldo got the goals for us, but if he wasn't so good at scoring, our team wouldn't have been set up to feed him too much. Now he's gone, we'll feed someone else.

Gerrard plays behind Torres. Lampard plays in a midfield 3. We usually play 2 in the middle, and their job is different to the other teams. Each team employs different tactics and approach. We use our CMs more as a shield and go through guy. They're the ones who would receive pass and give passes to the attackers to do the damage. Why do you think Scholes hardly scores last 5 years when he was quite prolific before? His role reflect what our CMs usually do these days, hardly getting forward and always stick behind the 4 attackers. Didn't even have that many assists.. that tells you a lot. Our best passer bar none, but not that much assists on the stats record.

These two are comparable..
Alonso-7 goals, 5 assists.
Carrick-6 goals, 8 assists.

Fletcher can hold the ball, Carrick can do that too and pass although not as well as Scholes obviously, but then probably only Iniesta and Xavi are as good if not better than what Scholes does. Anderson already showed, last season especially when Scholes was out injured, that he can be depended on in CM. His form was quite good IMO last season after he recovered from injury late in the 2nd half of last season.

Ronaldo was hardly prolific before. He got a good amount of goals for a winger, but wasn't really outstanding. Then after Ruud left it just click for him. Last 2 seasons we have made good use of his ability and maximize it to its full(?) potential. Now that he's gone, I'm sure we would base it on the other players we have.

Tackle and run? Fletcher does that perfectly well.
Whoever we buy for the CM position, if we're looking for one that is, he must have passing ability. Without it, there's no chance whatsoever of us dominating teams. We would end up losing the ball regularly. Barca hardly had a monster of a DM playing against us, but still we found it hard to get through their midfield. It's all about positioning and keeping the ball better, along with the right tactic to nullify the opponent. We got hit early on, and that mess things up for us..

He didn't do too badly. 8 goals in 20 games is a pretty decent record. I won't mind him as backup to both Berba and Rooney. That partnership have creativity and goals all over it.. just need to give it a bit more time, cause I don't think we seen too many of it last season.

But I guess we're gonna keep poking around Benzema and see the reactions. If it's positive I bet we would be interested. I'm excited to be honest, although thinking with my head I would prefer someone with less potential/ability, like Huntelaar, so that Kiko and Welbeck would get better chances of being a regular for us.

1st July they would announce who would get the #7 shirt. It's Darren Fletcher.

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Added on June 26, 2009, 2:41 pmCantona 7
David Beckham 24 > 7
Ronaldo 7
Darren Fletcher 24 > 7


This post has been edited by Wan: Jun 26 2009, 02:41 PM