Sep 21 2010, 07:15 PM
It will be sad day when he hangs up his boot.
What a player, a true united legend.Can't help but agree with him that strikers like himself, fowler, inzaghi (ie, stay n box, wait for balls , tap in, cross headers, rebound, scrap wtc and in the odd instances holding up the ball)are getting increasingly marginalized in the modern game.
If we look at united squad, only owen suited to play that role and that is due to his limitation. (can't dribble, can't pass more than 10 yard, poor touch, can't beat his man, lost of pace)
What more, he is eternally warming the bench and had admitted himself that after joining united, he is no longer the same player n had to adapt to come deeper to get a touch of the ball n get himself involves. But thats just not his game. Not what he does best. This made me think, are united way of playing actually limiting this aspect of forward play that players like owen n chicarito lives on?
Cue: something that is not really related with the above news/ just my feelings of watching united for pass 2 years.
Are we a one-dimensional team?? Dun get me wrong, i had no problem with the way man utd plays. Heck, i get excited as hell by the errant scholesy's cross field pass to our winger and the ensuing 1 v 1 battle between winger n fullback. Our play seems to revolve a lot on the usage of width to stretch the game and create openings in the middle. (i think i heard the commentary saying this during the liverpool game too). That is evidenced by the liverpool game, our both of berba's goal bar the corner are from crosses from the wing.
While i recognize that crossing/heading are a key element of the english game, what happens if the opposition loads their penalty box and have great height in their defence to deal with such crosses ala rangers in champions league. I sat for 90 mins thru that game watching united labour to only a draw which i was convinced was so because of the poor crossing on show and because chicarito n rooney are at least half a head shorter than any of the rangers' centerback. What happened to plan B?? change of tactic? another route to goal perhaps? (fergie answered all the above with the genius tactical change of owen, who is at least 1 1/2 head shorter than the CB.
(Note: what i fell fergie reasoning are with that one: wayne n chic..whats his name are not doing very good against the bloody gers giant with them crosses, i might as well give them some leverage, owen + chich.....argHHHHH ffs........combined should be able tall enuf to battle one of the CB, i might as well let rooney piss off the other two CB, he is just getting match fitness minutes anyway)
I would like to be clear that this is not a delayed post to express my frustration for the rangers draw, just a point i am making that i think most of the people who watches man utd week in n week out will agree. Let's face it, if we start a match with with chicharito or owen against blackburn or bolton, do we fancy our chances in an aerial battle between our forward and the CB?? (samba OMFG). or would we prefer to lump one up/ try a through pass n see chicarito go?? (excluded owen, no pace aledi). Even fergie admits that united is not using him the right way. What i am getting is, are our team really that bad at adapting to utilize the ability of player like chicarito/owen. I can clearly remember two times in the match against liverpool that rooney had a clear gap through the middle when he can play a throughpass through the middle where he elects to instead pass the ball out wide right (#1. where berba sold a dummy to carragher n left him for dead n had a quick one two with rooney in the first half onie for rooney to pass it to nani who is storming into the penalty box and proceed to waste the chance. #2....wait, forgot aledi....
, anyway u know what i mean he like to pass it wide right when he is just outside the penalty box). My point is, if we swap berba with owen, and if i were owen, i would be pissed off if rooney did not pass me that ball n instead pass it off to nani to cross it so i can battle the ball in the air with carragher. My point on this is, our team are too inclines to go for the easy option, without going for the killer pass often enuf. That had in turned snuff out the possibility of our players like owen/ chicarito. we rely too much on our on our striker to come deep to get the ball to provide the bridge from def to attack and in fact, are too used to it. We rarely plays ball over the def for our striker to chase anymore.I understand that in some games like ranger n sunderland, we will come up against opposition who like to get man behind the ball/ camp in their penalty box n balls like that won;t work. However, if we recall back to the days when scholes n rudd were the strikeforce of our team, their one-two play outside the penalty are pure magic. Why are we not producing the same type of play? We might had lost rudd n scholes might be no longer suitable for that role anymore, but surely we already got a ready made replacement in berba/rooney for scholes role n owen/chica for rudd's role.
I guess, going back to the top of this post, i am just sad that players like rudd, inzaghi are just no longer being produced and fully utilised in the modern game. They are a dying breed. While i agree that messi n ronaldo are great to watch when they try to dribble pass the whole defence and cut in to score, i would not swap rudd for the both of them to get at the end of a scoring chance when it matters the most. Thank you again rudd. (although u are not really retiring yet, this is a bit premature i admit kekeke)
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