[RedForceRising]

I'll spare you guys the rant, but I was just skimming through some of the threads and find some of the titles and opionions frustrating.

You need balance in a team and you need a balance of several attributes to be a top class player.

I have hinted on this subject in my old thread that this season the players are not playing like one would traditionally expect them too and I hope we can get back to it, because it's about balance.

Right now, we have Tevez - a striker - playing a midfielder, we have a lift winger in Park, whose play and skill are more reminiscent of a left back, we have Ronaldo who is doubling up as a striker, we have Rooney - a striker - playing as a left winger etc etc.


Yes, it works on most days, but sometimes it can come undone.

I hope it won't be the case tonight. Our second half performance against Spurs has been a confidence for everyone connected to the club, but I just feel we need more balance back in the squad and with the players.

A striker with great workrate, but less accuracy in his finishing, positioning, as well as passing is not as valuable as a striker who has maybe slightly less work rate, but is more gifted in the other areas.

Similarly, a striker like Berbatov, who has been praised by Sir Alex for his composure and touch could probably benefit from raising the parts of his game, which not up to par yet.

It's about balance and I just feel that the team is slightly unblaanced at the moment.

Intrisically, no single virtue could be "over-rated", but if one single virtue is all you've got, then yeah, it's over-rated alright.

So, in summary, I'd like our players to be more balanced and our team to be more balanced.

That would mean players addressing parts of their game in training and management adding to the squad properly.

I would relaly like to see our strikers plays as strikers, not midfielders and boy would I'd like to see our wingers play like wingers.

Thanks...

(I hope I explained myself clearly enough to avoid having stated the bleeding obvious).

 

[hatedastarfish]

Good measured and honest points RFR.

Every side needs a good blend of hard work, skill and awareness to succeed.

 

[Richie]

Good post RFR agree with you completely. Like Tevez last night, he had a decent game and was always trying to make things happen, winning tackles etc, but when he had the golden chance it was missed.

I think the team will look infinitely more balanced if we do indeed bring in a proper striker and a left winger this summer.

Lads don't call me a 'fan boy' for this, Bayern Munich look like they probably won't get Champions League football next season - Ribery would be the perfect man to come in. He would fill the left wing slot, so Rooney can play in the center, and he would also come inside into the attacking midfield area to create things so the likes of Berbatov can stay further upfield where he is so dangerous. I've said for a long time that having no real left winger seriously affects the fluidity of our play, which is linked to balance. The players can be reluctant to pass it to the person on the left wing when it is the natural pass, so they pick an unnatural pass and the fluidity goes. And when they do pass to the left wing the ball is often lost with players like Nani and Park.

And if we did have any money left over, either through a large budget, player sales or both, it would be of a huge help to us to bring in a proper striker. Some times this season it has just seemed liked if we had a lethal finisher up front to feed we could score so many more goals. It would also allow Rooney to play in his favoured position where he can dominate the match through the middle. Back on the subject of balance, having a striker who would be willing to make runs in behind would give alot more end product to our possession and ultimately add to the balance of the team. However if we did not have the funds for a proper striker then I'd have faith that Macheda could certainly do a job and could work with Rooney and Berbatov.

 

[RedForceRising]

Good post RFR agree with you completely. Like Tevez last night, he had a decent game and was always trying to make things happen, winning tackles etc, but when he had the golden chance it was missed.

I think the team will look infinitely more balanced if we do indeed bring in a proper striker and a left winger this summer.

Lads don't call me a 'fan boy' for this, Bayern Munich look like they probably won't get Champions League football next season - Ribery would be the perfect man to come in. He would fill the left wing slot, so Rooney can play in the center, and he would also come inside into the attacking midfield area to create things so the likes of Berbatov can stay further upfield where he is so dangerous. I've said for a long time that having no real left winger seriously affects the fluidity of our play, which is linked to balance. The players can be reluctant to pass it to the person on the left wing when it is the natural pass, so they pick an unnatural pass and the fluidity goes. And when they do pass to the left wing the ball is often lost with players like Nani and Park.

