Win a few more like this, we'll get back to how we're suppose to play. It's close.

Depends how you look at it. Some see the need to spend and not give time to those already at the club. Some see(or more likely trust the view of SAF) the current ability and potential of those already at the club and thinks it's good enough and will show improvement over the years.

A lot can change in a space of a few months. After a barren few years, we won back the league with only Carrick as a new signing back in 06. And we did it after selling Ruud and missing Saha for half a season. And the previous season we got knocked out early in the CL, Keano left, and we were forced to field O'Shea-Giggs in the middle from then on after Scholes missed the latter half of that season through eye injury. Best in form team of the latter half of that 05/06 season.

05/06-Keano(OLD), Scholes(OFF FORM), Fletcher(young, inconsistent, not good enough at the time), Smith(not a midfielder)
Now-Scholes, Giggs(OLD), Carrick(OFF FORM), Ando, Gibson(young, inconsistent, not good enough).

In a way right now it's a bit like that situation. Only differences is it's far better situation right now. The old is still performing at a good level, we have Fletcher to cover the 'consistent' player hole(although slightly out of form right now) and in Ando we have a far better developing midfielder.

If Carrick and Fletcher find their form again, we'll really have a solid base that is a match for any midfield. It's proven. They're just out of form, although with Carrick it could be more than that if he doesn't find it this season. Ando will improve. He is Scholes' replacement. He will just play in a different way. He is already a very good player playing at a decent-good level. What we need to see is him growing up and putting up those lovely dominating performances more like in his first season. We spent big bucks on him and like with Nani, we'll stick with him. He's not even 23 yet. Gibson need a lot more to work and improve on, but he can be a useful if not good squad player for us.

And in midfield, age is pretty important. Once they get to 25, you'll see a different player. They would be able to play with confidencce, authority and consistency that they haven't shown before. That would make a big difference in their performances.

If Carrick is still playing in hiding mode come the end of the season, we will likely look to bring someone else in. We know he's a good player. He has performed consistently well since he came here, except for last season. This season will be a test to see whether last season is just a blip or something more than that like what happened with Yorke. With Hargreaves it's just a matter of how healthy he is. One last chance for him and if it doesn't happen for him, we'll look to get someone to play his role, or more likely someone who can backup Fletcher. Move around a lot, and harass opponents constantly. The likes of Giggs and Scholes will stay for at least one more season if they end the season well. That will also play a part whether we like it or not.

Veteran: Scholes, Giggs
Senior: Carrick, Fletcher, Hargreaves
Developing: Ando, Gibson


But after saying all that, it will be very interesting to see how things would pan out regarding Schweinsteiger's contract situation which expires next summer(?). I hope we would be interested if he is available especially if it gets to next summer and he's available on a free. The likes of City and Chelsea will come sniffing around as well. That deep lying role that Scholes and Carrick plays currently will be covered nicely by him.

This post has been edited by Wan: Nov 1 2010, 04:24 AM

If sheep is in charge, Manucho and Diouf will be the awesome duo tearing apart every defence there is, including ours in training.

You give too much credit to the muppets by mentioning Chichi. Nobody knew who he was before the news broke through that we already sign a deal with his club and him. 7m, unknown.. and thank god he's good. If not we would never hear the end of it saying we should have bought VDV for the same price blabla like what happened with Bebe. Most of them see the established 'stars'. Signings that would normally cost 15m at least and most hover around the 20m mark.

City game coming up soon. Good game to lose in.

I watched briefly the 68 European Cup final last night. I just fast forward here and there since it was bed time already. Watched the first 10mins or so, but George Best wasn't all that in that brief moment. He might be good at dribbling, but his passing was frustrating. He messed up a lot of the easy passes. But then he was only 22/23 at the time? If I have time later on, I will sambung balik. We played 433 that time.

Reminded me of the CR vs Le Tallec and Pongolle(sp?)

How they got the better bargain.. how those players were the best players in some youth tournament.

How was Carrick? Missed the game. The defence have been solid, and now bit by bit the others are following suit. Just a couple more games to hit optimum performance hopefully.

Bale's desire + a bit of $$.. especially if it came from us, Chelsea, Real or Barca who would promise him first team football and a better chance to taste success at the top level. He or anyone for that matter would not think twice if the offer came from one of us. But Spurs being Spurs will want top dollar for him.

Bebe is really obedient huh?

Damn. Forgot about MUTV. Dunno. What channel it's on?

Not sure why they awarded it as an own goal after reviewing it at first. Dumb decision. It was obvious the way the ball moved that to get to where it ended up, it must have been because Bebe directed it there either he himself hit it first, or hit it first goal bound and then deflected off the defender's leg or the defender got a touch that would put the ball wide and it deflected off Bebe into goal instead.

All these agent talk about Hamsik, Sanchez and Defour makes me think we're not in for them.

Rooney saga ends. They need something else to write. Evra is the perfect subject. He's going to sign a new contract soon or something or he already had?

Good collection of players but that's all there is to it. There's no 'great' in there.

Anderson injured or something?

VDS
Rafael-Rio-Vida-Evra
Park-Fletcher-Carrick-Obertan
Hernandez-Berba

Nani-Fletcher-Scholes-Carrick-Valencia
Nani and Scholes = Great
Fletcher = always perform great in the big games.
Giggs = legen-dary

---

Added on November 6, 2010, 9:05 pmFor such a powerful attacking side, they scored only 11 goals in the league so far.

This post has been edited by Wan: Nov 6 2010, 09:06 PM

If their midfield is up there with the best, they would have done a lot better than they have so far. Like I said, good collection of players but that's all there is to it right now. And unlike our midfield, theirs still have a lot to prove. They need to do it against the better sides more often + finish above the likes of us and Arsenal. They are far away from doing that. Until that time come, their midfield ain't nothing to shout about. The likes of Bale, Lennon and Modric could improve further to be fair, and VDV will give them that something extra, but that's still a few years away.

30-40mins away I think..

Lineup will come out between 10:00-10:30 right?