And if we did have any money left over, either through a large budget, player sales or both, it would be of a huge help to us to bring in a proper striker. Some times this season it has just seemed liked if we had a lethal finisher up front to feed we could score so many more goals. It would also allow Rooney to play in his favoured position where he can dominate the match through the middle. Back on the subject of balance, having a striker who would be willing to make runs in behind would give alot more end product to our possession and ultimately add to the balance of the team. However if we did not have the funds for a proper striker then I'd have faith that Macheda could certainly do a job and could work with Rooney and Berbatov.

I've never understood why wanting the best players in the red of manchester are scoffed at by "top reds".

Woud they have preferred Eric playing for Man Shitty?

Ribery is a priority for me.

As I've said on many occasions, he can play on the left and loves to cut in and feed Toni.

He would be Fergie's dream. a winger who can cut in and double up as attacking mid and create havoc by drawing in defenders and play intelligent passes to release Rooney or Berba.

A clinical striker would also be very welcome IMO.

Macheda and Welbeck are still lacking about two seasons worth of first team experience and their touch, as well as movement often show it.

We are one or two signings away from being very well balanced.

I don't view tevez or berba as an ideal partner for Rooney, so would prefer a clnical striker.

Check it out:

Rooney - Clinical Striker

Ribery - Anderson/Hargreaves - Carrick - Ronaldo

Evra - - - - Vidic - - - - Ferdinand - - - - Brown

Foster​

alternatively:

Rooney - Clinical Striker

Ronaldo - Anderson - Carrick - Hargreaves

Evra - - - Vidic - - - Ferdinand - - - Brown

Foster​

 

[Wombat the Red]

I cant disagree.Hargreaves return is a key component though.

 

[Richie]

I've never understood why wanting the best players in the red of manchester are scoffed at by "top reds".

Woud they have preferred Eric playing for Man Shitty?

Ribery is a priority for me.

As I've said on many occasions, he can play on the left and loves to cut in and feed Toni.

He would be Fergie's dream. a winger who can cut in and double up as attacking mid and create havoc by drawing in defenders and play intelligent passes to release Rooney or Berba.

A clinical striker would also be very welcome IMO.

Macheda and Welbeck are still lacking about two seasons worth of first team experience and their touch, as well as movement often show it.

We are one or two signings away from being very well balanced.

I don't view tevez or berba as an ideal partner for Rooney, so would prefer a clnical striker.

Check it out:

Rooney - Clinical Striker

Ribery - Anderson/Hargreaves - Carrick - Ronaldo

Evra - - - - Vidic - - - - Ferdinand - - - - Brown

Foster​

alternatively:

Rooney - Clinical Striker

Ronaldo - Anderson - Carrick - Hargreaves

Evra - - - Vidic - - - Ferdinand - - - Brown

Foster​

Yeah I agree about Ribery, It'd be killing two birds with one stone. Chances are he'll go to Barca though I must say, but if he doesn't I think we'd get him. But even if we didn't get him and we got another left winger like Young, Silva, or Alexi Sanchez; if Rooney was playing off a proper striker he could almost solve the creative midfielder problem himself because he can dominate that area of the pitch so well, like he does for England.

We're being quite regularly linked with Benzema again lately and I do think Fergie will get his man on this one. (I had a big debate on the 'carlos tevez leaving united thread' with TM about it last night). And I do think we will bring in a top winger too, as its the most obvious area of the team to improve and we've been linked with them constantly since last summer.

Those teams you've made look pretty lethal, I think once we've got those 2 good players in, that we can have all the top players in their best positions, and no weak links in the side, I think we will transform from very very good to truly great.

Have a look at these systems, I'm going to use Benzema and Silva as the examples of signings but obviously it could be somebody else..

--------------------------Van Der Sar

Rafael-----------Ferdinand-------------Vidic-------------Evra

------------Carrick/Hargreaves-----Anderson/Giggs
Ronaldo----------------------------------------------------Silva

-------------------Benzema-----------Rooney


or:


-------------------------Van Der Sar

Rafael----------Ferdinand-----------Vidic-----------Evra

--------------Hargreaves------------Carrick
-----------------------Anderson/Giggs

Ronaldo-------------------------------------------Rooney
--------------------------Benzema



In the latter system, the front three could be constantly interchanging positions escaping their markers.

Can you see how the balance of those teams, and the guarantee of quality every time someone receives the ball would infinitely improve individual and team displays? The balance would be right and the individuals would be at their best.

As I said before, it would be the difference between being very very good as we currently are, and true greatness.

 

[RedForceRising]

^ You hit on one I'm trying to put across.

With a more balanced team / more balanced personnel, we could be a truly great team.

I prefer your first team to the the second one, because I want Rooney to finally reach his potential. I want him to have amonster season.

The kind of season that will see him end up among the top contenders for the Ballon d'Or.

Benzema is a future Ballon d'Or winner and should join United to hone his craft.

I don't care what people want to say.

Karim Benzema is special.

I've caught ppl trying to tar Benzema fans with stereotypes, but I don't think those guys have ever really seen Karim Benzema.

The guy is amazing. I don't understand how you can watch him in the league and the CL and not see his potential!

He hasn't hit the highs with the National Team, but he has amazing potential.

As I said, he will win the Ballon d'Or one day and he might as well do it while wearing the red of Manchester.

Lyon are having a quiet season, Madrid and Barca aren't making a lot of noise about him, so who knows?

 

[shiven]

Good post RFR. :thumbsup:

I agree completely every top side needs balance and at the moment we are struggling with that I think.
I'm not gonna add much more to it, because you've addressed all the necessary points there.

I think next season the squad as a whole will improve and we will find that balance we are looking for.
I also think there is some positions that need addressing to, whether that means making any signings in the summer, I don't know. But if we have most of our players from this season fit for next season, then i'm sure we will become a more dominant force.

 

[RedForceRising]

Good post RFR. :thumbsup:

I agree completely every top side needs balance and at the moment we are struggling with that I think.
I'm not gonna add much more to it, because you've addressed all the necessary points there.

I think next season the squad as a whole will improve and we will find that balance we are looking for.
I also think there is some positions that need addressing to, whether that means making any signings in the summer, I don't know. But if we have most of our players from this season fit for next season, then i'm sure we will become a more dominant force.

Me too.

You;re touching on something, which I will use for a thread at the end of the season.

IF we win this season, it will be one of the most satisfying titles ever.

Besides equalling the dipper record, I felt that this season would be one of transition and wrote as much during the summer. The early season performances proved me right - at first.

You see, the oldies were not hitting form and the young 'uns weren't stepping up their game, leaving Fergie with a gap in performance.

Thankfully he put Giggsy in midfield, Jonny Evans turned out to be pretty ******* good, Vidic plus Rio decided to form a human wall, which shut out every opponent for 14 games and Wayne Rooney put in some phenomenal performances to pull the team through dire straits.

It hasn't been a pretty season by any means, but the team grafted hard and will deserve it.


Next season, I fully expect to see more from Nani, Anderson, Hargreaves and Berbatov.

If those 4 are fit and produce to the standards that they cane, we will be playing in 4th gear regularly as compared to the 2nd gear we've been playing in this season.

My main concern are Nani's progress and Hargo's fitness, hence my assertion that Ribery should be a top priority.

 

[Stephen]

Not a chance in hell we are going to sign two of Ribery/Silva/Benzema etc. Doubt we'll even get one.

We're in debt.

 

[PeeJay]

Not a chance in hell we are going to sign two of Ribery/Silva/Benzema etc. Doubt we'll even get one.

We're in debt.

We won't. Ribery seems to have gone to Barça, Benzema said
he's not leaving and if he does he's going to Spain. Villa and Silva
want to stay in Spain with Real Madrid and Barça the most likely
destinations, with Liverpool and Inter waiting.

The Beatles aren't coming.

 

[RedForceRising]

^ Then maybe you can offer some other suggestions to further discussion.

Nobody thought Leeds would sell us Eric Canton for 1million pounds. Or Newcastle selling Andy Cole to us.

 

[TheManc]

For balance we definately need a new winger. I feel that this is part of the reason we aren't scoring as much this season. We have less players ripping defences apart. Ronaldo's alround game hasn't been at its best, Nani has been poor and Park isn't that type of player.

Its no suprise that we are doing better with Rooney on the wing.

 

[shiven]

Me too.

You;re touching on something, which I will use for a thread at the end of the season.

IF we win this season, it will be one of the most satisfying titles ever.

Besides equalling the dipper record, I felt that this season would be one of transition and wrote as much during the summer. The early season performances proved me right - at first.

You see, the oldies were not hitting form and the young 'uns weren't stepping up their game, leaving Fergie with a gap in performance.

Thankfully he put Giggsy in midfield, Jonny Evans turned out to be pretty ******* good, Vidic plus Rio decided to form a human wall, which shut out every opponent for 14 games and Wayne Rooney put in some phenomenal performances to pull the team through dire straits.

It hasn't been a pretty season by any means, but the team grafted hard and will deserve it.


Next season, I fully expect to see more from Nani, Anderson, Hargreaves and Berbatov.

If those 4 are fit and produce to the standards that they cane, we will be playing in 4th gear regularly as compared to the 2nd gear we've been playing in this season.

My main concern are Nani's progress and Hargo's fitness, hence my assertion that Ribery should be a top priority.

Yeah the thing is we haven't played all that well this Season.

I said it somewhere else that this Season Liverpool have punched above their weight and we have been very average throughout the whole season grafting out wins. Even when Liverpool had the chance to get a good lead on us while we were away at the WCC, they never took full advantage.

I think Lverpool have only lost twice but drew 11 games, so we are actually doing really well to still be top when we haven't been playing great. The only way is up for this team next season. If players like Hargreaves and Anderson stay fit and we begin to get regular pefromances from Nani and Berbatov, we will be even stronger. This is a brillant squad we have and don't forget Evans, Rafael, Fabio, Wellbeck and Macheda will all improve next season.

So I think we will be even better next season and we will see Liverpool fall behind us.

IMO Chelsea will be our biggest Rivals for the Premier League Title next season.

 

[Wombat the Red]

Not a chance in hell we are going to sign two of Ribery/Silva/Benzema etc. Doubt we'll even get one.

We're in debt.

Well said Stephen --This is my exact worry. The Glazers have dropped a bomb in the recent financial crisis and I cant see where the money is coming from.I feel certain this is the main reason Tevez hasnt been signed up properly. The club is presently funding nearly 1 billion pounds of debt according to the Beeb.SAF is a decent juggler though and where theres a will theres a way and so I expect/hope for one classy signing with probably some names going to help the funding.

 

[RedForceRising]

Well said Stephen --This is my exact worry. The Glazers have dropped a bomb in the recent financial crisis and I cant see where the money is coming from.I feel certain this is the main reason Tevez hasnt been signed up properly. The club is presently funding nearly 1 billion pounds of debt according to the Beeb.SAF is a decent juggler though and where theres a will theres a way and so I expect/hope for one classy signing with probably some names going to help the funding.

The problem is that we need to keep reaching the quarter finals of the CL at the very least. ANything else will spell big, big trouble for the club.

One could argue that we have the squad to go and do it again next season, but that would mean relying on Giggs, Scholes and Neville to roll back the years and go out in a blaze of glory, Nani become fantastic overnight and Macheda, as well as Welbeck covering for Rooney and Berba during injuries.

Nope. Sorry.

We will spend this summer. We have to.

It's the lesser of two evils.

 

[Stephen]

We can but the players being touted are in the £25m+ range. Without outgoings, this won't be possible.

What players can you see going out? Nani will bring in under £10m. That's about it.

Selling Ronaldo will do less good and more bad for the club.

 

[Wombat the Red]

The problem is that we need to keep reaching the quarter finals of the CL at the very least. ANything else will spell big, big trouble for the club.

One could argue that we have the squad to go and do it again next season, but that would mean relying on Giggs, Scholes and Neville to roll back the years and go out in a blaze of glory, Nani become fantastic overnight and Macheda, as well as Welbeck covering for Rooney and Berba during injuries.

Nope. Sorry.

We will spend this summer. We have to.

It's the lesser of two evils.

Ribery and Benzema will arouse a lot of interest for their signatures.Our recent history is not good when it comes to a signature race. Which is one of the reasons why SAF adopted his youth policy. The simple truth is that we dont have the financial fire power that we once did. I hope you are right but as I said there will be some juggling going on.If Nani and Anderson blossom in the same way Ronnie did then that is a huge plus but Im not convinced at present----they both have a lot to do.

 

[papu1918]

I'll spare you guys the rant, but I was just skimming through some of the threads and find some of the titles and opionions frustrating.

You need balance in a team and you need a balance of several attributes to be a top class player.

I have hinted on this subject in my old thread that this season the players are not playing like one would traditionally expect them too and I hope we can get back to it, because it's about balance.

Right now, we have Tevez - a striker - playing a midfielder, we have a lift winger in Park, whose play and skill are more reminiscent of a left back, we have Ronaldo who is doubling up as a striker, we have Rooney - a striker - playing as a left winger etc etc.


Yes, it works on most days, but sometimes it can come undone.

I hope it won't be the case tonight. Our second half performance against Spurs has been a confidence for everyone connected to the club, but I just feel we need more balance back in the squad and with the players.

A striker with great workrate, but less accuracy in his finishing, positioning, as well as passing is not as valuable as a striker who has maybe slightly less work rate, but is more gifted in the other areas.

Similarly, a striker like Berbatov, who has been praised by Sir Alex for his composure and touch could probably benefit from raising the parts of his game, which not up to par yet.

It's about balance and I just feel that the team is slightly unblaanced at the moment.

Intrisically, no single virtue could be "over-rated", but if one single virtue is all you've got, then yeah, it's over-rated alright.

So, in summary, I'd like our players to be more balanced and our team to be more balanced.

That would mean players addressing parts of their game in training and management adding to the squad properly.

I would relaly like to see our strikers plays as strikers, not midfielders and boy would I'd like to see our wingers play like wingers.

Thanks...

(I hope I explained myself clearly enough to avoid having stated the bleeding obvious).

Before starting any comments I need to reckon very good points here about needed balanc.

No doubt, Franc Ribery will be the best option for left zone.
I am also agree that Park more or less is a limited and in a short future can be used as a back due to one or other reason ( Evra is a booked and without him CL league final against Barca will be very problematic ) Also he can take a big load in 20-30 games as before .

I don't like to discuss how Berba and Tevez are played as midfielders. More or less due to present circumstances / age of Giggs and Scholes, Hago injurie and heavy season program ) the job was done. Even Berba became for good midfielder according to the PL stats. Only for the last game against Boro he created 3 pure opportunities in the box .
The best option for creative midfielder will be some player skilled like Kaka or Pirlo .
I have doubt about Hago recovering . At first he can repeat the injury.
Anserson could be the ideal option for defensive midfielder ,but for creative midfielder ..... i am not sure.

Very important moment is Ronaldo future . according to the last news he wants to stay here. If he stay here , the best option for the striker is .. Ronaldo . In this case Lennon transfer here will be reasonable.

I know that Kaka's or Pirlo's transfers are unrealistic ,but very good option will be Elano .
Very clever offensive player . He is a Juve target because of skilles and price. He joined Citeh for 10 mln and 15 mln could join Man Utd if americans and Arabian owners are agreed. Must probably the rivals factor is not the first thing in their business.

Very important point is a Berba future having in mind your options .
Mostly of people don't like Berbatov to works like midfielder ,so reosanable will be to be find some proper person instead of him as a midfielder .
Moslty of people likes another striker / some clinical one / My point is if the proper balanc not founded any transfer of the new clinical striker could be unsuccesful.